Photo By Sgt. Jarod Dye | Staff Sgt. Daniel Trojecki inspects a book for quality halfway thought its creation at...... read more read more
The National Guard Bureau Publications Management Center is a printing operation that conducts its business on Camp Keyes in Augusta, Maine.
Since its opening in 1953, the print shop has been fulfilling the printing needs of the Army National Guard and in recent years has begun also servicing the Air National Guard.
“We print and ship technical manuals, training materials, and posters all across the U.S. for other National Guard Units,” said Staff Sgt. Crystal Ryder, the materials handler supervisor for the print shop.
The print shop is run by the National Guard Bureau and is a rare commodity to have locally on your base, according to Ryder.
“We’re the only one in the U.S., no one else does this for NGB,” said Ryder. “We support every National Guard Unit.”
Since the shop is the only National Guard printing operation, it conducts anywhere from 50 to 100 print jobs per week, according to Ryder.
“It takes organization and teamwork,” said Ryder. “Everything is run by SOP (standard operating procedure) so that when one person is gone anyone can pick up where that person left off.”
The orders they receive vary greatly and can be as simple as replicating one poster many times or they can be large, complicated training manuals that have to go through many steps before they are ready to be shipped off.
“The jobs can be pretty simple or pretty complex,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel Trojecki a forms manager with the print shop. “ But we want to make sure we get it right.”
Getting the job right every time can prove difficult when the shop doesn’t always get much notice before their orders have to be completed.
However, to ensure quality and accuracy each product is inspected multiple times before it is shipped out, no matter how quickly it needs to be completed, according to Ryder
“We have time hacks and due dates,” said Trojecki. “If we don’t have books out the door on time, then a class might not start.”
Speed is essential to the daily operations of the shop because sometimes the orders they receive are extremely large.
“In a day I’ve done upwards of 1500 books,” said Spc. Kenneth Spear, a bindery machine operator for the print shop. “I usually start at 6:15 and I’m here till 4.”
There’s times when the orders they receive even need to be out the same.
“There’s been times when we’ve had to get 1000 books out that day. Sometimes, you’ll get somebody and they’ll say they need an order yesterday,” said Spear.
The people who work at the print shop have formed a cohesive team, and play group games on their breaks such as horseshoes.
“If we did not work together there would be no way we’d be successful,” said Ryder. “A lot of people don’t know what this tiny little corner of the base does, but it’s quite a bit.”
The atmosphere is of the print shop is light but serious when it comes down to getting work done right.
“It’s a fun place to work,” said Trojecki. “It’s a tight group, we have a great team, and everyone pitches in.”
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.06.2017 12:59 |
| Story ID: | 240255 |
| Location: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Hometown: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Web Views: | 949 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Maine Print Shop Supports Entire National Guard, by SGT Jarod Dye, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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