One of the largest in-plants in the retail business, Spartan Stores Graphic Services has both impressive capibilities and a hard-working staff.

By Joe Ranoia

EVERY IN-PLANT strives to be an asset to its parent organization. Spartan Stores’ Graphic Services department takes this even further. The in-plant’s 82 “associates” work tirelessly to give their parent company a strategic advantage over the competition in the wholesale and retail food distribution business.

And what is this strategic advantage? Well, versatility for one. The in-plant provides so many services it can meet virtually any demand. It can take a job from design through fulfillment, while offering excellent customer service.

Convenience and fast turnaround are other strategic advantages. The 36,000-square-foot in-plant is housed right at the Spartan Stores corporate office in Byron Center, Mich., about 10 miles south of Grand Rapids. The close proximity allows the company’s trucks to assist in the delivery of printed material, along with the in-plant’s own truck and van. This convenience allows Graphic Services to provide excellent customer service to its many clients.

“We service about 290 stores,” says David DeWildt, director of Graphic Services. The in-plant’s customer base is split into four groups; corporate stores, independent affiliated stores, corporate offices and outside customers. Of these, the largest and most challenging are the independent affiliates. These stores are not required to use Graphic Services.

“We have to earn their business through price, quality and service,” DeWildt explains. “It’s not a given.”

And the in-plant does earn it. The overwhelming majority of independent affiliates choose Graphic Services, he says. And why not? The state-of-the-art facility is designed to perform the tasks a grocery store needs. The four 35? Goss Community web presses run all day long, churning out thousands of ad inserts.

“We print 5.6 million impressions a week for those 290 stores,” DeWildt enthuses. “We deliver to over 160 newspapers in Michigan and parts of Indiana and Ohio.”

The sheetfed department is no slouch either, printing more than 300,000 impressions per week. Armed with a five-color 20x29? Heidelberg Speedmaster and a pair of two-color Heidelbergs, the in-plant produces point-of-sale materials, newsletters, banners, posters, booklets, brochures, business cards, letterhead, envelopes, and much more.

It doesn’t stop there. The in-plant has a versatile digital department including a Canon iR110 high-volume digital black-and-white printer and an Ikon CPP500 digital color printer.

Banners and Signs

Another service the in-plant provides that is important to the grocery store business is the mass production of wide-format banners and signs. The sign shop uses its six 36? HP printers and a 60? Mimaki wide-format printer to create roughly 500 paper and vinyl banners per week.

Graphic services also sports a full bindery complete with a Stahl folder, a Muller Martini collator/stitcher/trimmer, 52? Polar and 26? Challenge cutters, a Gerber GS-15 vinyl cutter and a Seal Image 400 laminator.

But the true mark of this in-plant’s desire to meet the needs of its customers is its revamped and fully loaded prepress department.

“We’ve been CTP since 2003,” remarks DeWildt. That’s when the in-plant purchased two Creo Trendsetter computer-to-plate devices. This past summer the shop switched to Kodak’s Prinergy Evo workflow software.

“It reduced the labor factor and improved efficiencies and quality,” DeWildt reports. The in-plant now houses 32 design workstations that support all areas of the shop.

“We design 700 pages of grocery ads per week,” DeWildt proudly states.

It’s About the People

A great deal of the in-plant’s success, DeWildt insists, comes from the efforts of its 82 employees. They have adapted quite well to the technology changes that have reshaped the in-plant. Their flexibility and dedication have strengthened Graphics Services. DeWildt reports that the average length of employment there is an astonishing 17 years.

“That’s huge. They’re great people. Obviously it is because of them that we are where we are,” says DeWildt, who is also a Spartan long-timer; he started as a press assistant 30 years ago and worked his way up.

DeWildt says the ability of this in-plant to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace makes it a tremendous value to its customers. It is such an efficient plant that it actually insources roughly 7 percent of its business from ad agencies, schools, brokers and other local businesses. Graphic Services is not necessarily trying to solicit business, he adds, but word of mouth has spread.

One challenge the in-plant faces is the branding of each individual store. Spartan Stores has several retail stores under its umbrella, including Family Fare, Glen’s, D&W and Pharm, along with more than 250 independent retailers. Individual stores from each chain cater to a different demographic depending on location. Graphic Services has to run each job for a specific store.

“In our web printing application we’re doing a lot of version changes,” DeWildt says. The Spartan Stores retail stores alone run more than 20 versions to meet the needs of each store’s customers.

Now factor in the roughly 160 independent stores, each with its own separate branding, logos, pricing and demographic. It can be hard to keep straight, but the shop handles it. It does mean shorter runs though. DeWildt states that an average web run per version is around 30,000 impressions—modest for a web press.

DeWildt also admits that even with the recent improvements, life in the printing business is never a sure thing.

“We are a business unit that must justify itself…to move forward with any hiring or equipment.” He goes on to say that because the bulk of the in-plant’s business comes from the independent stores, providing better service than large commercial printers is a must.

“That’s my greatest challenge—competition and staying in pace with them in terms of equipment and service,” he says.

Respect from the Top

That being said, DeWildt is proud to report the shop has the full support of corporate management, which recognizes that Graphics Services provides a strategic advantage while contributing to the profitability of the company.

“Within the current leadership we have excellent support,” he lauds.

To maintain this support, the shop concentrates on customer relations. Four full-time account representatives provide direct customer service to clients, and the designers give them personal attention.

“Each customer works directly with the designer, and the designers know this.” The ability of the design team to communicate with clients in an efficient and productive manner adds even greater value to Graphic Services.

To promote its capabilities, the in-plant sends out quarterly mailings to all stores under the Spartan umbrella. It also mails quarterly thank you cards to its customers.

As another benefit to customers, Graphic Services runs a Web-based application called Insight. Only available to clients, Insight allows direct communication to the in-plant and houses an online job ordering and tracking system. The in-plant’s general Web site lists its services and lets customers make inquiries and place orders.

This is an in-plant that gets it. Graphic Services understands the fundamental goal of an in-plant is to service the company, so it made the necessary upgrades to cater to the specific needs of its customers. The result: management couldn’t be happier. The in-plant is productive, thriving and growing along with its parent company.

Just don’t try to give David DeWildt the credit. He’ll have none of that.

“I’d rather have it be about the success of the department,” he declares. And that success has been considerable.