In-plant Profiles

After 35 years with the University of Nebraska, Ken Holm has decided to retire. His exemplary dedication to both staff and customers helped Printing Services grow to be one of the country's top in-plants. by Bob Neubauer After four years in the Air Force, Minnesota native Kenneth L. Holm found himself jobless in Lincoln, Neb., back in 1963, with a wife to support. To help him out, a neighbor got him an apprenticeship at a local printing firm. Though Holm knew nothing about printing, he decided not to be picky. "My wife had a job and I didn't," he laughs. "I needed

Only a handful of organizations operate in-house book binding facilities. IPG recently took a look inside. by Cindy Waeltermann In a time when technology advances focus on simplifying and speeding up printing and binding processes, it's ironic that the best method for binding a book is sometimes no different than it was in the 14th century—with a needle and thread. "It's pretty labor intensive," observes Marc Flechsig, manager of the University of Minnesota's bindery. His book binding operation does about 5 percent of its binding by hand, he says, following criteria set by the Library Binding Institute. Basically, if a book is thicker than

Managers Honored In-plant managers received more than just knowledge from the recent International Publishing Management Association conference in Portland, Ore. Dozens of them took home awards. The In-Print awards got the most attention. All 105 plaques were on display, and first-place winners had their awards presented to them on stage during the awards banquet. Boeing claimed the Best of Show victory, its fifth in 11 years. Additionally, IPMA recognized a number of in-plants for their accomplishments: • Duke Energy, of Houston, won IPMA's annual award for In-house Promotional Excellence for holding an open house in the company's lobby that drew more than 500

Twice The Color—Without The Cost Customers wanted more color. But Arkansas State University Printing Services had only a one-color, 29˝ Heidelberg press. Posing with Arkansas State University Printing Services' new MAN Roland R204E press are (front row, from left) Director David Maloch, L. C. McHalffey (press operator), Allison Brown (printing management student), and Terri Collins (accounting tech). Standing behind Maloch: Homer Hallet (press/bindery operator), Phareta Calkin (prepress tech), and Mark Meyer (assistant director). For years, the nine-employee operation had been running four-color work on the press, in addition to black-and-white book jobs. But despite operating the press eight hours a day, five days a

Tension filled the air. After more than eight hours of examining printed pieces for flaws, the judges of In-Print 2001 were looking at three flawless entries, trying to decide which one deserved to be named Best of Show. In the running were a colorful annual report from the University of Missouri-Columbia, a sharp-looking hard cover book from Brigham Young University and an eye-catching marketing booklet from Boeing. All three in-plants were former Best of Show winners. They each knew how to produce quality products. This didn't make the judges' job any easier. They scrutinized each entry using a detailed checklist

John Weston has worked all over the country, but he's always managed stay in the in-plant environment. by Bob Neubauer John E. Weston III is an in-plant lifer. Now working in his sixth in-plant, the affable 53-year-old explains his dedication simply: "That's the only thing I ever wanted to do," he says. Weston's career path has led him all over the country, bringing him finally to Houston where he is now manager of Printing Services for the Metropolitan Transit Authority. He and his staff of seven have made great progress in bringing work back in-house and saving the organization money. East Coast Beginnings

Criminals can be surprisingly dedicated employees, say managers of prison in-plants—but just in case, they keep the tools locked up.

The chocolate king's in-plant has done away with its DocuTechs in favor of clustered printers—and added a new folder and wide-format printer to boot. Hershey Foods Corp. is always moving forward. Whether increasing the size of its Kit Kat bar or expanding its visitors' center, Hershey's Chocolate World, the 118-year-old company never stops looking ahead. Its in-plant shares this philosophy. In recent years the 10-employee shop has acquired a five-color Shinohara press and an Encad wide-format printer, to name just a few additions. Now the Hershey, Pa.-based in-plant is at it again. The operation recently installed a new T/R Systems Micropress cluster printing system,

After 33 years of planning the future for the St. Tammany Parish School District, Frank Gennusa finally gets to plan his own. by Allan Martin Kemler FRANK GENNUSA doesn't fly. If he can't get somewhere on foot, by car, by boat or by train, he's not going. But that doesn't mean he hasn't traveled. Like many roads, though, his eventually led back home, to Covington, La. Thirty-one miles north of the Big Easy, across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and swaddled in acres of cypress, magnolia and moss-draped oak, Covington is a close-knit bedroom community that serves as the parish seat for St. Tammany, the

For the past 14 years Debbie Pavletich's vision has led Briggs & Stratton's graphic services department through productive and profitable times. NOT EVERYONE who's a good typist in high school ends up running a graphic arts operation with an $8.5 million budget. But not everyone is Debbie Pavletich. Back in high school, long before becoming graphic services manager at Briggs & Stratton's 35-employee in-plant, Pavletich's typing skills led her to join a co-op program designed to help students learn typesetting. After graduation, she took a job typesetting at a Milwaukee ad agency. At the time, she says, she couldn't quite put her finger on