Sustainability in the In-Plant

Welcome to my blog, “Keeping it Green - Sustainability in the In-Plant.”

First, I thought I should introduce myself by telling you a little bit about my background in printing. I started my print career in my stepfather’s printing company in Los Angeles, where at the time (the late '70s), in addition to a camera and vacuum frames, he still had two hot type machines. I also learned how to make color separations on camera. Boy, talk about the old days.

Always the rebel, I ventured out to become a rock star. That didn’t work out so well, so I went back to printing, taking a prepress position at my first in-plant, General Dynamics. I went from there to the in-plant operation for a large financial institution where I was promoted to prepress manager. While at this position I helped usher in the “digital age.” It was the early '90s, and we went from paste-up and camera to desktop publishing and imagesetters.

I did a stint as a marketing & job manager at PIP Printing corporate headquarters. I traveled around the country negotiating contracts for PIP with large commercial printers and also worked with national account sales and marketing. After an acquisition and management change at PIP, I moved on to become the general manager of the printing division for an entertainment industry advertising company. While at this position, I purchased a couple of 40˝, six-color presses and, as an early adopter, brought in CTP.

The tragic events of 9/11 had a widespread impact in many ways, including a negative impact on the advertising industry, and with dwindling revenue, I was laid off. After looking for work all over Southern California with no prospects, I interviewed and was offered the position of director of Printing Services at the University of California, Santa Cruz, 500 miles north, I accepted.

I was again working at an in-plant and in a whole new culture, higher education! I really enjoyed the challenge. And what a challenge it was, with a significant budget deficit but a great print department team. We were able to turn that deficit around and got back on track. I also began my work in understanding and contributing to creating sustainable business operations. A couple of years later I must have had a sense of premonition because I thought we should get out of California. A position was open at the University of Colorado and I went for it and got it,. We packed up the family and headed to the Rockies.

What turned out to be a relative short tenure at CU was also a very busy one. The print shop had an unfortunate reputation of producing poor quality, a perception from many years past. I went about changing that by creating a quality control (QC) team and creating a complete QC program. With a little marketing, we were gaining a new and positive reputation. I also concentrated on building the sustainable operations of our operation and developed a few sustainable programs, rebranding the print shop as “Your Sustainable Campus Printer.” These efforts were well received, and I worked closely with the campus’s Sustainability Committee on many campus-wide initiatives.

Unfortunately, despite all the good at CU, the economic crisis took its toll. In May of this year, my position was eliminated. So I decided to go into business for myself and serve my fellow printers.

I am now operating as a consultant in the printing world, assisting with all things printing-related. I do provide a special focus on sustainability, such as sustainable production operations, sustainable business practices and marketing sustainability efforts to print customers and upper management. I also have been developing a program for sustainable certification specifically for in-plants; I think today I am busier than ever.

With this blog I hope to share with all of you a little insight into the world of sustainability and hopefully how participating in that world can make a difference in your print operations, making you a valuable asset to your parent organizations.