Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993 TAG: 9307270278
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ When the U.S Postal Service realized a couple of weeks ago that it needed a rush order of rubber stamps, the last place it probably expected to turn was Roanoke Stamp and Seal Co.
Although the company carries some heavy ink in the stamp business, they're considered "out of the loop" by Washington, D.C., standards, too far away for postal officials to keep an eye on a big order.
But when every stamp maker in the Washington area balked at the terms - delivering 85,000 rubber stamps in just 14 days - Roanoke Stamp and Seal was ready to bail out the feds, for a price.
Company president Greg Freeman said one of his competitors called him July 13 to report the contract. "He didn't even bid on it," Freeman said. "He couldn't handle it."
But Freeman seized the opportunity, bidding the contract 20 percent higher than he would have under normal circumstances and telling the guys in Washington they had 24 hours to respond.
It was power poker, rubber-stamp style.
Freeman said postal authorities frantically called other companies looking for a competitive bid, but none could do the stamps on such a tight schedule. Freeman was the obvious winner of the $59,075 contract.
Then, all he had to do was make the stamps.
Producing 85,000 of the wood-handled rubber stamps in two weeks is the industry equivalent of making the Smokey and the Bandit beer run between Texas and Atlanta in 18 hours.
"It's unheard of in the rubber-stamp industry," Freeman said. "They said it couldn't be done."
But Freeman was undaunted. He turned to Manpower Temporary Services for 10 employees from its "Elite Production Team." They set up a production line in the stamp company's snack room and went to work.
Together with the company's 50 regular employees, they increased production overnight from a little more than 1,000 stamps a day to more than 8,000. They hit full stride Saturday, turning out 15,000 of the stamps.
Each stamp is a small oval about the size of a quarter.
A spokesman with the Postal Service in Washington said two of the stamps will be mailed to every post office in the country as part of a new, electronically coded change-of-address kit. She was not sure what the letters meant.
Plant manager Bill Scott said he didn't go into details with the Postal Service about what the stamps are for.
"Don't know, don't care."
Despite this being the largest project they've ever worked on, plant employees said they've never doubted they could fill the order.
"I just said, `Bring it on!' ", said production worker Jan Sieg. She said her enthusiasm tempered a bit when the order translated into 12- and 14-hour work days, but she enjoyed the challenge and the extra money from working overtime.
"I'd rather be busy than slow any day," she said.
But to say they were busy wouldn't quite have grasped the intensity of the situation Monday.
One group of workers drilled, pressed and cut raw wood into stamp handles, while another group frantically cut pressed rubber into stamp heads. As the sawdust and rubber scraps piled up on the floor, so did the boxes of finished stamps.
Scott moved among the workers, encouraging them like a general does troops on the battlefield. "Keep it up," he said, holding up an unfinished part. "Two more cases of these are on the way."
The secret to the success, Scott said, is that employees from all parts of the company - receptionists to marketing people - are chipping in to help meet the special order while keeping up with their normal workloads.
Although the final chapter in this stamp saga has yet to be written, Scott said they had made 65,000 by of Monday, meaning they should clear Friday's deadline with time to spare.
"We could have this done a day early," he said. "It's amazing."
by CNB