©By Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Used by Permission

 

The Printing Division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, has earned the prestigious 2012 Management Award, presented by the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association annually to an outstanding corporate publishing and distribution operation that excels in efficient management practices to further the objectives of its parent company.

 

Under the leadership of its Director Craig Sedgwick, CGCM, the 329 person in-plant team has worked together to successfully launch many vigorous initiatives and improvements, making the operation stronger, more responsive, more efficient and more competitive.

 

"Employees have worked hard as a team..."

 

Commenting on this award, Craig Sedgwick said, "The LDS Church Printing Division has a climate that fosters cooperation, collaboration and open communications.  The entire staff has worked together across different operational groups to define and solve problems while considering multiple perspectives.  Employees have worked hard as a team to achieve this prestigious award through personal accountability to advance the mission of the LDS Church."

 

Some highlights of their many accomplishments in 2011 include:

·         over 16% reduction in spoilage as a result of their quality assurance/annual incentive plan;

·         an increase in volume of nearly 5% to about 8 billion impressions due to production improvements;

·         a 3% improvement in production cycle times to bring its on-time delivery rate to 93%;

·         an application for Voluntary Protection Plan (VPP) certification through OSHA;

·         an in-service training program that has enabled 26 employees to earn one or more GATF certifications.

 

Beginning operation in 1849, the LDS Church Printing Division, which now occupies 400,000 square feet of space, is the oldest continually operated in-plant in the United States. Each year the Division produces approximately five million copies of the Bible and other scriptures in over fifty different languages. These books are perfect-bound or sewn and are cased in synthetic or leather covers. The facility also prints over 20 million magazines annually for members of the LDS Church around the world. In addition, each year the Division produces millions of hymnals, study and teaching manuals, brochures, programs, forms, and Braille publications required to serve a growing worldwide church organization. An additional printing activity includes fine art giclée printing and framing for chapels, temples, and offices around the world. Giclée is an inkjet technology associated with fade resistant, archival quality inks.

 

Equipment

The LDS Church Printing Division utilizes a broad range of presses to print and bind a wide diversity of products. For web printing, a five color Man-Roland Lithoman and a Timson T-32 book press is used. The sheet-fed area uses a Man-Roland 700, 5 color press and a sister 4 color press. Other smaller presses include a forms press, digital image off-set press, letter and envelope presses, small duplicator presses, a number of high-speed digital copiers and a 106-inch inkjet printer for fine art. Additional equipment includes: stitching lines, perfect-binders, folders, case-makers, sewing machines, book binders, a mailing line, and a thermo-former for making plastic sacrament (communion) cups.

 

Quality Assurance/Annual Incentive Plan

Performance is a key indicator of quality and is central to the LDS Church Printing Division. The Division's Quality Assurance program includes an employee incentive reward. Management uses a spoilage expense reduction program to focus attention on the importance of quality. The incentive shares the difference between the spoilage budget and amount of actual spoilages with employees annually. In 2011, spoilage was reduced16.8% from the prior year. The sources of spoilage are determined and reported to employees monthly. Efforts are then made to minimize spoilages at every organizational level.

 

Production Improvements

At the direction of the management team, the in-plant team was able to improve production volume from 2010 to 2011. Specifically, the number of printed images increased 4.8% to about eight billion impressions.

 

Other significant improvements were made to its operational performance by developing an initiative to improve the on-time delivery rate. Production cycle times were determined, tracked and reported. The result for 2011 was an improvement of 3%, bringing its on-time delivery rate to 93%.

 

Safety Improvements

Due to its high safety rate, a request has been submitted to OSHA to become Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) certified. The award recognizes past safety achievements and sets a goal for future improvement.

 

High Quality Training

The LDS Church Printing Division management places a high priority on employee improvement and understands the value of first-class training. Graphic Arts Training Foundation(GATF) classes are offered to employees in prepress, web-press, sheet-fed, bindery and digital production areas. These classes meet monthly and last between 9 and 18 months. During 2011, an additional 26 employees passed the testing and received one or more GATF certifications. 

 

Standard Operating Procedures for Equipment

Both management and employees have worked in tandem to develop and document standard operating procedures for most of the equipment. This has helped to unify operators and supervisors between shifts, and provides standards for setting up and operating each piece of equipment.

 

 

Sedgwick explains, "This is a demanding time in the printing industry, and the LDS Church Printing Division management team has shown that it is indeed up for the challenge! These accomplishments would not be possible without the dedication of the great employees that work for the LDS Church Printing Division. This has been a team effort, as we continue to take the Word of the Lord, in printed format, to His children worldwide."