In-plant Profiles

Despite having a six-color, 40˝ press, a digital "Quickcopy" center and a top-notch Web storefront, Rick Wise felt his in-plant's capabilities weren't quite as advanced as they could be. That all changed in December when the University of Missouri-Columbia installed a new Xerox iGen3 digital production press in its 81-employee operation. "It's a huge part of our future," enthuses Wise, director of Printing Services. "To be all that we can be to the university and provide the full service, we had to have what we feel are top-drawer capabilities in both offset and toner." While researching the purchase, the in-plant looked closely at

When your company is one of the leading makers of sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, floor scrubbers and ceiling fans, you tend to generate a ton of product literature—which means your in-plant goes through lots of plates. The five-employee in-plant at Tacony Corp., in St. Louis, was spending close to $100,000 a year to have plates produced by a neighboring vendor. And despite the close proximity, it usually took one or two days for the shop to get plates back. So last spring, Tacony purchased a Screen PlateRite 4300 thermal platesetter to supply its two- and four-color Heidelberg presses. According to Kristi Humes, vice president

WHAT IS the best way to advance in the printing industry? Buy your own press and start printing jobs on the side, says Jimmy Friend, director of Printing, Copy Center and Mail Services at the University of North Texas. It worked for him. After growing up in Abilene, Texas, Friend moved to Dallas in 1969, and studied electronics at his community college. He landed a job as a press operator with the Drawing Board, a chain print shop, eventually working in prepress and bindery, as well. "I immediately enjoyed the printing industry and changed my education focus to business and later to quality

No segment of the printing industry was as impacted by the Xerox DocuTech than in-plants. It seems hard to believe that revolutionary introduction took place 15 years ago. To celebrate the DocuTech's 15th birthday, a group of senior Xerox executives got together in December at Xerox's Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation, where many employees were instrumental to the original launch currently work. Holding a cake to mark the occasion were: (from the left) Xerox Executives Mike Kucharski, Frank Steenburgh, Tony Federico and Val Blauvelt. (Inside scoop: The DocuTech turned down a piece of this cake.)

WITH GLOBAL prescription sales now topping $550 billion, it's clear that pharmaceutical products play an important role in many of our lives. One of the top firms in this industry is Merck, maker of drugs such as Zocor, Maxalt and Fosamax. The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company was ranked fifth in the world by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine in its May 2005 ranking. Though Merck's downsizing plans may have made recent headlines, its $21.493 billion in global pharmaceutical sales are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Neither is this: Merck is a huge supporter of in-plants, maintaining not one but four in-plants to serve its

Tom Malone had an excellent reason for wanting to replace his old paper cutter. "It broke and could not be repaired," says Malone, production manager at St. Joseph's University's Philadelphia in-plant. After having the cutter's chassis rewelded a year before, he was disappointed, to say the least, when the machine broke again. "I just was in the beginning of the production of a 500-page book, and I needed my cutter," he says. He managed to talk his boss into letting the 18-employee shop buy a new Heidelberg Polar 78X cutter. He has not been sorry. The features on the new model have made

Sick of poor service and price increases, Georgia-Pacific kicked its outsourcing firm out and brought its in-plant back to life. By Bob Neubauer The old joke goes: Price, Quality or Service: Pick any two. A few years ago, Georgia-Pacific couldn't even get those two from its print provider. The facilities management firm with which Georgia-Pacific had contracted—so full of promises in the beginning—had gradually revealed itself to be less than fully committed to the company's interests. Andy McDonald puts it more bluntly: "It really was a disaster," declares McDonald, manager of administrative services. "They did not work with the business units or

Implementing a chargeback system, says Steelcase's Al Schmidutz, was one of wisest moves he has made. By Kristen E. Monte "IT IS something that continually needs to be tweaked to make it better, and we constantly have to measure and update it." "It," according to Al Schmidutz, is the chargeback system he implemented at Steelcase's in-plant a few years ago. This system, he says, is the foundation for the many significant changes he has made during his nearly five-year tenure with the company. His entry into the printing industry, though, started several years earlier. Born and raised in Flint, Mich., Schmidutz left home after

For years the University of Texas at Austin operated two distinct in-plants that seldom worked together. With a new director and a new strategy, they are slowly discovering the strength of unity. By Bob Neubauer It's an indelible Texas image: the longhorn stampede. It's also the analogy Richard Beto uses to describe the changes coming to University Services at the University of Texas at Austin. "In the beginning of the stampede you see the dust," says Beto, director of document services. "As it moves toward you, you can feel it." Likewise, he notes, the stampede of new ideas, new equipment and better service

One of the country's most successful insurance company in-plants, Graphics Services at Securian Financial Group (formerly Minnesota Life) has also mastered the art of insourcing. By Debora Toth What printing company would not envy a shop that has a solid customer base providing it with capital for new equipment? The Graphic Services division of Securian Financial Group is one such shop. The 43-employee in-plant—which ranked fourth among insurance company in-plants on the 2004 In-Plant Graphics Top 50—can be easily envied for its strong partnership with its parent company (formerly known as Minnesota Life) and the successful growth of its insourcing business. "There are a