Michigan Education Association

MEA Print Shop Equipment

Customer Profile

Print Shop Pro®

Michigan EducationAssociation at a Glance:Interview with:Gus Schowengerdt, Manager ofCreative Projects

Solution: Print Shop Pro® LightTemplate BuilderDirectory Integration DocumentConverterPSP Mail Module Print Shop Staff: 7

Print Jobs Per Year: 3,000

Equipment:Xerox Printers & Copiers includingone XC1000, one Nuvera 144 andone C60, one 30” Challenge Cutter,one Horizon 200A stitcher/folderwith feeder and trimmer, an MBOP20 folder, a Rosbackscorer/perforator, a Challenge drill,a Bostitch M19 stitcher, a PowisFastback tape binder, two Pitney-Bowes Connect+ 3000 postagemeters, a Pitney-Bowes DA70saddressing machine & aBell+Howell 1000 6-pocket inserter

Headquartered in East Lansing,Michigan, The Michigan EducationAssociation (MEA) is a labor unionrepresenting more than 157,000teachers, faculty and educationsupport staff throughout the state.MEA was founded in 1852 as theMichigan State Teachers Association.Today it is the largest publicemployee union in the state and thethird largest education association inthe United States. Usually referred to as a “teachers'union” its membership also includescollege faculty, public schoolcustodians and bus drivers amongothers. It represents people workingin neighborhood public schools aswell as school employees working forprivate companies. While MEA works to serve itsmembers’ employment goals, it alsopromotes public education. It seesthese goals as closely related. Itsmission statement states: “Themission of the MEA is to ensure thatthe education of our students andthe working environments of ourmembers are of the highest quality." We spoke with Gus Schowengerdt,Manager of Creative Projects at MEA.Gus is originally from Ohio and has adiverse background. He graduatedfrom Ohio State University with adegree in Sociology. He worked as a

Manager in a live music night cluband then transitioned into print byworking pre-press and eventually asan Art Director in the commercialmarket. Gus earned himself aposition as Art Director and Managerof Creative Services with theAmerican Cancer Society, and workedthere for 10 years. He decided torelocate his family to Michigan whena position with MEA becameavailable. He felt like it was theperfect fit. Gus has been with MEAsince October of 2015. He isresponsible for managing a staff of 7which includes, 2 graphic designers, 1social media and web specialist, 1person that runs the duplicators, 1bindery coordinator, 1 datacoordinator and 1 creative projectteam assistant who also runs themailroom. The print shop at MEA processesapproximately 3,000 jobs per yeartotaling more than 5 millionimpressions annually. All of the jobsare processed using Print Shop Pro®.When asked about his customers Gusshared, ”We (MEA Creative ProjectsTeam) support about 100,000 unionmembers, teachers and educationsupport professionals in the state ofMichigan. Our customers are alsoMEA headquarters, departments,field offices and local coordinatingcouncils.” The shops equipment consists ofXerox Printers and Copiers includingone XC1000, one Nuvera 144 and oneC60, one 30” Challenge Cutter, oneHorizon 200A stitcher/folder withfeeder and trimmer, an MBO P20folder, a Rosback scorer/perforator, aChallenge drill, a Bostitch M19stitcher, a Powis Fastback tapebinder, two Pitney-Bowes Connect+3000 postage meters, a Pitney-Bowes

DA70s addressing machine anda Bell+Howell 1000 6-pocketinserter. In describing theirequipment Gus shared, “Wepurchase as much USmanufactured or Michiganmanufactured equipment aspossible to support the nationaland local economy.” Most ofthe jobs the print shop isresponsible for printing includecontracts and memberhandbooks. These documentsare used by members to guidethem through their unionexperience.

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Rob Vitu, Dan Hunt, Kris Enright, Rachel Beyer, Dave Bender,Miriam Garcia, Shantell Coats, Gus Schowengerdt

“I felt the PSP Annual User GroupMeeting was very beneficial. I am

excited about going back anddoing it again. I enjoyed meeting

with fellow PSP Users anddiscussing our challenges and

sharing our successes.”-Gus Schowengerdt

The MEA faced a major challenge in March of 2013when the state passed legislature making Michigan a"Right to Work State." This decision allows workers inthe state to leverage the collective bargaining power oflabor unions and associations such as MEA, withoutbeing a member or paying union dues. "This was a bighit to many labor unions in Michigan and around thecountry," shared Gus. He continued, "To deal with theimpact of this change, we've focused on making ourprint projects more efficient and economical. We alsodon’t charge our internal customers for labor and theyonly pay us for materials, click charges andshipping/postage. This provides significant savings toour customers' tight budgets. And, compared to goingto an outside printer, we can be very economical whilestill providing materials that have a lot of flair.”

Suzanne Dietel, Gus’ predecessor selected PSP. Sheworked diligently to have the system up and runningbefore her departure, which was a huge benefit to thedepartment and to Gus as he stepped into his newrole. The workflow automation tools and onlineordering features PSP provides made taking on theposition much less difficult. When asked his favoritefeature in PSP, Gus responded, "I probably benefit themost from the cloning feature in PSP. This makes jobsubmission easy for our customers and makes thefulfillment a breeze for our print shop staff. I really likethis feature because we don’t have to reinvent thewheel every time a job is submitted. Once we havetweaked an order the customer can easily re-order andour turnaround time is faster. I’m still learning a lot.I've learned a lot through trial and error and I’mconstantly discovering new things." We were pleased to have Gus join us for our 2017PSP User Group Meeting. He shared, “I felt the PSPAnnual User Group Meeting was very beneficial. I amexcited about going back and doing it again. I enjoyedmeeting with fellow PSP Users and discussing ourchallenges and sharing our successes.” Outside of printing, Gus enjoys jogging. He says,

“I’ve had a good life. My top priority in life now is makingmy wife and 4 year old daughter laugh. Spending time withthem is what I enjoy most.” Users can locate information on Gus's favorite feature byaccessing the PSP online Knowledge Base

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