Production All-Stars, Post-Press: Girish Pandit

By: When he walked into the operation, "that was the first inserter I saw," Girish Pandit says of an old Harris 1372. That was only five years ago ? an extraordinary remark from someone just named a Production All-Star largely due to his management of major changes to his company's inserting.

"When I took this job, I had zero experience as far as inserting goes," Pandit recalls. He had plenty of production- and distribution-management experience, but inserting isn't something Dow Jones plants do. Pandit, however, took advantage of day- and night-shift opportunities to work on the 1372, learning it while loading hoppers.

And a good thing, too. Just a few years after joining Sierra Nevada Media Group, that unit of Swift Communications commenced a $4- to $5-million post-press overhaul, with new gripper conveyor, stacking and strapping equipment, and inserting technology from Goss International.

Dow Jones recruited the printing-management graduate straight from West Virginia University to a starting job as an assistant production manager ? first at its plant near Chicago, then in Orlando, where he rose to press and mailroom manager. In 1999 he was promoted to production manager and sent to the plant near Atlanta. But with a baby and a small child, the Pandits moved west in 2003, trading big-city suburbs for Nevada's very small capital city.

The small, close-knit community would help build a strong foundation for the children, says Pandit: "We don't have any family in this country, and the small-town environment keeps them grounded and it gives them a sense of belonging."

For Pandit, the move was a change from running one plant among many in a large company to running operations for a group of papers, and commercial customers, within a smaller publishing company. In practice, it meant taking on IT, ad production, prepress, printing, packaging, plant, deliveries, and distribution responsibilities.

Group Editor Peter Kostes, until recently Sierra Nevada's interim publisher, credits Pandit with excellent communication skills, the operation's low accident rate, and partnering with editorial teams to drive newshole efficiencies that have saved $28,000 per month. Production projects have included conversions from 45- to 43-gram newsprint and from plate burning to platesetting, stitcher-trimmer installation, and pressroom and mailroom expansions ? all "flawless and within budget." Calling him "a proponent of new technologies," Kostes also points to Pandit's review of UV printing's prospects.

Pandit, who expects to receive his MBA this month, also improved accounting for commercial printing, which he says "is still going very strong," with revenue up 105% over the 2008 budget.

Pandit "maintains a positive attitude in a pressure-driven environment," Kostes writes in his nomination, noting an average of only one late run in 360-plus monthly press runs and 8 million inserts. He also cites Pandit's four-year press-training program, well- coordinated functioning of his seven sub- departments, and his ability to work with those outside production.

Within production, Pandit built his team from the bottom up, coaching and promoting those with potential and training staff three deep in operational tasks. He also finds time to serve the industry, as a Nexpo Planning Committee member for six years and as a Nexpo and user group panelist.

Pandit, like everyone else at newspapers, must do more with less. Inserts at the seven relatively small papers, for example, have risen to 8 million per month from 7 million before Memorial Day, and "we are not getting the manpower to handle the volumes coming our way," he says. So even after that major post-press upgrade, he adds, "we have to look at creative, out-of-the-box ways to make these things happen," including shift-length and scheduling changes for full-and part-timers.

"The cost of paper and ink is like a big anchor on our feet," Pandit says, so the group is focused on reducing waste to save and recovering it to sell. For any project, he adds, "we have to start with the objective and work back to see how we're going to achieve that" with the resources available.

Career Highlights
Emigrated to the U.S. in 1990 with degrees from the University of Mumbai in economics and accounting

Graduated West Virginia University in 1992 with a printing management degree

Hired as an assistant production manager at Dow Jones & Co. plants in Naperville, Ill., and Orlando, Fla.

Named production manager of Dow Jones' LaGrange, Ga., plant in 1999

Moved west in 2003 to manage all newspaper and commercial printing and packaging operations for Swift Communications' Sierra Nevada Media Group