In-plant Profiles

Parent company mergers, diverse products and a focus on color printing for the public eye seem to typify in-plants in the wholesale and retail trades. Dean Sutera hits the nail right on the head when he comments on the importance of in-plants in the wholesale and retail markets. "Because of the wide variety of printing that is needed by the retail environment," says Sutera, manager of the corporate print shop of Fred Meyer Inc., in Portland, Ore., "in-plants for retail operations are a lot more justifiable." Retail companies like Fred Meyer need everything from large, four-color signs to small flexo labels. And

Competition among insurance companies is fueling marketing efforts, forcing in-plants to turn out more four-color work than ever. Insurance is a huge market. Its providers make up a major portion of Fortune magazine's annual Fortune 500 listing, with giants like State Farm and Prudential ranking in the top 20. Behemoths like these know how important quality marketing materials are to their businesses, and many of them turn to their in-plants to get them. Because of the competition among insurance firms, these materials must be eye-catching and colorful, a fact that is bringing more color printing work into these in-plants. "Color will sell things

Despite the "glamorous" work going on in sound stages right down the hall, the real excitement for Paramount's director of graphic services lies in the print shop. There was a time when the sight of a Klingon chowing down in the company cafeteria would have made Hector Amaya's jaw drop in amazement. But these days the executive director of Graphic Services at Paramount Pictures would hardly give such alien tablemates a second glance. It's all part of life at the giant Hollywood, Calif., studio, where dozens of TV shows like Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Frasier and Wings are shot

Since childhood, Mike Sprayberry has loved printing. His enthusiasm has helped First Tennessee Bank's in-plant prosper. YOU MIGHT say printing is in Mike Sprayberry's blood, but even if it isn't it's definitely under his skin—and he couldn't be happier. Sprayberry, 51, is print shop manager at First Tennessee Bank, in Memphis, just down the road from his birth place of Covington, Tenn. When he was eight, his mother remarried and moved the family of two boys and five girls to Memphis, where they began working in their step-father's print shop. It was there that Sprayberry first caught the printing bug and received the ink

Old-fashioned printing techniques are kept alive at historic print shops around the country. If you're struggling with a less-than-modern press in your in-plant, take heart: Compared with the printers of old, your press is like lightning. How would you like it if your top press speed was 180 sheets an hour, and setting type for one sheet required half a day of labor? This is what being a printer meant in the 18th and 19th centuries. But while the wooden presses of Ben Franklin's day have mostly made way for today's high-speed marvels, they're not completely gone. Historic villages and museums around the country

Marvin "Pete" Beck has guided his in-plant through many changes in his 26 years at Geisinger Health System—including both a merger and a de-merger. Marvin C. "Pete" Beck is a modest man, prone to deflect praise toward his team of print professionals at Geisinger Health System, in Danville, Pa. "I'm just an operations guy," he demurs. But Beck's accomplishments speak for him. Notably, he guided his in-plant through a merger three years ago with Hershey Medical Center of the Penn State Health System, then navigated the de-merger ("You can call it a divorce," he says) this year. Beck and his team had seven

Steady improvement over six years turned the once meager in-plant at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine into an award winner. WHEN ANDREW Haynes started working at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine in 1994, the in-plant wasn't exactly state-of-the-art. "The equipment was so old that you really couldn't do anything with it," the prepress and press production specialist recalls. But help was on the way—in the form of a two-color, 26˝ Heidelberg MOZ press. Haynes arrived at the beginning of a six-year period of growth that turned the South Portland, Maine, in-plant into a high-production, award-winning facility. These changes not

When new technology changed the way engineering documents were produced, Lockwood Greene upgraded its in-plant to keep pace. When Lockwood Greene emptied its Boston warehouse, the 168-year-old engineering company released over 80 percent of it's archive to the Smithsonian Institute. A good portion of the rest went to David Rush's archive at the company's Spartenburg, S.C., Document Management Services department. "I've got records from the 1870s," says Rush, manager of the department. Rush says he enjoys rummaging through the archive room, located across the hall from his office. The nine-person in-plant produces engineering documents and revisions, project specifications, cost reports, meeting minutes, studies and

After creating Missouri's state printing operation out of several scattered shops, Gary Judd worked tirelessly to grow it into the powerhouse it is today. This article was published in September, 2000. Gary Judd passed away in November, 2002. Prior to 1980, government printing in the state of Missouri was a bit disorganized. There were 17 scattered print shops, each using outdated equipment. And then Gary Judd took charge. Under his leadership, 12 of these in-plants were consolidated into one centralized unit—and that operation has grown from $1.5 million in sales in its first year to $7.1 million in fiscal year 1999.

Aggressive self-promotion by the Darden Restaurants in-plant earns its supervisor a promotion to Director. When Warren Lombardy learned that Darden Restaurants had promoted him to director of creative group/printing services, he immediately went to work—planning a party for his staff. This is a typical move for Lombardy, 39, an in-plant self-promotion wizard who shuns the spotlight when it falls on himself. "This promotion is a sign of the team," he says. "A good manager is as good as his or her people. I think I've lined myself up with a good team." That team, he says, has done some great work for Orlando-based Darden