software engineer

manufacturing specialist

material handler

corporate risk development program

press operator

Quality Support Services

Overall rating for company and people as a whole is noted as very solid, good core values, empowers employees to grow and own the business, and gives them many opportunities at which to do so. The majority of the team members and leadership within the company are very good people, good to work with, understand the business and it's demands, and do what they can to support others as necessary. The company's value wheel and dedication to "working hard and playing hard" are evident throughout....just don't play too hard! The bold strategy of acquiring a much larger company to realize synergies and gain market share via consolidation, reflect their plan on ensuring they are the "last printer standing" vs waiting, scratching and hoping that they are. I admire this tactic and view of acting first and putting pressure on the others to make their move.

I learned a great deal while holding this, and other positions, during my 20-year career. Skills such as team building, strategic planning, cost examination and elimination to strengthen operating cash margin and EBITDA lines, collaboration, humility when necessary, bold action when necessary, project management, LEAN manufacturing (Point Kaizen, Gemba walks, Measuring for Daily Improvement, elimination of Waste), diplomacy, customer service, public speaking, talent identification, how to make tough/necessary decisions and live with them, among other attributes that I had the opportunity to gain, employ and forge during my 20-year career.

The hardest part of the position/job was the continuous pruning or cutting back of labor and personnel over the past 4-5 years (during which time QW dropped sharply in share price, to bankruptcy filing, to emerging a newer, leaner company as WC, to the latest of being acquired and transitioned into a whole other company and culture). Everyone, including myself, understands that certain decisions need to be made and employed for the business to survive. But, as a human being that knows his team, that has shed blood, sweat and tears with them, and that has worked with or led them for 15+ years has to cut personnel year-over-year, it begins to take it's toll. Making tough decisions is part of any position, and part of all business. However, when you feel that is the majority of your job, or what is a centralized part of it, then you struggle to find the satisfaction in what you do each day. Driving out cost and making operations more efficient are what all businesses MUST focus on in this economy, but after 5 years in a row, it takes it's toll. Another way to express this is that the business of creating efficiencies is one challenge (and one that I enjoy and know that I am an expert at), but continually scaling back what feels like a sinking ship is another, and is hard to find/see the end result of it all when you still have 25+ years of career left in you.

Print will always be necessary, it will always be in demand to a certain degree - but the industry will continue to drop until it has right-sized at it's new resting place as the market sees fit. Capacity and competition need to be removed in order for this to happen (as sales volume steadily drops +10% year over year), and those attributes partially compile the lower ratings - not the company itself. Due to the attempts to remove capacity, consolidate plants, business units, and creation of synergies, it is leaving a wake of many long-time employees without their 20, 30, 40 year careers intact. Nature of the beast I guess.....

The other portion of lower rating is that due to these changes, consolidation, and upheaval, ALL team members are asked to do more, balance more, and wear more hats. This is a positive idea when it can be controlled and regimented to promote cross-training, more balanced leadership team, etc. But, there is a point when the 12-13hr days without a break or lunch away from your work area, working at night from home, coming into the plant on the weekends, all start to take their toll on your home and family. Working hard and sacrifice to get ahead is great and gives everyone the opportunity to shine, but what this industry requires as it "fights to stay alive" at this time is enough to drive any high-energy, motivated, positive team member to revisit their job and career choice. It is a VERY tough market right now, definitely not for everyone.

These are the reasons why I am looking at transitioning my unique skill set into another industry that offers a more stable career, that has the opportunity for positive change, the need for an increase in efficiency, to challenge the status quo, and that forecasts future growth in market share.

When I started at Quad, I was excited. I thought it would be the company I would work for until I retired. However, that quickly changed. When I was hired, I was told that they call me me part-time but I would get full time hours. They said they call it part time because the first 60 days is a trial period and if I do everything I am supposed to do, then they officially make you full time after the 60 days.

