Millers Blog : People

Praise for Press

Jason Becking — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:15:00 GMT

I would like to throw a little praise at the Miller’s Press team. The past three days have each been the largest days since we started the Press product line. Kristy, Stephen, Brittany, Dan, Kylie, Lindsay, Chris, Chris, John, and David are each to be commended for their commitment to completing the work every day, despite the large volume of last minute orders... and I mean LARGE volume of last minute orders!

This picture was taken about 45 minutes ago. Shows a small percentage of the incoming work orders to be completed today (so arrived yesterday evening or today). Go Press Team!

Team Members' Christmas Generosity

Jason Becking — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:04:00 GMT

Two of our Columbia team members have led an effort to sponsor five local households this Christmas. Each family has been 'adopted' by a different department in the lab, trying to fill their holiday wish list as best we can.

While I certainly expected our team members to embrace this, I'm impressed by the level of generosity that's been shown. Here's a couple of snap shots of the 'collecting points' thus far.

Veterans Day

Jason Becking — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:32:00 GMT

With Veterans Day approaching, we'd like to honor our three current team members who are off serving in the US Armed Forces.

Terry England works in our Pittsburg facility and is currently on his third overseas deployment. Terry is in Kuwait, at last report.

Josh Safranski and Karen Callahan are both recent departures from our Columbia facility. Josh is in basic training after enlisting in the Army Reserve. Karen is in her second deployment to Iraq and is currently in Baghdad.

We're thinking of each of you, hoping you are home safely soon.

Terry England

Karen Callahan

A Typical Monday

Jason Becking — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:14:00 GMT

November is one of our busiest months of the year… Yesterday was our second-largest day of the year in sales. Here’s a look at some statistics from the day and what our team members did along the way.

One of the challenges about a Monday for us is that Monday actually starts on Friday evening. Any order we receive over the weekend has the same internal time lines as one received during the day on Monday, meaning a lot of work is flowing through the system. This time of the year, most departments are working weekends simply to get a jump on Monday’s work. While some places use weekends to recover from the previous week, our team members do a great job of working ahead.

In Columbia, we received 4,175 orders consisting of 155,778 files on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Of those orders, 23 didn’t make it to invoicing by the time we left last night. I don’t have all the specifics yet this morning, but approximately 90% of that 23 we purposefully held back for a call to you.

In Pittsburg, our Pic-a-Pac team members were the first ones to arrive, with much of the department here by 5:00 a.m. On an individual basis, we have one person in Columbia who arrives around 3:30 a.m. to get started on color correction. The majority of our 421 team members in both facilities arrive between 7:00 and 10:00, with times staggered as the production work flow dictates.

The last team members to arrive are typically the folks in Shipping. Many of that group will arrive between Noon and 2:00 p.m. So, our early-arriving color corrector is gone by the time this group arrives! By the time FedEx left, they restocked, cleaned up, and generally prepared for today, they were done around 11:00 p.m.

As we continue to get busier over the next 6 weeks, those times will simply stretch out. What we’re currently able to accomplish with almost no overtime will simply become more difficult and will require more work. Simply stated, we are prepared to do whatever it takes! We’re fully staffed, so all 421 of us will simply work more. For many (most) of us, though, it’s the best time of the year!

Changing With The Times

admin — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:39:00 GMT

My name is Don Redd and I am the Coordinator of Film Processing and Proofing. The film operators used to be called the mole people because they spent so much time in the dark. Twenty some years ago Bill Miller sent me to New York to attend classes on chemistry and processors (my classmates there nicknamed me Toto) and I’m happy to still be working in those areas today.

I have had a very exciting year and some of my fellow team members felt like it would be a good idea for me to write about it. I was not real crazy about the idea but the pictures of my daughter (Kimberly) and grandson (Luke) convinced me.

Don & grandson Luke

Kimberly, Don, and Luke

When Randy Rhue took these pictures with a digital camera Luke was 17 days old. He was born on September 11th which is my sister’s birthday. The four days Kimberly and Luke spent with my wife and I was wonderful even with no sleep.

You would have thought Randy would have used film to take my picture (just kidding). Film is now less than 9% of what we processed in 2001. In that year we processed over three million rolls, this year we might process one hundred and eighty thousand rolls. We may process film for years to come but the Optical era as we know it will no longer exist in the near future. I must admit this is a very hard pill to swallow.

I became a grandpa for the first time this year on September 11th, turned fifty years old on September 17th, and celebrated my 27th year at Miller’s Professional Imaging on the 29th of September. I also celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary in May of this year. I will always be somewhat of a traditionalist and I think Bill Miller would approve of that.

My other daughter is married and has also moved out of town so my wife and I at age 50 have an empty nest. Jackie and I were married at age nineteen and had our first child at age 23. She paid for her wedding dress with fifty cent pieces she had collected. I consider myself to be a very fortunate man, not only in my family life but with my job.

The industry is changing just like my life and we are changing with it so we don’t get left behind. The one thing that has not changed is the goal of the people at both labs. We will and always have strive to be the best so our customers will be happy.

The doors of opportunity are marked “Push and “Pull” and Miller’s Professional Imaging wants to be the first through those doors and provide you with all of your needs.

Don Redd