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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-09-30, Page 23PAGE 4 John likes the future of the printing division wwhen John Buchanan started in to sweep floors and file reglets In 1955 at The Goderich Signal -Star after school and on Saturdays, he probably didn't dream he would one day `share the top job in the nationally recognized publishing company right in his own backyard. In fact, it's unlikely. that John's high school teachers had an inkling of the future that was ahead for the boistrous young man with the zest for life who drop- ped out of Grade 12 the following spring to take a fulltime job at The Goderich Signal - Star. But this week, 32 years after starting on the very bottom rung of the ladder with George and Gene Ellis at the Signal -Star office on West Street, John officially assumes responsibility for all facets of pro- duction and plant management at Signal - Star Publishing Limited and at Webman.. It's been a long, exciting climb. During those early days at Signal -Star, John's foreman was Stan Hills. John credits Stan Hills with having taught him many valuable lessons about becoming a good compositor and he calls.Hills "an ab- solutely excellent teacher". John was composing ads and working as a pressman at The Goderich Signal -Star when the newcomer, R.G.Shrier, exploded on the town. He remembers Shrier as a lanky bundle of energy who set a blistering pace as he made his advertising sales rounds on The Square and environs. "He was the best ad salesman I'd ever seen," says John. "His layouts were ex- cellent and his ads were a pleasure to work on." John began to believe Bob Sprier when talked about his dream to own The Signal - Star and the area's very first offset press printing plant. "You hang in," John recalls Shrier tell- ing him, and we'll have a web press. We'll be printing all the area papers and But when R.G.Shrier acquired the new three unit News King offset press, everything changed. "It was exciting," says John. "It was a whole new field. We were going ahead at a pace that was frightening. New things were happening all the time. I was too busy to farm." When -John became press foreman and as the press crew became more competent and efficient under his direction, Shrier and Buchanan began to look for more and more work to keep the press going. Bet- ween the two of them, they sold press time until the'eompany was printing 23 com- munity weekly newspapers every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. John also was heavily involved when the long association with The Anglican Church of Canada began nearly 20 years ago with the printing of The Huron -Church News. - He remains a large part of the reason why the Anglicans are still a major customer with SSP. Among John's best memories are those which surround the construction of the new SSP building in Industrial Park in 1973. "We were our own general contractors," recalls John, "and I worked hours and hours and hours on the construction site as well as doing my regular job. So did Bob Shrier." When the building was officially opened in June 1974, John was terribly proud of the facility which was spacious and bright and full of new promise. And there were plenty of surprises ahead, among them the beginning of a close working relationship with Henry Burgoyne, The St. Catharines Standard and its group of publications. As SSP' became partners with St. Catharines in Bradford where there were two newspapers, The Bradford Witness and Topic Newsmagazine, John was at the centre of things when the decision was made to move the six -unit offset press from Bradford to Guelph. John Buchanan General manager printing someday, you'll sit behind your own desk with none of this grubbing around in the ink." was a little skeptical," says John, "but not so skeptical that I didn't stay to find out if he was right." In 1961, John had married Diane Vander - burgh and in 1963, the couple had bought a farm in Colborne Township. John said he thought he wanted to farm fulltime as soon as he was able to get some equity behind him. ••I had been finding the printing business a litte routine and mundane," he admits. He's been overseeing the Webman opera- tion in Guelph since 1977 where many of the weekly publications and magazines of the St. Catharines group were printed. With the change in management at SSP, management wad operation of Webman will continue as it has in the past, with ad- ministration from Goderich by John Buchanan. John is totally comfortable with the new SSP owners who officially take over on Oc- tober 1, 1987. "It's a goad company with a philosophy much like that of SSP," says John. "And SSP will operate as an independent com- pany within the St. Catharines group. Not a whole lot will change around here and I think it will be good for SSP." With SSP added in, The St. Catharines Standard will employ more than 600 people at three daily newspapers, 14 weekly newspapers and several magazines. "While we've never slowed up on development here," says John, "becoming over the years international printers, we've had little or no involvement with dailies. And that potential -is present now. This gives SSP access to resources that are virtually unlimited in scope and growth potential." "Perhaps we can become the largest employer in Goderich, not third behind Champion and Domtar," he says. John fingers his big gold watch with the SSP insignia on the side. "It's been good," he says a little wistful • - ly and perhaps a little quietly for the big talkative fellow. "I was only at a loss for words once you know," he grinned. "That was when they gave me this gold watch when I'd been with the company for 25 years. It means a lot to me." It's an exciting future ahead for the new general manager - printing. But oh, what a fun ride it's been getting there. Signal -Star is people working together Thomas J. Flynn belives.in synergy, the tremendous benefits that can accrue when people work together. --The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," says Tom. "When people work together, there's more strength in the whole than the same parts taken separately." He thinks when Bob and Jo Shrier form- ed the management team- at Signal -Star Publishing Limited, they did the best thing possible to ensure the longterm success of the company. "We've seen the company evolve by leaps and bounds," says Tom. "Our people • have never been held back from growing and it was this whole concept of managing as a team - working together as a team - that got us where we are today." As the new general manager of all nine publications at SSP and having a background in industrial finance, Tom Flynn sees the way to a bright future through a continuing team effort. "It takes trust and confidence in people to make a strong, progressive organiza- tion," Tom believes. He is completely comfortable with the new owners of SSP, saying there couldn't have been a better choice made. -We've worked together for the last 10 years and we know these people as friends," says Tom. The St. Catharines Standard is one of on- ly five family-owned daily newspapers in the country, and Tom feels this is a definite plus. "They're a dying breed, but The St. Catharines Standard is family run and the personal touch is still there," Tom claims. The personal touch means a great deal to Tom Flynn. He was born and raised in St. Johns, Newfoundland where he attend- ed Memorial University. He moved to On- tario in 1967 to work in the accounting department of the Steel Company of Canada, Hamilton. It didn't take Tom long to learn the big corporation just wasn't his style. In early 1969, he took his new wife Nancy whom he had married a year before, back to St. Johns. He accepted a job with J.C.Pratt Industries there where he stayed until 1971. In October 1971, he joined Signal -Star Publishing Limited at its West Street location. Tom remembers his first interview with Bob Shrier was full of surprises. Though he found the president of SSP very likeable because he was so easy to talk to, Tom was a little surprised when this relaxed conversation led to an immediate job offer. Tom was even more surprised when he heard himself readily agreeing to start to work for Shrier's company. It certainly wasn't the company's fine facilities that had attracted him. Tom's first office was little more than a hole in the wall. It didn't even have a door because there simply was not space to put one, either a door to swing in or a door to - swing out. Tom recalls his office was hot in the winter and even hotter in the summer. And it wasn't his knowledge of the prin- ting industry that fired his imagination. His first big job at SSP was learning about the publishing business from the beginn- ing, with a whole new vocabulary and an entirely different philosophy than he had previously learned. But Tom Flynn liked the synergy that abounded at SSP. He liked the way SSP treated people.. And he was compelled to become familiar with every aspect of the business. Today, Tom Flynn knows his picas and his flags like a veteran and oc- cupies an office with a great straight -on view of beautiful Lake Huron. Tom earned his designation as a Cer- tified General Accountant in 1980 and for the last several years, has been controller of Signal -Star Publishing Limited. He lives in Goderich Township with his wife and their three children, Jennifer whc is 15; Lisa who is 13; and Adam who is three. Tom Flynn General Manager Publishing