In-plant Profiles

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

Though she never became a teacher like she planned, Jan Hale found another way to help students. By Mike Llewellyn Well before Jan Hale got into the printing business—years before she became Printing Services manager at Douglas County School District—she was on her way to becoming a teacher. She had even worked as a teacher's aide at a special education high school. While attending Arizona State University, though, she decided to major in graphic communications. The sudden change in interest can be traced back to one man, Dr. Zeke Prust, a printing industry veteran on staff at ASU who introduced her to the craft.

The four-color Illumination magazine has won the University of Missouri-Columbia its third Best of Show award. By Bob Neubauer Some jobs get everyone's attention. Illumination magazine is one of them. "When Illumination comes through the plant, everyone kind of perks up," says Rick Wise, director of Printing Services at the University of Missouri-Columbia. That's because the publication repeatedly wins a top prize in the In-Print contest. Pride in this accomplishment makes in-plant employees take just a little more time to ensure that each issue is as perfect as it can be. "It always gets our best effort," affirms Wise. That extra care paid

Thanks to strong support from corporate management, Printing Services at Advocate Health Care is now a state-of-the-art in-plant… with an iGen3 to boot. According to Webster's Dictionary, an advocate is a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea. For Printing Services at Advocate Health Care, this definition couldn't be more apt. While some in-plants struggle to justify their existence to an ever-skeptical parent company, at Advocate, upper management fully supports Printing Services. So much so that, over the past five years, the corporation has made massive improvements to its 28-employee, 25,000-square-foot in-plant, replacing nearly every piece of production equipment. Based

Thanks to two back-to-back installations, Ball State University Printing Services is producing work faster and at a lower cost. By Bob Neubauer For 10 long years Ken Johnson and his crew at Ball State University Printing Services have been slowly building an equipment reserve fund. Now payoff time has come. Over the past couple of months, the Muncie, Ind., in-plant has used its savings to make two major installations that will completely overhaul the 11-employee operation. First the shop installed a six-page thermal Screen (U.S.A.) PlateRite 4100 platesetter. Then, in April, it added a four-color Heidelberg Printmaster 52 perfector. The new capabilities will

In Australia and Canada, in-plant associations are hard at work educating their members and giving them the tools they need to thrive. By Bob Neubauer In-plants are certainly not just a U.S. phenomenon. Though the International Publishing Management Association (meeting this month in suburban Chicago) and the Association of College and University Printers (story on page 14) are probably the world's most successful in-plant groups, other country's in-plants have also formed associations. Two of these groups are NIPPA, (the National In-plant Print & Publishing Association), which draws members from Australia and New Zealand, and CUPMAC (the College and University Print Management Association of

When Rustin Myers first joined the in-plant at Grocers Supply Co. his top priority was changing attitudes. From there, he went on to increase productivity. By Kristen E. Monte UPON HIS arrival at Grocers Supply Co., Rustin Myers quickly realized that the in-plant was neither productive for the parent company, nor service-oriented for the customer. "I came from the environment where you have to be customer-oriented," says Myers, senior printing services manager of the 26-employee operation. "Once you start helping people, they want to use your services." For the past 17 years, that's what he's been trying to do at the family-owned Houston-based company.

One of the largest university in-plants, the BYU Print & Mail Production Center is reorganizing to make itself more efficient and customer friendly. By Bob Neubauer When Brigham Young University merged its print and mail operations in 1998 to form the Print & Mail Production Center, it improved communication between the departments and enhanced its workflow. Now Doug Maxwell wants to take that merger even farther. The new director and his team are reorganizing and streamlining the 65-employee in-plant so that printing, copying and mail functions are completely integrated, not independent services with separate staffs, reporting structures and scheduling. "We felt that we