Keeping The Postman Busy DST Output's high-volume, quick-turnaround printing operation helps speed clients' cash flow.
ByJohn H. Sheridan DST Output, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
At a GlanceWeb-Exclusive Best Practices ByJohn H. Sheridan Benchmarking contact: Bob Logue, director of business operations,
[email protected], 916/939-5735
Bar Coding Curbs Waste A bar code scanning system, using software developed internally by DST Output, plays a significant role in reducing waste--primarily paper waste. It is one reason why the facility has earned a State of California Waste Reduction Award five times since 1995. Bar codes embedded into the data streams that arrive from customers help to identify which printing forms, envelopes and inserts are to be used. Matching bar codes (trimmed off at a later stage) are printed along the edges of the huge rolls of paper containing as many as 50,000 pre-printed customized billing forms. As the paper feeds into the high-speed printing equipment, a laser scanner reads the bar codes "to verify that the right type of paper and the right form is being used," notes Naveed Choudry, manager of the Laser Print Department. "If it doesn't match properly, it will lock up the printer." As the statements are being printed, the laser printer adds a new set of bar codes that govern the subsequent insertion operation, where statements, advertising inserts, and return envelopes are automatically slipped into outgoing-mail envelopes. A bar code reader on the insertion equipment ensures that the proper items are being inserted. Prior to development of the bar code system, explains General Manager Scott Shelton, "we would have rather large runs where ... they would get all the way through the run and then discover that the wrong form had been used. And we'd have to throw it all away. "Now it stops instantaneously. If they have the wrong forms in the printer or the wrong envelopes in the hopper -- Boom! -- it stops. So in addition to making sure all the components are correct, it reduces waste." From an environmental standpoint, DST Output has reduced waste going to landfills through an extensive recycling program. Scrap paper -- including bits and pieces cut out during envelope-manufacturing operations -- is sucked up by an extensive vacuum system and pneumatically transported to a recycling room, where it is baled for shipment to a recycling plant. Over the last 12 years, the facility has recycled more than 73,000 tons of paper that otherwise would have wound up in landfills.
Bullet-Proofing Managers DST Output annually identifies about 15 high-potential individuals as candidates for accelerated advancement through its managerial ranks. They are invited to participate in a "Bullet Proof Manager" (BPM) training program, which is offered worldwide by an outside training firm. "The program is targeted to management and supervisory people -- the people who are going to be running this company five years from now," explains General Manger Scott Shelton. The training covers 24 content areas such as team building, empowerment, recognition, recruiting, retention, strategic planning, communications, facilitation, presentation skills and leadership skills. Intense, four-hour classes are given on each topic. One requirement of the BPM program is that each participant must make a presentation at one of the quarterly West Coast management meetings. "I tell people, 'Your teeth might start chattering, but you can do it. We're going to build your confidence, because we want to move you forward,'" says Shelton. "And, down the road, it's your confidence that's going to help you sell yourself for promotional opportunities." Since the training is tied to succession planning, last year's participants were instructed to identify their likely successors -- thus making them candidates for this year's BPM program. "And where do you think they pulled them from? They pulled them from their departments -- whether it was the production floor or whatever," Shelton notes. "So, this year, we have mechanics and people from the plant floor in the program." For graduates of the BPM program, additional training opportunities have been developed. Currently in the works is a three-day program on strategic planning, which will delve into that topic in greater depth than the BPM course permitted.
Wellness And Safety Pay Off In the last three years, the lost-workday rate for the DST Output complex has declined by 80% and is well below its industry average. Among the reasons for that are engineered ergonomic improvements in the plant and an array of fitness programs available to employees. The El Dorado Hills campus includes a well-equipped fitness center, staffed by a full-time fitness expert. The center has aerobic and weight-training equipment and offers fitness classes-free of charge -- in the early morning, at lunch and after work. In addition, employees have access to a six-person medical team, headed by a full-time physician -- T. Warner Hudson -- who serves as director of health, safety and environment. He supervises three full-time nurses and a support staff. The medical team performs vision and hearing examinations, conducts health-risk assessments, offers physical exams and blood pressure monitoring, and conducts annual flu clinics and smoking cessation programs. Hudson, long an advocate of preventive health measures, contends that there is a strong correlation between employee health and safety and customer satisfaction -- and he has data to support his argument. Studies he's conducted at various work sites strongly indicate that plants with the best safety records tend to have significantly higher customer-satisfaction ratings.
- Plant size: 360,790 square feet (undergoing expansion to 576,000 square feet)
- Start-up date: 1988
- Special Achievements
- Earned 26 patents for software engineering and equipment modifications.
- Five-time winner of State of California waste-reduction award.