Unfortunately, in my first 8 weeks there I only received full time hours for one of those weeks. Most of the other weeks I only got 16 -24 hours. It's difficult to make ends meet working so few hours. I repeatedly asked why I wasn't receiving the hours I had been promised. They kept saying that business was slow. But the problem was I worked with other people doing the same job that kept complaining to me that they had to work mandatory overtime. I found it a bit strange and disappointing as I was begging for hours. It also spoke to management issues. Wouldn't it have made more sense to give the hours to someone who is newer and likely is making a lower rate of pay? 

After 60 days passed, they gave me a review. I thought it was just a formality and they would officially make me full time at this point. They had me read the review. It had items like - never late, never calls out, does his job, doesn't complain, etc. However, at the end of it - it stated I was not eligible for an increase. So, they were not going to make me full time even though I did everything I was asked and more. I asked the manager about it and he suggested that perhaps there were no opening for a full time 3rd shift person. I later discovered this was a bit misleading. I found out that they started hiring people as full time at a higher rate of pay about a month after I started but they never made an attempt to change my status. I also found out that they were giving full time hours to these newer hires.

Needless to say, I moved on and am now working somewhere that gives me a higher rate of pay, has no shortage of work, and has amazing benefits.

A couple of other things I would like to point out about Quad that I think you should know before you go there. Once you start your shift, you are not allowed to leave the building until the end of your shift. Not even for your lunch. Their justification is that they pay for your lunch. That's nice that they do but other companies do as well and don't hold you prisoner while you're there. Some people would like to go out for lunch or just get some fresh air but Quad doesn't allow it.

They also say they are a tobacco free company. They do not allow smoker's to have smoke breaks or go out during their break. You can't even go out to your car to smoke because that's on the property. You can't even go and drive off the property since they don't let you leave the building at any time during your shift. You are not allowed to use any form of tobacco but I witnessed many employees using chewing tobacco or snuff every day. Nothing was ever said to them.

There are many other policies not being enforced and safety protocols that they teach in training are not followed. What they say when you are being recruited and what the reality is are two very different things. When I was going through the extensive training at my new job, one of the trainer's asked if anyone came from Quad. I raised my hand and she said,"And you still have all of your fingers." I think that speaks to Quad's reputation. I really did want to work at Quad until I retired but Quad didn't do what they should have in order to retain me.

One other thing I noticed while I was there. Employees are not very friendly. They would rarely say hello or even smile at you. It's just the opposite where I am now and experiencing co-workers and managers that seem genuinely happy to see you and care about your well-being makes all the difference in the world.

A typical day at work would proceed as follows, I come in to check the mess that the night shift left for me, order my paper and get the glue that I needed for the first hour. Between constantly running around fulfilling the whims of my team mates, constantly refilling glue buckets, and hanging 2000 lb rolls of paper onto the presses, I would slowly take care of the aforementioned mess. Typically finding what i needed was difficult to impossible, inventory is typically empty and tools were scattered throughout the press room.

What I learned is that the facility does nothing but produce junk mail for major credit card corporations and corrupt politicians propaganda. When they aren't doing that they mostly do coupons and health insurance brochures. the place cares not for their employees at all and treat them like toilet paper. they use them until they are withered and hollowed like the cardboard tube at the end of the roll. It is a filthy workplace overall. glue is caked on the floor and has been neglected for 20+ years.

Management is highly questionable. often times they reward those who brown nose more than those who actually accomplish their daily tasks. They do their jobs a managers, frantically running about and freaking out as necessary and unnecessarily to ensure proper progress. no requests for advancement or learning opportunities will be acknowledged, that is unless you share a pint with them on your time off. often times they will freak out before they know what is actually transpiring, pressuring the press crew to do something they have no control over. they also have no query over time management and pto, it is entirely up to the employee to schedule their time off. occasionally even after months of preparation the management  may tell you tough luck someone with seniority just signed up and you are stuck here...

