Industry Insight

The change is coming at an ever-increasing rate from internal as well as external sources. The needs of the employees are changing, the competition is changing, the process of doing business is changing, and the facility needs to change to facilitate these new business requirements.

Whether the driver is new competition, the ever increasing number of inserts, the intrigue of the cost savings in consolidating printing facilities, the need to adjust the process to capitalize on new media, the lack of space to function effectively, or the labor shortage the industry is experiencing, newspapers are under pressure to develop responses that work and to act quickly.

Facilitating plant consolidations was a recent Chuck Blevins & Associates' project. Pioneer Newspapers located in the Pacific Northwest and intermountain west and Swift Newspapers / Colorado Mountain News Media are both building new facilities to print multiple newspapers. CBAssociates coordinated and facilitated the press selection process which included determining equipment needs, evaluating the merits of rebuilt and new presses, developing Request For Proposals (RFP), coordinating press inspection visits, and assisting in developing purchase agreements.

Southwest Suburban Publishing in Shakopee, Minnesota, the parent company of seven weekly newspapers, has engaged CBAssociates to design a new office facility that promotes employee interaction and a local presence in the community. The existing space does not support an efficient work environment and has severely undersized employee amenities.

CBAssociates is providing site evaluation, programming, and master planning and design services. The master planning concepts developed include the design of a 15,000 square foot single-level facility that will accommodate new organizational "work groups", provide improved workflow and promote relationships between functional areas. Site selection is underway, with design development scheduled to begin late Fall.

Chuck Blevins & Associates welcomes the opportunity to share our knowledge with you in product and operations planning, production and distribution operations, process and equipment analysis, master planning and design development as well as the latest systems control, re-engineering techniques and new technology.

To learn more about our services and qualifications, please contact Janelle Piccola at 303-431-5909 or e-mail us at Janellepiccola@chuckblevins.com.