In-plant Profiles

Health and Human Services Printing must mobilize at a moment’s notice to serve the citizens of Texas during their time of need.

"I learned how to run the Ludlows and then offset," says Rodney Brown, referring to a stint working on a Ludlow hot metal typesetting system at Kent County Publishing back in May 1965. "It was rigorous to do. I just liked it. Even back then, there was always something new."

Our core business isn't necessarily printing, it's educating students," declares Bill King, Supervisor of Printing and Publishing at Mesa Public Schools. "We ask ourselves, 'How can we shape our operation to mirror the core values of the school district?' "

In August, the Church of Scientology opened a massive, 185,000-square-foot in-plant in Commerce, Calif.

WITH CELEBRITY practitioners like Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members, Scientology has gotten its share of media attention over the years. The growing church, founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, boasts more than 9,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups worldwide.

An artist at heart, Frank Oliver has designed a fast, efficient 
in-plant to serve more than a dozen rural New York school districts.

Braving single-digit temperatures (which he secretly enjoyed), intrepid IPG Editor Bob Neubauer traveled to Minnesota to visit the in-plant at the University of St. Thomas.

Faith-based book publisher RBC Ministries was spending too much time and money outsourcing soft-cover books. So in October, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company christened a brand new digital print center, equipped with a pair of HP Indigo presses, to bring production of soft-cover books in-house.

Back in the early '80s, when he was touring with rock legend Elvis Costello, John Barron didn't give much thought to the world of printing. He was the road manager for a band named Sussman Lawrence—well known in the Twin Cities at the time—trying to help his high school buddies make it big.

Anyone who has approached or passed the half-century mark in life is familiar with the stream of mailings from AARP—the American Association of Retired People. Increasingly populated these days by Baby Boomers who adamantly refuse to acknowledge age as a limitation, the organization behind the mailings is a well-oiled machine that relies heavily on print and mail to acquire and service nearly 40 million loyal members. The lion's share of the print and mail that supports AARP's internal needs comes out of the Print Services operation at AARP's Washington, D.C., headquarters.