In-plant Profiles

Schwab Litho San Francisco Schwab Litho, the printing arm of the financial firm Charles Schwab & Co., is a survivor. When recent company cutbacks brought the most layoffs in Schwab's 30-year history, the in-plant stayed intact—and with good reason. With the third highest sales-per-employee figure of all the in-plants on this year's Top 50, Schwab has made a spot for itself on the corporate landscape at Schwab. "Until the culture goes paper-less, I believe we have a solid future," remarks Mark Geyer, director of the in-plant. Operating on a chargeback system, Schwab Litho doesn't "officially" have an annual budget. However, as a department

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

To a famous brewer like Anheuser-Busch, quality is crucial. Jon Schroeder makes sure its printed products are equally outstanding. by PAMELA MORTIMER Life at Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis in-plant isn't always a party. Sure, employees get two free cases of beer a month, but those are for take-home use only. You won't see press operators downing cold Budweisers. What you will see is a very clean shop, and a very proud staff. "They are proud of what they do, and I'm genuinely proud of them and represent them that way," remarks Jon Schroeder, supervisor of Graphic Communications for the world's largest brewer. That pride

Four Blocks From Terror Jeffrey Allen was hard at work in the New York Stock Exchange's fifth-floor in-plant when terror struck from the skies. Just four blocks away, two hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center, filling the blue September sky with smoke, fire and fear. "We heard the explosions," Allen recalls. But that was only the beginning. Told to stay in the building, he and his coworkers experienced the double horror of watching the towers collapse on television and feeling the earth shake beneath their feet. "All the dust and the smoke came over here and we couldn't even see

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.