 The workers are either really cool or completely insufferable. There are really cool guys there, they will teach you if you ask,  joke around and help you out if necessary. However they are far and few between the many unprofessional and authority abusing workmen. many are too caught up in themselves to give you the time of day, or they simply have acquired their position through brown-nosing and gave up, delegating their responsibilities to those below them and taking 30 min- 1 hour breaks. Which of course if you are a second assistant like I was that was impossible, even sitting down to take a break on the press was enough for them to harass you about being lazy and immediately find some random job for you to do on top of your already long list of duties. 

 the hardest thing that I've had to do there was spend a full 12 hour shift scraping glue off the press and floor alone.I had to clean a press that has been neglected for upwards of 10 years, furthermore no one who was responsible for the mess actually laid a finger to keep it clean afterward either. as 2 weeks later on an overtime day I witnessed its slow return to the terrible condition it was at before...
The place really is a sad place to be. It gets worse every year.

the most enjoyable part of the job honestly was going home, after a 12 hour day of being soaked in cancer causing chemicals and glue, while breaking your back to keep the press running at speed, in a place with almost no ventilation. the sweet salvation of seeing time creep closer and closer to 7 is the only way to stay sane. then when it hits seven and you return to the fresh air outside its like being washed over with the purest form freedom!

Hiring process was fast and efficient. Tour of the plant and what each area was responsible for was a plus. Paperwork and physical was streamlined. 

Actual job: As a press material handler, you're basically low man on the totem pole taking finished product off the stacker. As long as you can put paper in a box quickly, that's all they want. Beware when the web breaks, all chaos breaks loose. The anger level is unbelievable. You would think they are doing a heart transplant and the donor heart fell on the floor. I've never worked with a group with such passive-aggressive behavior. As someone who is new to the printing industry, I wanted to know everything about where I was working. Everything was a secret. If an employee on OT was working on our press, I would ask questions and they would show me things and tell me good information. I didn't see any harm in it, but boy wasn't the first pressman telling the 2nd pressman to come and break us up and give me some menial task complete instead. I said every time someone shows me something you break it up. The answer I got was, well they're not the ones who are supposed to tell you. Well I wasn't learning anything from you people. Instead of telling someone exactly what needs to be done, you get partial directions just to have someone come and yell that you're doing it wrong, and why are you doing it that way. Beginning of the shift, you have a "huddle" to discuss the days work. Every huddle, let us know if you see any defects in the printed product. Twice I brought up printing defects just to be told it's ok put it in the box. Then make 6 layers of it in the box and later on go through the entire box and throw it all out because it was bad. The third time, the color was red on one side and orange on the other (supposed to be red throughout) I said something and got reamed for saying something about. Finally I told them, I don't care what if the whole page is black or blank, it's going in the box. That's why the quality is lacking at this plant. As an outsider to the printing industry, I don't know the fine inner works of what goes on, but I've worked at enough places to spot inefficiency. We would go through 2 full rolls of paper before any finished product was put into the box. That's almost 4,000 ft of paper right into the trash. And they would constantly be playing with the buttons and switches and we just kept throwing out product. Incorrect folds, color was off, trimming would be off, etc. I don't know how they have steady customers, someone has to pay for the waste.  I wouldn't let this plant print business cards if I had a business. And room for advancement is a joke. They lure you in with their accelerated career training and $14-$15/hr pay. Well, you have to be there 6 months and IF you get accepted into it, you're at their mercy. You HAVE to: attend all training, don't be late/call out, accept any and all assignments given. If you don't abide, you're out of the program. You have to be there for many years before you can reach 2nd pressman much less first. And the morale here is terrible. With forced OT, I had many new faces working along with me on the stacker and in conversation, all were waiting for better jobs to come along. 2 of whom had advanced to roll tender and then requested to be a material handler again. That speaks volumes. I even sent my resignation to the plant manager and CEO to just let them be aware of what's going on at this location, funny I haven't gotten a response from either. 

You're allowed outside during break/lunch.  2 - 10min breaks and a 20 minutes lunch for 12hs work. Don't be late!

