In-plant Profiles

All In The Family
April 1, 1999

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,

Deans Of Duplication
April 1, 1999

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

Practicing What They Preach
March 1, 1999

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

From Vacation To Vocation
March 1, 1999

Dwight Loeding has rebuilt Orlando Regional Healthcare System's in-plant into an efficient, service-oriented success. When most people go to Florida on vacation they come home with a tan. Dwight Loeding came home with a new job. In 1990 he and his wife were enjoying the Florida sunshine on vacation from their home in Michigan when they noticed an ad in the Orlando Sentinel. The Orlando Regional Healthcare System needed someone to overhaul its faltering in-plant. Armed with some high school printing experience and a business administration degree, Loeding decided to check it out. Clad in his vacation shorts, he interviewed for the position.

'A Natural Manager'
February 1, 1999

This month IPG talks to Larry Williams, at Fireman's Fund, who entered the printing industry by chance and has loved it ever since. Fresh out of Sonoma State University, armed with degrees in geography and business management, Larry Williams had no idea what he was getting himself into when he walked into a copy shop back in 1979. "I went into a print shop to get my resume printed," Williams recalls. "They had a typesetting machine but they didn't have a typesetter, and I said, 'well, I need a job. If you give me the manual I can learn how to run that machine.'

Just What The Doctor Ordered
January 1, 1999

Healthcare in-plants face the unique task of serving both the medical field and the patients that are being treated. In-plants serving the healthcare industry are responsible for more than just paper and ink; it is an industry with a definite human side to it. "We are dealing with life. We cannot afford to have a lot of mistakes made," explains Margie Penkala, team leader of the graphic arts/mailroom department at St. Helena Hospital, in Deer Park, Calif. While Penkala oversees just four part-time employees in the hospital in-plant, she understands the large responsibility her department is taking on. "The forms have got to

Northern Excellence
January 1, 1999

In the first of our in-plant manager profiles, we talk to Jim Puppe, supervisor of the prize-winning Minnkota Power Cooperative print shop. In Jim Puppe's mind, the beaches and sunshine of Los Angeles pale against the crisp country air of North Dakota. So after spending seven years perfecting his press skills in the City of Angels, Puppe and his wife packed up and headed back home. That was more than 20 years ago, and he hasn't looked back. Today Jim Puppe is print shop supervisor at Minnkota Power Cooperative, in Grand Forks, right on the Minnesota border. In recent years this small

Head Of Its Class
December 1, 1998

University of Washington Publications Services Seattle, Wash. As the largest university in-plant on the IPG Top 50 list, University of Washington Publications Services has an impressive operation. Not only does it fill a three-story, 48,000-square-foot building on the edge of the Seattle campus, but it includes 16 copy centers, two of which are located off campus. In addition to printing and copying, the mega-in-plant handles all of the university's incoming and outgoing mail—a massive undertaking, and part of the reason that Publications Services employs a staggering 160 full-time employees and 112 part-timers. But why? Why does a university need such

A Global Leader
December 1, 1998

Globe Life & Accident Insurance Oklahoma City, Okla. For Globe Life & Accident Insurance, which goes after new customers through direct mail campaigns, the in-plant print shop is a vital part of the company. Currently Globe is saturating the market with over 300 million pieces of mail annually, almost all of which are printed and processed in-house at the 112,000-square-foot Oklahoma City in-plant facility. These huge volumes have grown slowly over the years, but that pace seems to have picked up within the last decade, according to Bill Leavell, manager of printing and building administration. He has been seeing an increase in

Golden State Giant
December 1, 1998

California Office of State Publishing Sacramento, Calif. Sometimes when you're big you've got to get smaller to survive. That's what happened in 1996 at the California Office of State Publishing (OSP), the largest state printing operation in the country. That was the year the Sacramento-based operation went non-mandated—when state agencies were no longer required to use the in-plant's services. The result was a significant drop in sales—10 percent over two years—and a corresponding reduction in staff. But the move also reduced some of the privatization challenges being directed at OSP by private sector printers and won the operation a lot of