In-plant Profiles

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

It's not often a school district print shop lands the printing for an entire city. But Carson Bartels, coordinator of central print services for Waterloo Community School District, saw an opportunity to grab an extra 17 percent of additional revenue for his in-plant, and he took it. Nine years ago, Waterloo, Iowa's city print shop had just said good-bye to its veteran manager as she left for retirement. The city was considering outsourcing the abandoned in-plant's work, but Bartels stepped up, insisting that his four-employee shop could pick up where the old manager left off. Bartels proved his in-plant could save the city money,

Trinity Church has played a part in much of New York's history. On September 11, 2001, it participated again. The in-plant, as usual, was there to help.

"In college you learn management skills from a book. In the Navy you get hands-on experience dealing with many different types of people in very stressful situations," says Jimmy Robinson, printing department director at the University of West Alabama. Drawing from the leadership skills he learned as print shop supervisor aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (and the strategies he read in college), Robinson has spent 19 years building this small southern in-plant into a seasoned survivor responsible for 95 percent of all the work printed by the university. Technology, quality and efficiency, he says are the focus areas that will keep an in-plant alive.

When you're the only guy in the print shop, everything's your fault. So if the in-plant isn't pulling it's weight, it's your job on the line. "Over the years, watching so many shops go out of business, I've looked for different avenues to take [to ensure the shop's survival]," says Larry Clements, director of printing at Redlands Community College and the shop's only full-timer. The solo operation is especially tough because the El Reno, Okla., school won't let Clements charge more for printing than the cost of the materials. With a profit margin thinned out to a big fat zero, Clements did what anyone

If your in-plant has only a handful of employees, don't feel too bad. You have lots of companionship. But if you're using your size as an excuse for not expanding, then pay attention to what these small in-plants have been doing. Despite having between one and seven employees, they have been thinking big, accomplishing goals that even Top 50-sized in-plants would envy—such as adding a Heidelberg NexPress 2100 digital color press, and printing four-color marketing material. They have found ways to generate new income and added capabilities that make them essential to their organizations. And it was all possible because they dared

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

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