Management does not care if you are an overworked employee, at least in their Quad Med Physician offices. A job that should be 40 hours a week turns into much more because you are so busy, the do not approve additional help for you, the expect you to be receptionist, draw labs, run, strep tests,mono tests, flu tests, scan all documents to patient's charts yourself, do inventory on medications (as Quad Med clinics offer free generic meds to patients and their family), ordering medication and office supplies, pulling medications, entering into the computer, printing out labels, placing labels on the bottles, explaining the medications to patients (there are some that can leave with over 35 bottles of medications as they are given 90 day supply), assist with surgical procedures, set up sterile surgical area, clean up area, have patient sign consents, answer your own phone calls, this could go on and on. However, they expect you to do all of the above while other patients stack up in the waiting room because you are trying to do the job that in a normal clinic would require at least 3 people. Extremely stressful because your home life suffers due to needing to stay late just to try to get caught up-yet they won't pay overtime for that time. You go home exhausted and depleted and your family life suffers because you have so much stress carryover from working at Quad Med. Upper management truly could not care about what issues you are experiencing and do little if nothing at all to help alleviate any issues. If anything, they pile more work on you, making it even harder. They have a huge turnover in LPN/MA's at this company because even though they have such a dedication to the job and their patients, at some point it becomes obvious that nothing will ever be done to help you out-a lot of empty promises or no promise at all. Usually responding 'Well you seem to be getting it all done just fine!' not understanding that is only because we are working well beyond our scheduled hours to just keep our head above water without drowning, yet not paid for the extra time. Seriously-if you went to school to become an LPN/MA, please look somewhere else. This place will stress you out more than the nice pay range is worth. The pay may be good but it comes with a huge price! No appreciation for a job well done. If you do all that is expected of you, they then pile more work on you because they assume you can handle it. As a fellow CMA-please pass this company up and find somewhere that will appreciate you and not take you for granted!!  I was a long time and dedicated employee. But it eventually hit a level of frustration and stress level that I could no longer handle. Working at an amazing clinic now-where management cares, the clinic is staffed appropriately, and I actually get home at a decent hour and can spend time with my family-and I get to leave my job when I leave the clinic. With Quad Med, they will call you, email you, etc after you've gone home and expect you to answer and follow through with what they are asking. This is because they have a 24 hour phone system that patient's can call in with questions/concerns/etc and you are pretty much 'on call' without any extra compensation.

I was hired directly into their "0-60 Program". The idea and concept is great, but the execution and my experience was WAY below average and NOT what was promised.

I completed my 60 days. During which, I worked as a Finishing Tech in layout. My "champion" didn't even know I was starting there or even of my existence. He passed me off to my coworker in layout. This guy was an absolute waste. He has been there a while, but did not train me at all. Not even a greeting at the beginning of the shift. He watched me struggle and never bothered to help. This guy always walked away from the line, too. He would go behind my work and change it without saying why. I don't know if this is normal in a trainer, but I didn't like the lack of direction and support. The gather operator was always yelling at me and half of the time was on a rampage. Keeping in mind I'm new and have no direction, she's yelling at me for mistakes I shouldn't have made, but didn't know to look out for. Even after apologizing, she was still extremely difficult to work for. 

Eventually, HR caught up with me and I told her I need to have a meeting. I felt like this place had management claim to care about my success but the "regular" guys couldn't care less. We had the meeting and apparently this wasn't the only time new people have had issues with him. They talked to him and he still hasn't changed. I sucked up the conditions because I was told I was to be primed for their ACT program, which will get me higher pay and training on a machine. I was to get trained on the trimmer. Now, I have more issues.

I kept getting pressed to learn, which is okay, however, I WAS BARELY EVER PLACED ON THE MACHINE TO BE TRAINED. They don't have a full staff most days, so I would be in other areas working. Management wanted me to take any time to learn the setup, which I found and fins to be difficult because of having to deal with the responsibilities of the area I was working in. I find it beyond frustrating that management would ask if I know how to run the machine yet...are you kidding??? How can I do that when you barely ever assign me to it for the day?

