In-plant Profiles

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

When the going got tough, these in-plants boosted their sales anyway. From free-falling consumer confidence to scandalized captains of industry, it's been a rough year for the U.S. economy. Likewise, many in-plants have reported a drop in revenue, including 19 of those in the Top 50. But 26 other Top 50 in-plants not only survived the crunch, they flourished in it. They have increased sales, expanded their services and now rest on a foundation more solid than it was before the economy turned sour. How did they do it? Basically by keeping their eyes open for new opportunities—and not just printing

"Printing Services exists to save the corporation money," says Gary Hiltbrand, manager of Printing Services for Target Corp., in Minneapolis. "As soon as we stop doing that, we stop having a reason to exist." If there is one thing that Hiltbrand's in-plant excels at, he says, it's finding ways to provide value for the parent company. "To do that, we look at what niches of printing would save the most money," he says. Part of providing value to the company, according to Hiltbrand, is knowing when outsourcing the work will save more money. For example, the millions of advertising circulars Target requires for

J.R. Gaddis and his staff at University of Oregon Printing and Mailing Services run an in-plant that does it all. Of all the in-plants on the IPG Top 50, this operation provides the most services—just about every service an in-plant can offer. Here's a look at what they do: Design The in-plant employs four prepress specialists who also handle some design work when requested. It's not a service that Gaddis is ready to start pushing too hard, though. "If we're asked, we'll do it," he says. Electronic Prepress "A couple of years ago we installed an Avantra 30 [imagesetter], and we went totally

The Division of Publishing and Distribution Services for the State of Oregon has held strong for the past year, with sales steady despite an unfriendly economic climate. Manager Kay Erickson attributes the health of her facility to seeking out innovative ways to bring in extra revenue. Clocking in at three years on the job, Erickson may not be a veteran yet, but she has not let that stop her from guiding the shop through what she sees as the three main changes shaping its future. They are a transition into digital printing, a partnership with Oregon Corrections Enterprises and the addition of graphic

What's it like to run the in-plant at a prominent graphic arts university? We talked to managers at the major schools on each coast, as well as one in the heartland. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;Professor Ken Macro has a lot on his plate nowadays—and he couldn't be happier. Macro is director of Reprographic, Mailing and Shipping (RM&S) Services and a faculty member at California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo. The fact that he works for one of the most important graphic arts schools in the country has had a large effect on his shop and his career. Macro says his shop benefits

Director Leroy Richmond admits that the original Web site for the State of Tennessee General Services Printing department was not very impressive. "It was very simple, very plain," he says. "And I was sitting there thinking 'How can we get our message out?' " Richmond insists that the Web is "where everything is going," so he wanted to do more than just give his site a shot in the arm. He also wanted to advertise Web design to his customers. But doing so would require a pretty impressive show. So that's just what Richmond and his team set out to create. Now, his in-plant's

I am a son of a printer. My father spent his entire working life in the industry. Born in 1933, John "J.T." Sarantakos was a depression era child who never forgot the difficult lessons he learned growing up. I guess you could classify him as street smart and street tough.