The Digital Project

With steady management and an eye for technology, Tim Hoffstedder has brought his

in-plant into the digital age.

by MIKE LLEWELLYN

When a good thing comes your way, you stick with it. Tim Hoffstedder found his at Western & Southern Financial Group's in-plant. Now printing manager, Hoffstedder has been working at the shop since the tender age of 17, just after his high school graduation.

"I really didn't choose this," he says. "But I enjoyed it, so I stayed."

Hoffstedder started as an entry-level bindery operator 35 years ago. Leaving the bindery for the smaller presses, he soon took on prepress and typesetting, as well. Then he moved on to the purchasing department. In 1990, he moved back into the printing department as manager.

But this soft-spoken man from the small town of Dayton, Ky., didn't keep quiet when it came to bringing his shop into the digital age. With careful leadership and planning, he oversaw some of the biggest changes in the Cincinnati in-plant since its inception.

The New Challenges

"The biggest thing is the electronic age," says Hoffstedder. "For us it started in '92 when we installed our DocuTechs." Before the digital printers were added, he says, most of that work was run on Multiliths.

In 1995, the shop hired a consultant who suggested it acquire new Macintosh computers to handle design work. Additionally, says Hoffstedder, his shop picked up its first imagesetter.

In 1998, Hoffstedder oversaw a remodeling of the in-plant to provide for a more efficient workflow. That same year, the shop picked up two new Heidelberg presses.

"The biggest challenge is keeping up with all of this new technology," says Hoffstedder. "And cross-training people well enough to be able to use it."

When the new Macs and the imagesetter arrived, Hoffstedder says his staff had to learn all of the new technology from scratch.

"There was a big learning curve for all of us with this new software," he says.

But Hoffstedder says his shop wasn't alone in confronting these major changes. The in-plant tapped into the International Publishing Management Association's resources and attended its conferences.

"I was a local vice president for the Cincinnati chapter in the past," he says. In addition, he makes it a point to visit Graph Expo and to stop by local commercial shops.

But while the successful push into the digital age has made Hoffstedder proud, it hasn't been an easy road. As the company grew, so did the volume of printing work—and customers now wanted it on demand.

"The jobs coming in were lower volume, and the customers wanted a quicker turnaround," he says. The in-plant made every effort to accommodate. "The main thing is making everybody feel like they're number one," he says.

To meet that goal, Hoffstedder says the shop had to reorganize how jobs were processed.

"We do a lot of schedule shuffling. We do job grouping to eliminate setup time," he says. "And a lot of the work that we get is reprint work, so saving those jobs helps us to save time."

Well-deserved Recognition

All of the stress was eventually rewarded when Hoffstedder's attention-to-detail management approach scored the in-plant the company's "Department of the Year" accolade—the first time the honor was ever awarded.

"It's really nice for everybody to be recognized like that," he says, "to know that people notice what you do. That was a real treat for everybody down here."

For this in-plant, though, the charge into new technology isn't over yet.

"We have to upgrade our high-speed digital printers, and we're looking into CTP," says Hoffstedder.

Thirty-five years is a long time to stay with a company, but Hoffstedder says Western & Southern Financial Group has kept him motivated.

"It's a very stable company. The company has grown, and we've grown with it," he says.

He still lives in his hometown of Dayton, Ky., with his wife of 30 years, Helen. The couple has three grown children.

When he's not at the helm of the 22,000-square-foot, 17-employee digital facility, Hoffstedder says he enjoys a few quiet pastimes.

"I've taken up golf, and I like working around the yard and the house," he says. "I like just doing things on my own."

It's the same steady diligence he brings to Western & Southern, and for Hoffstedder and the in-plant he manages, it has paid off.