Wholesale Changes

Spartan Stores

Grand Rapids, Mich.

Annual Sales: $16.4 million

Operating Budget: $14.1 million

Full-time employees: 90

Part-time employees: 4

Jobs printed per year: 9,620

When it started out 35 years ago with just a one-color duplicator for printing company bulletins, the in-plant for Spartan Stores seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of the largest in-house printing facilities in the nation. But as the century nears its end, that is exactly what has happened. For the second consecutive year, Spartan Stores has ranked tenth on the IPG Top 50 list.

There have been some drastic changes at this Midwestern grocery wholesaler shop since the single duplicator days. The in-plant now boasts 36,000 square feet of shop space to hold its web presses, sheetfed equipment, bindery gear and computer design areas. More recently, the shop has incorporated digital photography into its operation, notes David DeWildt, director of printing and design.

"We provide timely, service-oriented, quality print and design services at competitive pricing," declares DeWildt.

Spartan's in-plant does a high volume of work on its four Goss web presses, producing up to eight million flyers each week. It also designs and prints posters, circulars, shelf cards, store maps, newsletters and ad inserts for its grocery retail clients.

To bring in extra revenue, the shop insources a good amount of work from outside the company. Insourcing accounted for $1.3 million in sales last year, a figure the in-plant hopes will keep expanding.

"We are and will definitely be going after more insourcing," DeWildt reveals. "We plan on going out with a salesperson, and are currently developing a marketing strategy beyond the sales."

Since there is no mandate for internal customers to use the in-plant, it already has some marketing experience. Internal marketing, along with the in-plant's reputation for high-quality printing, has resulted in 90 percent of Spartan's work being done in-house. This marketing experience is now being used to draw more customers from outside sources.

By bringing in extra income through insourcing, providing quality printing services and always looking for ways to improve, the Spartan Stores in-plant has gained the confidence and respect of its upper management. Bids by facility management teams to take over the in-plant are regularly dismissed by the company, or the FM is invited in to take a look at the operation. Once they see what the in-plant can do, DeWildt says, they are discouraged by the efficiency and quality of the internal operation.

Being held in high regard also helps when it comes time to purchase new equipment, DeWildt admits. Management knows it will see a quick return on its investment whenever new technology is brought into the in-plant.

This is fortunate, for DeWildt predicts some big changes in technology in the decade ahead.

"The change I might expect to see over the next 10 years is more direct-to-press applications for target marketing," he says.

DeWildt predicts his in-plant will eventually purchase digital printing gear, possibly an Indigo digital color press. The switch to digital equipment will be necessary to survive. More electronic information is the obvious trend, DeWildt observes, along with the need for shorter, targeted runs. This may also result in the in-plant using less paper in the future, he points out.

"I also expect to see more technology that minimizes the labor factor," he adds.

—by Chris Bauer

Key Equipment

• Four Agfa flatbed scanners

• Two Scitex Dolev 800 imagesetters

• One Linotronic 530 imagesetter

• A Kodak DCS 460 digital camera

• 40 Mac workstations ranging from Power Mac 7600s to G-4s

• Four Goss Community web presses

• One Five-color 20x29˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster

• One Two-color 20x29˝ Heidelberg sheetfed press

• One Two-color 13x18˝ Heidelberg Quickmaster