Wisdom Born from Experience
Despite never considering a career in printing, Dean Sutera has turned a required job into a three-decade-long profession.
By Kristen E. Monte
WHEN FRED Meyer Inc. merged with Kroger, in 1999, its in-plant was in a position to expect the worst. Yet, thanks to lots of analysis, and 26 years of hard work by Manager Dean Sutera, he says he never even heard any outsourcing talk.
Sutera was born in South Dakota and spent the majority of his youth in Kansas City. His father worked in the printing industry, for Intercollegiate Press, yet it had never crossed Sutera's mind to go into the business. He attended the University of Kansas for a year and then transferred to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. After obtaining his degree in psychology, he worked for a welfare program in the San Francisco area.
In 1968, Sutera applied for conscientious objector status for the Vietnam draft and was required to work two years of alternate service. He was sent back to Kansas City, to the University of Kansas Medical Center. Personnel gave him the choice of emptying bedpans as an orderly or working in the print shop—so printing it was.
Sutera ran a Multilith 1250 for two years, after which he packed up his wife and six-week-old daughter and headed back to Portland. With no job and no money, Sutera went straight to the maker of the 1250 and asked for work. The company didn't have a job to offer him, but said they were trying to sell a new automatic press to the in-plant at Lewis and Clark College and if they bought it, he might have a job.
Even though Sutera had graduated from the college, he didn't know it had an in-plant. When he visited, he was told that the shop couldn't afford to upgrade to the new press. So he advised them to keep their old 1250 and add a camera to save money. In turn, he was hired to run the press.
After working there for two years, Sutera applied for a manager position with the in-plant at Fred Meyer. He got the job and started on December 30, 1974; 31 years later he is still there.
Simple Beginnings
Fred Meyer has 128 stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, offering everything from clothes to groceries and fine jewelry. When Sutera first arrived at Fred Meyer, the 11-employee in-plant was serving just 35 retail stores, and things were "pretty simple," he says.
The shop printed signs, posters and forms, and his first improvement was to add a series of clotheslines inside the shop to dry the signs. The shop was located about 10 miles from company headquarters, so in 1977 Sutera moved the in-plant closer and added a one-color, 29˝ Harris press to the new space.
Sutera has seen many changes during his three decades at the in-plant. He says the secret to his success has been picking groups of items to print that the in-plant can save the most money on and buying equipment to handle those jobs, while outsourcing work that can't be done efficiently.
When Kroger merged with Fred Meyer, Sutera was reassured that not much would change around his shop.
"We've gone through several outsourcing analyses and we've passed with flying colors, so there was never any talk of Kroger outsourcing us," says Sutera. "Not many changes were made when Kroger took over; we've actually been able to grow more."
This 22-employee in-plant prints predominantly for the Fred Meyer stores, but does some work for Kroger and its other divisions.
The shop has used a computer management system since 1985; Sutera insists this is essential to ensuring accurate costing information.
"If you don't have a chargeback system, you will eventually be in trouble," he adds.
The shop recently added three HP5500 wide-format printers and a laminator to support a business in which Sutera sees lots of growth. He says he is looking to expand even further into the wide-format arena.
"Getting the right equipment is crucial, but getting the right people is more important, and we have great people," he adds.
The shop has won several In-Print awards over the years and Sutera has had his certified graphic communications manager (CGCM) certification from IPMA since 1982.
Dean Sutera has been married for 35 years to his wife, Judy, and they have a son, a daughter and two grandchildren. He loves gardening, and also enjoys traveling, playing golf and reading.
