Bob Wiemers: Scouting Out Innovation and Efficiencies

As Bob Wiemers likes to say, there's no merit badge for publishing. But that's OK with him. As operations director for the magazine division of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), he's happy to let the organization concentrate on shaping boys into responsible young men while he puts his efforts into making sure Boys' Life and Scouting get into the hands of more than 1 million readers each month—on time, on budget and as efficiently as possible, all while maintaining the highest standards for quality. It's something Wiemers has done so well, in fact, that although he needs no merit badge for his hard work, he has earned some pretty significant recognition—including induction this year into the Publishing Executive Hall of Fame.Wiemers-a frequent speaker at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo and a member of the Publishing Executive editorial advisory board-got his start in publishing as an editor at the Daily Texan while attending the University of Texas in Austin. "I was always late on deadlines as editor, so I ended up learning how to typeset so I could [help] make the paper," he says. "It just was more fun to be in the back [of the] shop than in the front."After college, he worked as a typesetter and stat camera operator for Harte-Hanks in Austin, switched to community newspapers for a few years and, in 1993, helped to launch a trade magazine group for the computer and telecommunications industries. He decided to take a job with the Boy Scouts to spend more time with his young son and work with a magazine he "could relate to." Pioneering New ProcessesFrom the beginning, Wiemers relished the challenge of helping the publications become more efficient. "When I started here, the budget was $7 million a year for the two publications," Wiemers says. "We [spend] just over $4 million dollars a year now, and the price of milk has certainly gone up since then."Over a 15-year career at the BSA, Wiemers has achieved this level of efficiency through judicious cost-cutting and smart, timely investment. He helped save millions by bringing previously outsourced work in-house, trimming $21,000 worth of prepress work each month (including, when he arrived, typesetting) down to $4,000 a month. In the late '90s, he saw an opportunity to pioneer the use of direct computer-to-plate technology when his printer, Quad/Graphics, was investing in new infrastructure to accommodate another client, Time-Life.Time was working toward adopting computer-to-plate technology, but "couldn't turn that fast," Wiemers remembers. "They were the ones doing it, but we just happened to be on press before them."Wiemers also was a pioneer in co-mailing, recognizing that, because Scouting (for adult scout leaders) tended to go to the same households as young Boys' Life subscribers, the organization could save money by sending them together. "We were early on co-mingling of [magazines]," he notes. "We took advantage of those kind of things." At the same time that he was finding new ways to cut costs, Wiemers helped revamp the look of the magazines, converting the black-and-white and spot-color pages to four-color pages. "We were changing four-color plates [as part of the process] anyway, so it was not that much more work, just the [price of the] ink," he says. "But the trade-off was worth it."Thinking Outside the BoxWiemers' ability to make the most of opportunities is a natural outgrowth of the skills and knowledge he brings to the table, according to Dave Carpenter, retail sales director at Quad/Graphics. "... He's probably one of the most professional customers I deal with, on several different levels," Carpenter says. "He understands the business and the challenges that we face from printing, paper and distribution much more than most ... [as well as] what we have to go through in order to get a product out the door."Carpenter praises Wiemers' organizational and analytical skills, noting his ability to assess a proposal, and quickly understand and quantify various options. "He knows how to run the numbers part of it very well," Carpenter points out. "A lot of people don't."He still asks a ton of questions and never really approaches a discussion from the standpoint of ‘I know this, and this is the way we do it.' He's very open to alternative ideas and willing to learn new methods," Carpenter says. Wiemers' adaptability should leave his division well-positioned to capitalize on a recent reorganization within BSA, focused on making better use of the Boy Scouts brand. The new structure allows Wiemers to harness the strength of BSA's flagship publications to promote organization-wide strategies, while at the same time creating opportunities to heighten the appeal of the magazines. As an example, Wiemers cites the potential for customized content made possible by existing data-management practices and the ability to custom inkjet inside a magazine. "[Boys' Life] goes out once a month, and the list is cleaned every month, so we can use it for membership materials," he says. "Why not send a Boys' Life custom-made for [new members]?"Wiemers' primary challenge, not surprisingly, is balancing these important growth initiatives with new ways to cut costs. "I'm at almost half [the budget of] what I was," he points out. "I can't trim any more. We just went through the budgeting process, [and] this is the first time I've had nothing to give them. Page counts are up, circulation's up-how do you do it?"He says the only way for him to cut paper costs at this point is to go to newsprint, "... so we're at the bottom of what I call acceptable quality. That's my challenge."Whatever the challenge, Gary James, senior vice president of sales at CellMark Paper, harbors no doubts about Wiemers' ability to surmount it. "He's one of those guys who's really a forward thinker," James says. "He was using SCA+ [supercalendar] while most were still using coated #5."He's fair and straightforward in his dealings," James adds, "and that comes back to you."

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Bob Wiemers: Scouting Out Innovation and Efficiencies

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