Dedicated to Printing

IT WAS the distinctive smell of chemicals that first enticed Clarence Porter into the printing business.

"There was a print shop in my neighborhood that I would pass by as a kid," Porter recalls, "and as I walked by I could smell those chemicals and look at all the printing stuff. That was my first introduction to printing, and I was fascinated. I was probably 10 years old."

Years later, Porter noticed his high school had one of the same old letterpresses he first saw as kid. He dropped by one day to look at it, and his curiosity heightened even more. Thus began a long and successful career in the printing industry. Fast forward 35 years and you'll find Porter working as a senior print coordinator for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, in Washington, D.C., where he oversees four employees.

Though Porter's first job was as a Multi 1250 operator at CareFirst, he eventually became a copy analyst, overseeing a fleet of 36 copiers. The technology intrigued him.

"In the late '70s, I started to find all the information I could find about copiers, which happened to be one of the things the corporation wanted to move into," Porter recalls. "It was beneficial to me because that's what I'd been interested in."

Eventually, a supervisor noticed Porter's dedication to the printing business and promoted him to assistant to the manager. From there, he slowly worked his way up to a team leader and finally a supervisor.

At the time, printing was very labor intensive in the in-plant.

"We physically developed plates by hand, and the masters were produced by a machine called an Itek," he says, "and that's how we ended up taking a plain old copy, shooting that copy, and producing copies from a metal or paper plate."

Today, the in-plant has turned to all digital pieces of equipment. Late last month, the shop installed three new 150-page-per-minute Canon image–RUNNER 150 black-and-white printers, replacing its image–RUNNER 125s.

Porter says his biggest challenge as a manager is keeping management abreast of the latest and most useful pieces of equipment for his shop. A few years ago, he successfully convinced the company to upgrade the in-plant's equipment.

"I was saying back then, and I'm saying it now, you have to learn to change and change to learn," he declares.

Ever the opportunist, Porter would like to see his in-plant start handling CareFirst's color printing again.

"Right now we farm most of our color out," he says. "It's been 12 years since we did color, and I would like to see a piece of equipment brought in so we can do color in-house."

Honored For His Efforts

As manager, Porter has received several internal and external recognitions and honors, including a scholarship last year from the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association, an organization he has belonged to for many years.

"It was thrilling because the IPMA has given me an opportunity to speak with people across the country and have the camaraderie with so many people doing things at my level," he observes.

Outside of work, when he's not with Frances, his wife of 36 years, and their two daughters, Crystal and Danielle, Porter spends his time boating and fishing—that is, when he's not taking care of his 57—that's right 57—nieces and nephews.

"I'm a mentor to all of them," he says, "and they take precedence over everything."

But, as the years go by—much to the chagrin of his employees, who jokingly prefer he retire—Porter finds himself thinking not about retirement, but new technology.

"What these new pieces of technology are going to be and do is anybody's guess," he says, "but I would like to be in a position where we can accommodate most of the people that have specific things they need. Hopefully, any new equipment would be able to provide that."

In the end, Porter doesn't regret his choice in becoming an in-plant manager. He feels that sometimes he has to be dad, sometimes a priest and sometimes an exorcist. But on top of that, he has to manage a group—while being a part of that group.

"You have to be a willing participant to be involved. I run a piece of equipment and some of my peers say that's below me," he explains. "That's their stand on it, but my stand is, that's what I do." IPG