In-plant Profiles

Dave Schlueter has been intrigued by in-plants since he was in school. So it's no wonder he's made his mark on the industry. By Mike Llewellyn It didn't take long for Dave Schlueter, director of printing at Piper Jaffray, to learn printing would be his trade. When he was young, his dad would occasionally take him to work at Jensens Printing in Minneapolis, and he remembers feeling awestruck by the huge presses. That sense of wonder led him to major in graphic arts at the city's Dunwoody College of Technology, where he also earned an IPMA Student of the Year Award. It wasn't

SET ON a land grant on the Idaho border, Washington State University welcomes 20,000 students to its Pullman campus each year, despite being a little...well, off the beaten path. "It's rural wheat country and really big football players," laughs Steven Rigby, director of printing at the school's Office of University Publications and Printing. Several hundred miles east of rainy Seattle, Pullman is usually pretty dry, he says. But it has been pouring on and off for days when Rigby and

With careful leadership and an eye for the bottom line, John Hurt guided his in-plant through a major change. By Mike Llewellyn A VETERAN of Operation Desert Storm and a pilot who uses his own Piper Cherokee to help the local sheriff's department chase down stolen cars and deer poachers, John Hurt is not afraid of facing challenges. So when his company, Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OGE), decided to merge its printing and mailing operations in 1999, Hurt jumped right into the task, moving into his current role as supervisor of Printing and Mailing Services in the process. Hurt had been working for the

Thanks to its cutting-edge expertise in variable printing, mailing and fulfillment, ING's Document Management Center gives the company a strategic advantage over competition. By Bob Neubauer Tim Steenhoek knew his in-plant had turned a corner the day it completed its largest variable data print job ever. Using a single Xerox printer and only one operator per shift, ING's Des Moines-based Document Management Center (DMC) output 4.5 million mail-ready pieces in just one month. Such a feat shows how far the 73-employee in-plant has come on its journey into the world of on-demand, variable printing. But DMC's expertise in customized printing, along with

As the fourth generation to work in the graphic arts, Lise Melton has done plenty to make her forefathers proud. By Bob Neubauer As a child in Rockford, Ill., Lise Melton may have had an inkling she was destined to work in the printing industry. It was, after all, a family tradition. "I kind of grew up around printing," she explains. "My great grandfather was a graphic artist who drew on litho stones." His son, in turn, started a printing company called General Lithographic. Melton's father worked there as an estimator. So when it came time for Melton to attend college, small wonder she

Working in a maximum-security in-plant has its challenges and rewards. By Mike Llewellyn A YOUNG kid, 10 years old, is wandering the halls of a local Boys Club when someone motions to him from beside a set of closed doors. "Hey," says the stranger. "You want to see something pretty neat?" The kid shrugs apathetically and walks over. But when he looks past the doors he sees one of the oddest sights of his young life: a noisy old platen press and, working quietly beside it, busily making adjustments, an even older man with a wooden leg. It's the summer of 1952 in Milwaukee,

Bill Boone has had to be a referee for one of the biggest mergers in the in-plant business. By Mike Llewellyn WHEN Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged operations last year, the move meant big changes for the in-plants at both energy companies. Seeing the value of running an in-house printing operation, the new company, ConocoPhillips, turned to 32-year veteran in-plant supervisor Bill Boone, manager of Conoco's shop, to assist with the monumental task of merging the two operations into one. He had a big job ahead of him. Bob Slaughter and Paul Atkisson, both recently retired from the Phillips operation, had earned their

Russell Gayer has found success right in his own home town. Russell Gayer is devoted to his home town. That's not surprising considering he's the fourth-generation owner of the family house in Springdale, Ark. His great-grandfather bought the property as a homestead back when "frontier" meant a mortgage rate even lower than the current dip. "I met my wife here," says Gayer, print services manager for Tyson Foods Inc. "We both had roots here, and we're very fortunate for all the opportunity that's here. I could probably go somewhere else, but there's no reason to." As a place to carve out a niche

By anticipating the needs of its company, Best Buy's Print Solutions Group has become one of the top in-plants in the retail business. By Mike Llewellyn BEST BUY Corp., based in Eden Prairie, Minn., opens between 50 and 70 new stores every year, according to Rick Neumann, director of printing for the company's Print Solutions Group (PSG). With each grand opening representing $35,000 in new print and fulfillment business each year, on top of the corporate and insourcing work PSG already provides, it's little wonder the 110-employee in-plant ranked 15th on IPG's Top 50 list. In fact, PSG's process group is charged with staying

With a sense of humor and impeccable customer service, Kevin Field has made several in-plant success stories. by Mike Llewellyn IT WAS supposed to be a small affair, a quiet gathering of friends and colleagues at Washington, D.C.'s 500-employee Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). They were seeing Manager Kevin Field off to his current post as administrator for Virginia Beach City/Schools Printing and Mail Services. Instead, 250 people showed up to say good-bye. "If they want to come, they're going to come," Field recalls joking to his former boss. No one expected that kind of turnout, but it shouldn't have come as much