In-plant Profiles

It was anything but destiny that led Steve Schmuger to become manager of an in-plant printing operation. Inquisitive and intelligent, he majored in philosophy of science at Boston University—not quite a road map to the printing industry—but possesses a free-flowing nature and a quest for knowledge.

Charlotte Holden was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, but she has never let the learning disability hold her back. Rather, she has developed and capitalized on numerous learning abilities to achieve personal fulfillment and professional success.

When a university realizes its in-plant is sitting on prime real estate, that news often leads to a few restless nights for the manager of that shop. That's what happened at Indiana University, when the city of Bloomington decided to develop a technology park on the west side of town, in an area where IU Document Services had been situated for 41 years.

For Bob Wright, the true joy of his job as assistant vice president, Print and Distribution, at Unum Global Programs, comes from helping his company’s business leaders do their jobs better. During the 32 years he has spent with the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based provider of disability, life and voluntary insurance products, Wright has moved his department away from the mindset of simply waiting for jobs to arrive, and reshaped it into a genuine business unit for the company.

Lehigh University's Fall 2012 semester begins on August 23, but Glenn Strause, director of Printing and Mailing Services, is focusing on August 22 as a red-letter day for the college's in-plant. Why? The 22nd marks the planned grand opening of Mail at Campus Square, Lehigh's new full-service post office.

On a December morning in 2009, Michael White walked into his basement in-plant at Queens College to find that a pipe malfunction had filled his shop with two inches of water. "It was like doomsday. It was pretty bad," recalls White, print shop coordinator.

At age 14, Steven Rigby became an Eagle Scout, the highest achievement in the Boy Scouts of America program. As he completed the final leap to the top of the Scouting ranks, he also took his first step toward a top-notch career in printing.

As demand and customer base was increasing at the Olathe (Kansas) Public School District's Graphic Communications and Printing Department, Erica Derrington, manager, turned to EFI's Digital StoreFront. Customers can now order print jobs digitally thanks to personalized portals where their own individual documents and orders are stored.

With his combined IT and business background, Ohio native Roger Chamberlain was the perfect person to run The Cincinnati Insurance Companies' printing operation in Fairfield, OH. “It was a place to settle in and call home,” says Chamberlain.

By consolidating four printing operations into one, Fidelity Investments’ Document Printing Services has already saved $1 million in costs. An influx of new equipment and software enhancements promises to further boost efficiency and effectiveness.