– Production Operations –
Make recurring
production predictable
I’ve spent decades managing deadline-driven production environments where small inefficiencies compound quickly.
My work is about making complex production easier to run – reducing errors, controlling costs, clarifying handoffs, and building systems that hold up under repeated pressure.
Contexts Differ
Friction Rhymes
Recurring production exposes
every weakness in a system
When the same work repeats every week, month, season, or cycle, unclear processes become expensive.
Small communication gaps create rework. Poor sequencing creates overtime. Weak file systems create mistakes. Vendor inefficiencies create recurring cost.
I look at how the entire production system moves — not just one task — and improve the structure around it.
What I bring to
Production Operations
Workflow Design
Clearer production paths
from intake through delivery.
Scheduling + Sequencing
Organizing recurring work so teams, vendors, and dependencies move in the right order.
Process Standardization
Building repeatable systems that reduce ambiguity and unnecessary variation.
Quality Control
Creating checkpoints and constraints that prevent avoidable errors.
Vendor Management
Coordinating outside partners around cost, timing, quality, and production requirements.
Cost Control
Finding recurring inefficiencies in labor, materials, vendors, and production methods.
File + Asset Systems
Naming conventions, shared folders, approved assets, and handoff structures that make work easier to manage.
Cross-Functional Coordination
Connecting editorial, creative, sales, administrative, production, and outside partners around one operating plan.
I rebuilt a production system under constant pressure
At Journal Newspaper Group, I inherited a production environment supporting a growing network of monthly publications with fragmented workflows, heavy overtime, inconsistent file handling, costly press changes, and too much information living across disconnected documents.
Over time, I rebuilt that production architecture around a more structured, repeatable system.
The organization grew from 7 to 13 monthly newspapers
while production became substantially more efficient and predictable.
I introduced & refined:
• Master production layouts
• Design standards
• Vendor and press optimization
• Page assignment systems
• Production grids
• Press communication documents
• Standardized file-naming protocols
• Prepress quality-control systems
• Print sequencing based on advertiser and edition patterns
• Ready-to-print approval workflows
The result was a production system that could be understood and operated across designers, editors, sales staff, customer service, prepress teams, and press operators.
Selected results
13 monthly publications
Managed within a recurring
multi-edition production system
250+ individual
pages per cycle
Organized through standardized assignment and file systems
35% fewer plate changes
Through redesigned print
sequencing and zoning logic
55%+ overtime reduction
Through workflow redesign &
production standardization
$750K+ annual savings
Through press optimization,
vendor coordination, &
production-system improvements
20% print-cost reduction
At Mill Creek View through improved pre-production and press workflow
The goal is not to make
people work harder.
It is to make the system
require less wasted effort.
The strongest production environments are not dependent on heroics, tribal knowledge, or constant intervention.
They are built around clear expectations, visible workflows, predictable handoffs, reliable systems, and constraints that prevent mistakes before they happen.
That is the kind of production environment I know how to build.
Relevant experience
Design Operations Manager
Mill Creek View
✓ Production Oversight
✓ Publication Redesign
✓ Vendor Coordination
✓ File Systems
✓ Digital Publishing
✓ Cost Reduction
Publisher & DesignOps Manager
Uniquely Northwest Publications
✓ Multi-Publication Production
✓ Production Planning
✓ Vendor Management
✓ Business Development
✓ Acquisition Integration
✓ Recurring Operations
Production & Design Manager
Journal Newspaper Group
✓ Production Leadership
✓ Workflow Redesign
✓ Prepress Architecture
✓ Print Sequencing
✓ File Governance
✓ Quality Control
✓ Vendor Management
✓ Cost Reduction
✓ Large-Scale Recurring Publishing
Freelance Graphic Design
✓ Independent Print Production
✓ Digital Production
✓ Publication Production
✓ Branding
✓ Web Production
I like production environments that
have become harder than they should be.
Especially when the work is recurring, the deadlines are real,
and the friction has slowly become accepted as normal.
That is usually where the biggest operational gains are hiding.