In six locations across the country, in-plants have been gathering over the past month for one-day networking forums. Coordinated by the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association, the regional meetings were designed to bring in-plants together with others in their areas while spreading the word about the benefits IPMA can bring to them.
St. Louis
MARGARET KLING began her career in the printing industry rather unexpectedly three decades ago. “I had a week-old baby at home,” recalls Kling, “and my sister-in-law wanted me to help out for two weeks, part time...[type]setting some name badges.” Glad to lend a hand, the self-described “stay-at-home mom” took the temp job at First Capital Printing, in St. Louis. There she made a discovery: she had a knack for typesetting.
DUANE HUGHES has spent his entire career with a financial services company in St. Louis, but he’s had to “make change” recently due to shifts in employment and by his employer. Yet, despite a company transition that has altered the in-plant, Hughes has capitalized on his ability to balance people and production to keep himself and the print shop secure within the securities firm. Hughes has lived in Illinois, right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, since he was about a year old. He received his Associate’s Degree in data processing from Lewis & Clark Community College, in Godfrey, Ill. In
CTP has revamped the prepress department at brokerage firm A.G. Edwards. By Bob Neubauer WHEN A.G. Edwards' print shop fired up its new Presstek Dimension 400 and Mitsubishi Silver DigiPlate computer-to-plate systems in the spring of 2004, it was a monumental change for the St. Louis-based operation. Up until then, the 35-employee shop had been using its camera to shoot film. "We knew from an efficiency standpoint that [CTP] was where we needed to be," says Sue Weiss, vice president of General Services. This was never more apparent than when the in-plant tackled one of its most cumbersome jobs, a directory of company
When your company is one of the leading makers of sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, floor scrubbers and ceiling fans, you tend to generate a ton of product literature—which means your in-plant goes through lots of plates. The five-employee in-plant at Tacony Corp., in St. Louis, was spending close to $100,000 a year to have plates produced by a neighboring vendor. And despite the close proximity, it usually took one or two days for the shop to get plates back. So last spring, Tacony purchased a Screen PlateRite 4300 thermal platesetter to supply its two- and four-color Heidelberg presses. According to Kristi Humes, vice president