Postal reform there's something about Harry

May 1, 2001 12:00 PM, KATHERINE O'BRIEN Editor | kobrien@intertec.com

AUTOMATION AND COMPUTERIZATION HAVE DECREASED THE NEED FOR “MIDDLE-SKILL” EMPLOYEES

This past February, we spoke with Fredrick P. Seymour Jr., president of Fredrick P. Seymour and Associates (Northfield, IL) and champion of postal reform. Associate editor Samantha Hoover asked Seymour to comment on the postal rate increase approved — under protest — by the Postal Rate Commission. Noting that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) financial woes are largely due to increasing labor costs, Seymour asked: “When 82 percent of your product is labor, if you can't fire anybody, what do you do?” (See “Postal reform pressure mounts,” February 2000, p. 12.)

The answer is reform, according to the keynote speaker at the recent R&E Council Binding, Finishing and Distribution Seminar in Chicago, Harry V. Quadracci, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics (Sussex, WI). The exec noted that the USPS lost $199 million in 2000 and is considering raising postal rates by as much as 20 percent.

Quadracci's reform suggestions include treating the USPS like a private business — giving postal union employees the right to strike, closing some of its 28,000 storefront operations and generally requiring the organization to follow sound business practices. He urged the magazine, catalog, direct-mail producers and other members of the mail community to unite and make themselves heard in Washington.

MEASURE BOOKS PER MAN-HOUR

Quadracci then tackled bindery productivity, a timely subject, considering our cover story: “Perfect binding: Automatic setting aids adhesive operation” (see p. 36).

“In the past 25 years, the consumer price index has increased five percent,” submits the printing exec. Meanwhile, the price for printing 32 pages in four colors has gone from $18 per thousand to $13.50 per thousand. Quadracci says that 1.6 percent decrease per year in price translates to a seven percent annual increase in pressroom productivity.

If we were to apply those rates to operational speed of finishing equipment, however, Quadracci points out that what once operated at 6,000 books per hour in 1970 should now operate at 30,000 books per hour. Yet complexity in selective binding, demo-geographic binding and the like has not allowed that to happen. He contends that when talking about bindery productivity or speed, we cannot measure in books per hour.

“We need to measure books per man-hour,” Quadracci concludes. By this standard, the bindery is currently operating at twice the speed and half the man hours required 20 years ago.

How is Quad dealing with the shortage of skilled employees in the bindery? Automation and computerization have decreased the need for what the exec calls “middle-skill” employees. “Pocket feeding will become a lost art,” he observes.

HUFFLEPUFF OR GRIFFINDOR?

At Quad/Graphics, there are general workers (many of whom don't speak English), classified as high work-ethic employees (HWEE), and knowledge workers. According to Quadracci, the HWEE workforce are high-output producers that are willing to work overtime, resulting in fewer employees overall on Quad's automated equipment. He adds that these employees complement technology, rather than compete with it.

This allows the company to invest more time in its knowledge workers, who Quadracci says are highly skilled and computer-literate. Quad/Graphics has implemented an Operators-in-Training (OIT) program where knowledge workers are given classroom and on-the-job instruction.

“We teach smart people to use smart tools,” Quadracci says.

The result: The OIT program has done a “terrific job” in solving the printer's labor problems, according to the exec. “Finishing run waste has been halved,” he says. “The cost of books per labor-hour has been halved.”

While this program has apparently worked well at Quad, I'm sure many of us are secretly glad our job classifications aren't quite so black-and-white. It sounds a little like Harry Potter's Sorting Hat…

On an entirely different note, I recently spoke with Nanette Amalfitano of LMN Printing (Valley Stream, NY). LMN is a family business — it was founded by Nanette's parents, Luis and Mary Carro, and at various times, it employed all four of their daughters.

Nanette was calling to tell me her sister, Nancy Lou Sherman, had passed away. “After 30 years of working together, we will miss Nancy immensely, not only as a partner, but as a sister and daughter,” said Nanette.

Our condolences to the LMN family. Donations may be made to the Luis Carro Vocational Scholarship Foundation.