In-plant Profiles

Meldisco's in-plant prints for three retail shoe chains—and insources to boot. MIKE KAPLAN loves challenging his in-plant. As if Meldisco Printing Services wasn't busy enough tackling nearly 5,000 jobs a year for three major shoe chains, Kaplan also finds the time to insource more than $100,000 of business each year. "It's been working out great for years," he says. Kaplan started insourcing eight years ago when Meldisco—the Mahwah, N.J., company that owns and operates all of K-Mart's shoe departments—was a division of the Melville Corp. He printed for Melville divisions that did not have in-plants. "I saw the opportunity to generate income and

Rob Lilley spent seven years learning graphic arts in the army. He uses his military experience to manage New Jersey Transit's in-plant. Rob Lilley discovered his love of graphic arts in a very unlikely place—the United States Army. Now, as manager of print graphics at New Jersey Transit, he uses his military skills to run an efficient—and growing—in-plant. Under Lilley's management, the in-plant grew from 5,000 to 25,000 square feet, and went from producing 16 million pieces a year up to 44 million pieces, mostly schedules, forms and stationery. Lilley, 51, was born in San Antonio Texas. His father was an engineer whose

In its first appearance in the In-Print contest, SAFECO took top honors with a colorful marketing piece that required lots of attention to detail. As a perk for its top agents, SAFECO organizes an annual event called the "Conference of Champions," which brings the company's top producers together to attend workshops, mingle with executives and make new friends. Next year that conference will take place in both Vienna, Austria, and Carlsbad, Calif. To motivate its independent agents to work harder and qualify for the free conference, the Seattle-based insurance and financial services firm wanted to send out a quality marketing piece, bursting with color

For Allen Palovik, the real thrill of working at Knott's Berry Farm doesn't come from the roller coasters. When GhostRider roars past his office, Allen Palovik doesn't need to look to know it's there. "I can feel it rumble when it goes by," he reveals. "Things shake." But that's just part of life in the amusement park business, concedes Palovik, supervisor of reprographics at Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park, Calif. GhostRider, the park's new wooden roller coaster, runs right past the building that houses his seven-employee in-plant. "As far as the sound...we've gotten used to it," Palovik adds. Usually, though, the

Although he dabbled in many fields, Dan Kovalsky found his niche in printing. Now he couldn't be happier. Daniel Kovalsky didn't grow up dreaming of being a printer. But now, as supervisor of Print & Imaging Services for Constellation Energy Group in Baltimore, he wouldn't dream of doing anything else. Kovalsky, 48, was born in Johnstown, Pa. His family moved to Maryland when he was five, and he's lived there ever since. He graduated from Brooklyn Park High School at age 17 and found a job changing truck tires for Kelly-Springfield until he was 18. Once he was old enough, his father, an electrician

Through hard work , Joy Heishman excels in a field she loves. Now, her effort goes towards hosting the ACUP conference. by JOE RANOIA HARD WORK pays off. That's what we're taught as children. The current president of the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP), Joy Heishman believes it—at least in her case. When Heishman started out as a delivery person and bindery worker for Wright State University's Printing Services in Dayton, Oh., she never imagined she would some day become the director of the whole department. At the time, she had no background in printing at all. She'd been a bookkeeper and

Money may not grow on trees, but that didn't stop Dollar Tree from spending a few bucks to upgrade its in-plant. The whole idea of going to a Dollar Tree store is to save money. But sometimes you have to spend a few dollars now to save money down the road. With that in mind, Dollar Tree recently spent more than $500,000 to completely upgrade its 11-employee in-house graphics department, based in Chesapeake, Va. The 4,500-square-foot shop produces everything from signs to coupons for Dollar Tree's home office, four distribution centers and 1,400 stores nationwide. The company is expanding, and graphic arts manager

PrinTech has grown to become a model in-plant—but it wasn't always in such great shape. A new director and dedicated staff turned it around. PrinTech, Texas Tech University's in-plant in Lubbock, Texas, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. What makes this celebration important is that five years ago the in-plant, deep in debt, looked like a candidate for the scrap heap. The turnaround has been a teamwork effort led by Shauna Peterson, director of Fiscal Affairs Services at Texas Tech. Peterson, who was previously the university's director of Engineering Services, took over the troubled shop shortly after her vice-president approached her with an

For Bob Hulett, printing has been a lifelong interest. He has turned that interest into a successful career with Beckman Coulter. FOUR YEARS of high school graphic arts classes paved the way for Robert Hulett's future career in the printing industry. And though subsequent studies at California's Fullerton College increased his knowledge of print and prepress technology, Hulett already knew what he wanted to be—a printer. "It was an interest way back in high school," he recalls. "Graphics really appealed to me." Hulett knew that his father's company, Beckman Coulter, had an in-plant print shop, so when he got out of school he applied

By keeping management informed of his in-plant's anticipated growth, Tim Waltz has been able to keep his shop properly equipped. Tim Waltz may not have been born to work in an in-plant, but he sure didn't waste any time getting himself a job in one. He was only 17 when he started working in the in-plant in his Minnesota high school, Austin Public School. He had taken a few graphic arts courses and fallen in love with the job. Now, 18 years later, as printing services manager of Cherry Creek Schools' eight-employee in-plant in Aurora, Colo., Waltz still loves his job. He has