In-plant Profiles

Every Boy Scout knows the words "Be Prepared." This motto has also driven Robert Mettee to keep the BSA in-plant a step ahead. by Bob Neubauer If everything had gone as planned, Robert Mettee might be an auto mechanic right now. But fate—and his fellow students at the Baltimore vocational technical school he attended—sent him hiking down a different trail. "I was trying to get in the automotive class, and that filled up," he recalls. "My second alternative was printing." So he signed up—and quickly discovered he had a knack for it. "I graduated at the top of my printing class," Mettee

No in-plant manager has a better rapport with his staff than Director Rich Finner. The six full-time employees running Riverside Community College's Production Printing department are engaged in steering the shop every step of the way. And they've got a reason to be interested—not only do they mentor part-time student employees, they have a hand in how the shop's money gets spent. Here's how it works: Twenty-five percent of the revenue coming into the southern California shop is a result of unsolicited insourcing. "We don't drum up that business. They come to us," explains Finner. The money is deposited in what

It's safe to start calling Terry Fulcomer a financial guru. With six employees and a base budget of $750,000, the Prince William County graphic arts and print shop supervisor just scored a Heidelberg NexPress 2100, along with a Heidelberg Digimaster 9110. The key to his wisdom? Insourcing. Roping in 15 to 20 percent of the in-plant's income, insourcing work from other counties and municipalities is essential to this very successful shop. But it wasn't always such a booming in-plant. Fulcomer says when he first started at the shop, most of the equipment was archaic and the quality of work was very poor. "I've

When you work for Sunkist, it's pretty important to be able to print the color orange. That was one of the first things Tim Criswell realized five years ago after he was hired to run the in-plant at Sunkist Growers, in Sherman Oaks, Calif. At the time, the small shop was printing only forms and stationery. Everything that featured Sunkist's five-color logo had to be printed outside. This irked Criswell. He wanted to print that logo. "That, to me, was easy growth," he says. So he traded an unneeded collator for a used one-color Heidelberg KORD and went to work. Customers had

In-plants at health care organizations, like Mayo Clinic, feel that their work is helping to save lives. Story by Mike Llewellyn "You can feel extremely good about working here," says Claire Metzler, supervisor of the in-plant at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn. And with good reason. Mayo Clinic is one of the most respected names in health care, priding itself on its compassionate patient care and best known for its cancer treatments and organ transplants. Likewise, Mayo Clinic's in-plant is a standout in its own industry, with 27 employees and a full range of services, extending even to Web-based job submission and data

Pete Twentey has traveled a long road, but the sharpest curves are yet to come. by MIKE LLEWELLYN Every morning, Pete Twentey gets in his car and drives 74 miles from his home in Frederick, Md., to the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., where he is director of Material Services Operations. It's been a long road for Twentey, and to show for it, he's pulled together some rock-solid experience. "I've been in this business for 34 years," he says, adding that he picked up his first printing job after leaving the military. "I was just driving up the road looking for a

By recognizing new opportunities for growth, the BYU Print and Mail Production center has increased both its revenue and services. by Mike Llewellyn Sales grew solidly over the past year at the Brigham Young University Print and Mail Production center. Director West Barton attributes the increase to an academic trend. He explains that "independent study," or distance learning, has been a great opportunity for his operation. "We've gone from 26,000 student packets four years ago to 75,000 this year," he says. "And we're looking to reach a goal of 500,000." This growth pushed the in-plant up four ranks on last month's Top 50, placing

With steady management and an eye for technology, Tim Hoffstedder has brought his in-plant into the digital age. by MIKE LLEWELLYN When a good thing comes your way, you stick with it. Tim Hoffstedder found his at Western & Southern Financial Group's in-plant. Now printing manager, Hoffstedder has been working at the shop since the tender age of 17, just after his high school graduation. "I really didn't choose this," he says. "But I enjoyed it, so I stayed." Hoffstedder started as an entry-level bindery operator 35 years ago. Leaving the bindery for the smaller presses, he soon took on prepress and typesetting,

Whether rooted in a quest for cost cutting, a push for improvement or an executive/legislative power struggle, serious threats are dogging the country's largest in-plant. by BOB NEUBAUER These are stressful times for the Government Printing Office. Since May the 141-year-old institution has been challenged, disparaged and ignored by the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—despite receiving stellar marks in an audit of its financial statements. Even the excitement of a new Public Printer seems dulled by the political bickering going on between the executive and legislative branches. As Bruce James takes the reigns from departing Public Printer Michael DiMario, the

Scott Lipsey says his in-plant has just taken the first step to becoming a full-blown digital shop. And it's been one giant step. The 30-employee shop, Mississippi State University Printing Services, purchased a Heidelberg QuickMaster DI Pro direct imaging press. "We were doing four-color work on two one-color [Heidelberg] KORDs, and they were both over 30 years old," says Lipsey, the in-plant's QMDI specialist. "So we looked at this purchase as a way to get quick turnaround on four-color work." Lipsey says jobs that used to take three or four days to complete, can now be handled in an hour thanks to the