In-plant Profiles

Once copying and printing was brought in-house, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office was able to take advantage of the low cost of color. Sidney Ettedgui of the Manatee County, Florida, Sheriff's Office certainly has his hands full. As a crime prevention practitioner he is often speaking to community groups and planning programs to deter crime. As if that weren't enough, though, he is also responsible for managing all internal and external documents for the 1,005-person sheriff's department, which includes more than 356 law enforcement officials. With officers constantly filing crime and incident reports, document management is a priority. About five years ago Ettedgui

Starting as a linotype operator in a hot metal shop, Richard Gonzales moved steadily upward to become director of the Kansas Division of Printing. As a kid growing up in Topeka, Kan., Richard Gonzales got some sage advice from his father. "My dad told me to learn a trade," recalls Gonzales, director of the Division of Printing for the Kansas Department of Administration. In those days, he says, the city's Hispanic citizens had limited options, and his father naturally wanted the best for him. So Gonzales did some thinking. "I was in high school and they had a printing class, and I took it—and

Jim Thorne, of The Colonial BancGroup, has doubled the size of his in-plant, brought in new equipment and shown his company he can save it money. Fresh out of the Navy and looking to take an architectural drafting course at Patterson State Technical College, Jim Thorne was disappointed to learn that the class was full. So he took a graphic arts class instead. From taking that class, Thorne says, printing "got in my blood." Thorne worked in various print shops in the Montgomery, Ala., area during the day and took classes at night, earning a degree in graphic arts. He was then hired to

Customer-oriented, technology-focused and always looking for ways to save the university money, Mike Loyd has worked hard to build LSU Graphic Services into a leading in-plant. Ralph Gossard routinely makes key business decisions using hard facts, so it isn't often he renders judgement based upon a gut feeling. But four years ago, Gossard—the associate vice chancellor for administrative services at Louisiana State University—decided to take a gamble when he selected Mike Loyd as LSU's Director of Graphic Services. "Mike did not really have the large weight of experience you would normally look for," says Gossard. "But I knew him well enough to know he

In 1994 Tony Loster took on the challenge of reviving an out-of-date in-plant. Today, print quality and business are soaring—and he's not done yet. BORN IN California and raised in the Chicago area, Tony Loster, director of print production at The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) in-plant in Rosemont, Ill., came from humble beginnings in the printing industry. "I went to work for my brother-in-law who was at a company that set type," recalls Loster of his first job out of high school. "I started out delivering type." From there Loster did some proofing and various other jobs, before getting his hand into

When the Texas Agricultural Extension Service cleaned out its warehouse several years ago, it recycled 36 tons of paper. Thanks to on-demand printing, those days are gone for good. Ralph Piper's print shop is famous within the Texas Agricultural Extension Service for performing magic. In one case, the communications unit, which supports the Extension Service, was responsible for creating a manual on drought response in 36 hours for a federal government conference. Input was accepted and compiled electronically from extension services and experts all over the country. The 300-page file was transmitted to the print shop Thursday night. The shop created 500

Like many in-plants, Central Michigan University Printing Services used to do all of its estimates by hand. But over the past year-and-a-half, the 15-employee Mt. Pleasant, Mich., in-plant has been phasing in the Programmed Solutions Print Management System. Today, estimating is a whole new ball game. "Now we can build a template and then when we get the call for an estimate that's very similar, we can just call up the template and modify it," explains Rhonda Kohler, director. "You can have similar estimates in minutes." Now, she says, order-entry clerks are able to do standard estimates themselves, whereas in the past Kohler

J.T. and John Sarantakos have made in-plants a family business. Back in the '60s, when John "J.T." Sarantakos was teaching high school printing in Harvey, Ill., he used to bring his young sons in to help out in the in-plant after school and in the summer. They would handle small tasks, like hand-collating jobs from piles laid out on a table—and Sarantakos worked out a sophisticated incentive plan. "When they got to the end of the table they picked up a nickel or a dime and stuck it in a bowl," he recalls. "They got an instant reward." For one of those boys, however,

Though college and university in-plants take on many different sizes, shapes and functions, the same basic issues affect them all. Visit any two college or university in-plants and you're apt to encounter two remarkably different operations. If you're in Seattle, walk into the University of Washington's vast in-plant, and you'll see big offset presses, high-speed digital printers and sophisticated mailing equipment all cranking away. Stop into Philadelphia's Temple University, on the other hand, and you won't see any offset presses at all, just copiers. Saunter down to Austin and you'll find two unaffiliated in-plants at the University of Texas: UT Copy

In-plants serving printing equipment manufacturers not only produce printed work, but also lend a hand in planning equipment improvements. Back In 1997, A.B.Dick came up with a plan. The Niles, Ill.-based company wanted to resurrect its in-plant and use it both to showcase its products and test its new equipment. With that goal in mind, Greg Zanoni was picked to serve as corporate demonstration floor and print shop manager. Now, two years later, Zanoni's in-plant produces about 98 percent of A.B.Dick's printed work, including all of its business stationery and marketing materials. What's more, the 3,900-square-foot in-plant doubles as a demonstration center where