Production All-Stars, Post-Press: Craig Woischwill

By: Production executives will often tell you what they most love about their job is that they never know what tomorrow will bring. The Daily Miracle can be a harsh mistress, but also a uniquely satisfying one who will never bore you with dull routine. Nowhere is that truer than at Florida newspapers.

In his career at The Miami Herald, Craig Woischwill has delivered newspapers amid the wreckage wrought by Hurricane Andrew, in 1992 ? tossing copies from the same truck as then- Publisher David Lawrence ? and was vice president of operations overseeing all its facilities in 2005, when a flamboyant local politician stepped into the Herald's lobby and shot himself in the head. This year, he's chairing the Florida Business Continuity Newspaper Group, an organization of dailies that each year plans anew its contingencies for the hurricane that could devastate any one of them. One item in a recent budget: A 550-watt generator to ensure emergency power for the Herald's off-site packaging operation.

It's an environment that no doubt helps focus a production executive, who must, for instance, decide whether the possible side effects of moving to lighter-weight newsprint ? more frequent web breaks, linting, show-through, and set-off ? are worth the urgently needed cost savings. "At some point on all these projects, you have to take risks and move forward," Woischwill says.

He quickly adds that he's not alone in that line of thought: "I work with some of the best in the business. They're all risk takers. Nobody gets here by themselves, I assure you. Leaders can get more blame than they deserve, but sometimes leaders get entirely too much credit."

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg ? who also nominated Woischwill for the honor of senior manager among the E&P Production All-Stars ? might disagree, in his case. In the past 18 months, as Florida newspapers' revenues cratered with the collapse of the Sunshine State's housing market, Woischwill wrung out savings in labor and materials costs with web-width reductions, computer-to-plate automation, lower-basis-weight newsprint, and even rejiggered staff scheduling.

"Craig's interpersonal skills were a key to successfully managing the human dimension of these initiatives, which brought significant and sometimes unsettling changes to employees," Landsberg notes.

A good example was the way Woischwill launched RouteSmart delivery to reconfigure carrier routes, back when home delivery was still part of operations. "We employed RouteSmart software as a way of making routes more efficient from a delivery standpoint," he says.

But another aim, he adds, was to reduce carrier turnover with incentives. Route Smart eliminated about 250 of 1,250 routes, giving carriers more papers to deliver and therefore more income ? but in such a way that they were not spending any added time on the routes. Turnover went from having 165 routes down on any given Sunday ? "everybody was delivering papers, including me," Woischwill says ? to a little more than 30 no-shows.

When it comes to technology, though, Woischwill is not an early-adopter-at-all-costs type. "You always have to have the early generation machines, but you don't have to buy them," he says.

For instance, the Herald held back on implementing sticky notes for advertising because of the "dismal performance" of the first generation of application equipment. But when it finally launched its sticky-note program, the paper went big, affixing some 55 million peel-off notes to news- paper copies in 2007.

Next up: scented ink ? once testing proves it can work, that is. The Herald has tested a chocolate-scented ink, and it will again in fall. Possibilities beyond the obvious food smells include new-car leather for auto dealers.

"The key," Woischwill says, "is to be an enabler to your ad division, particularly in tough times, to enable them to use all the arrows in their quiver."

Career Highlights
Joined Miami Herald, 1978, with finance degree from Florida International University

Held various circulation positions, including two stints as home-delivery manager

Served as purchasing manager/finance department

Managed advertising department's direct marketing and launched TMC operation

Guided 1995 launch of inserting/packaging partnership with Goodwill Industries

Named operations director, 2000, promoted to vice president, 2007, overseeing all manufacturing, transportation and facilities management