A Print Shop Built for Two

The in-plant employees at Lincoln University have 38 years of experience in the printing industry. Of course with only two people on staff—printing supervisor Gary Griffin (20 years) and his assistant (18 years)—a lot of that experience is about how to do more with less.

“I run the press at least two-and-a-half days per week,” says Griffin. He spends the remaining time writing job specs for outsourced work, delivering jobs with a two-wheeled hand dolly and doing any number of odd jobs.

To keep on top of the work at the Jefferson, Mo., campus, Griffin tries to set up his calendar year far in advance.

“I know their volumes better than they do,” he says. “Admissions and enrollment will be looking for 60,000 pieces of letterhead, and I’ll keep track of that for them.”

Some departments don’t track their needs in advance, so Griffin goes after them for work—but subtly.

“I know that February will have the Founder’s Day Program, and the department likes to use a particular type of linen with baby blue ink,” he says. “I’ll contact the department ahead of time to ask whether there are any changes. I check to see whether I have that paper in stock. I’ll ask when I can expect files for that program. You have to tweak them a little.”

Griffin also tries to educate departments on what the in-plant can and can’t do.

“I have a printing policy booklet that says 10 days are required for an in-plant job on the press,” he says. “More than likely, I have this job turned around in three to five days, but we say 10 because you want people to understand what a rush job is. You don’t label a job that way unless you really need it.”

As Griffin nears retirement, he’s trying to prepare his assistant to step into his shoes.

“Things that I took for granted before, now I call her in, explain what I’m doing and why, then offer to let her do the job,” he says. “She normally oversees the layout and design, but I’ll have her write specs. Some of these jobs are canned or alterations of other jobs, so you don’t have to recreate the wheel—but you do have to learn it.”

Griffin credits members of the Association of College and University Printers with helping his shop survive. “The first few years I went, I was intimidated” by the larger in-plants, he says. “But when you break down large jobs into pieces...they work the same in your shop, just on a smaller scale.”

—By W. Eric Martin