Now they're changing the payscale and most likely not compensating people that have been there properly. My thought is that if my experience hasn't lived up to the hype yet, it probably won't and the ceiling isn't as high as I anticipated. I feel like management has forgotten and given up on me here.

The only thing that made this bearable was some of my coworkers. There are some good, hard working people that work there. You can also eat on your line, which is nice. The 12 hours is doable, but not the swing part. It's not for everyone. This job is just a job, but I wouldn't stay forever.

Served as the Paper Coordinator for the Quad Graphics Company located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which consist of working in direct harmony with Customer Service Representatives, Paper Mills (domestically and internationally), brokers and Customer Service Managers with department systems and programs for the final product. Responsible for the management of varies systems. Such as, the Roll Paper System, Fleet Management System, Paper Inventory System, Microsoft Office software and the Rail System web base programs that are utilized in scheduling, tracking, and paper management. Create lots for purchase order requests to accommodate incoming shipments for more than 60 retail customers for printing catalogs and magazine inserts. Supervise and train employees to process internal and external receipts through the Roll Paper System. Manage the paper shortage report to ensure that adequate paper is available for the final product as well as providing recommended substitute and/or backup paper. Perform claims on damage paper to maintain workmanship of all parties, which consist of transit damage, wet paper, and gouges. Responsible for the verification of all receipts by ensuring the brand, size, quantity and environment certification are within compliance of policies and regulations. Schedule delivery appointments a maximum of 5 days before the press date, monitor appointments based on the ETA for a maximum of 42 appointments per day, update daily and make the required adjustments to meet and or exceed press date. Provide solutions to vary scheduling, tracking and paper management issues with clear written and orally information to Quad Graphics members as well as outside agencies. Accomplishments; Accountable for over 565 million pounds of paper with a value of $356 million dollars, which resulted into surpassing annual inspections. Audited by varies assigned vendors and the findings reveals no loss/gain for Retail/wholesale customers inventory. Reorganized the active/inactive receipts for the past 5 years and assist customers with lost Bill of Ladings through electronic Email using Adobe software. Reduced the receipt error rate from 22% to 5%. Created Microsoft Excel spreadsheet used to show railcars availability in the pipeline plus generate labels/manifests in advance. In terms, this enhance the ability to unloading the freight without occurring demurrage charges. Managed 42 daily delivery appointment plus addressing more than 100 E-mails and telephone calls on varies logistics and supply chain related issues.

The orientation packet you get from Quad states “Company with a Soul”.  They failed to mention that it was the soul of the devil.  Very controlling company.  I can understand their no smoking policy on the premises due to fire hazard, but their BIO-MED screening is intrusive and defeats the whole pre existing condition clause under O’Bama Care.  Basically what that means is they jack up the price of your health insurance based on the health screening you have to undergo.  And try making an appointment with their Quad Med!  You could be the only person in the room and the receptionist will take a good 10 minutes before she will acknowledge you even if you are standing directly in front of her. The cafeteria is great but food and drinks are over priced taking out a good chunk of your pay check.  In a 12 hour shift you only get a 20 minute lunch break and 2 10 minute breaks.  You also have what is called mandatory overtime.  You have to be available for the days they dictate to work, however, you have to call in the morning 1 hour prior to work to check if you are needed.  There is no way to make personal plans.  The whole 12 hour work day and inability to make definite plans in your life has led to a lot of discord on the home front.  

If you can get past those obstacles you are only part way through the battle.  There is an exceptionally high turnover rate, and with good reason.  If you are the new kid on the block, expect a good hazing from existing employees.  You will be made to feel like the idiot you are for taking the job in the first place.  If you don’t fit into the “Good ole boys” club, they can and will make your life miserable.  And for God sakes, don’t show any signs of intelligence because you will automatically become a threat to their job and will ride you until you finally walk out the door.  There is also no connectivity to their training what so ever.  Each manager has their own style and technique, and what you learn from one may be totally unacceptable to another because there is such a need to exert their authority over you to let you know who is in charge.  All in all I would compare the environment as a whole to prison life.  You’ve got the inmates, and you have the guards.  Each faction as corrupt as the other.  Nothing improves or gets addressed but for show, and then quickly reverts back to what it was.  If you’ve exhausted all employment possibilities, you might consider being an insurance salesman before venturing into this company.  It’s that bad!

This place will forever chew through people. Most of the production work force is temp hires with no care or experience. If you are a "technician" then you are just a glorified goffer. If you are an operator then you are trying to heard cats. The whole system needs to be redone. As an operator you need to get to work 30mins early unpaid, your shift regardless is 7 to 7. You need to get there early just to get the run down from the previous operator and see what kind of day your going to have. Operators are in charge of the time clocks for everyone on the machine so if you happen to be someone's tech for the day and they have a problem with you they can just mark you as late with no warning. Operators are responsible for covering all others breaks.  Meaning many times as an operator you won't get one. Management tries its best to keep the division between techs and Operators alive so no one will stop and question why things are the way they are. Advancement is difficult, to go from a tech to an operator takes a ton of time and comes with minor pay incentives. It also means that you as a tech have to go far and above what your getting paid for just to get a chance to be put into a training program. This program comes with a series of homework on the specific machines and you cannot advance until they are done and signed off on. That's where they get people, you can complete most if not all of the paperwork however personal politics can and will make things take much longer than they should. Managers ride bikes around trying to catch people doing things wrong so they can write them up. Minor things will be the sticking point because the basic work is not complex or inherently difficult. They do not allow you to sit down, you will get screamed at by everyone if you sit during downtime. The place is huge so you will be walking alot. I was averaging 10miles a day. Your lunch break includes the time it takes to get to the breakroom, this isn't too unordinary until you realize that the building is 2million square feet and you could walk for 20mins and not get from end to end. The food is not free, they charge a reasonable amount for the lunches, but eating twice a day and getting drinks adds up fast. I was an operator and worked there for a year, this was my personal experience, I can't say yours will be the same. Oh I should mention no phones/music or podcasts. They want you to be hyperfocused on loading a machine with stacks of paper.

I would come in 10 minutes prior to a shift change and get information about the job our machine was running from the previous shift's technician. A shift usually consisted of a whole uninterrupted run of books for a client, but sometimes we would finish a job, clean up, then do a 'make-ready', which is to prepare a machine for another run for a customer.  My duties included making sure the pockets of the perfect binders or saddle stitching machines were kept full and that they were fixed when they jammed up.  I also was a back-up operator for the rotary trimmer, which was another large machine used for trimming forms before transport to binder or stitching machines. I also down piled finished product onto skids at the end of the machines. I later was promoted to techicain trainer,  and supervised new technicians on mulitple machines.  A typical shift may include any combination of these activities, but if I either trained or operated a machine, that activity was usually uninterupted for the whole shift.
    What I learned was the importance of active listening, engaging colleagues by asking questions about what was said and keeping them informed of every detail on a job ticket or on any issues I was experiencing on my shift that might affect production.
     Management in the Finishing Department, where binding was done, consisted of department supervisors and shift leaders. They had to be very critical thinkers, because the received a lot of conflicting info between automated machine stats, and what technicians and operators communicated to them daily.  They had to take all this information and run reports in the main office on a daily basis.  People skills were highly valued by managers at Quad Graphics because production often required the cooperative responsibility of several or more individuals.
The most enjoyable part of the job was making 'high run', which is when the shift lead or department head comes to congratulate my team for the highest statistic shift run among all four shifts per a customer. It didn't happen very often, but when it did, they made you feel very good. I also derived a great deal of satisfaction training new technicians. I received so much recognition for quality training that management often gave me special assignments to supervise new technicians, going from machine to machine during a whole shift.

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