David Sevits is the General Manager at Walsworth’s Marceline facility. He has enjoyed more than 40 years in the printing industry and oversees plant production and warehouse departments, managing them through daily tasks and projects. David joined the company as a Quality Supervisor and was ultimately promoted to General Manager. In his position, he focuses on investing in his plant employees – learning, development and mentoring.
I started at Walsworth on Feb. 16, 2004. I left a large corporate printing environment to come to a family-owned business, which was quite attractive to me. Walsworth provided a professional workplace without some of the bureaucracy I was accustomed to.
Mike Summers, former Director of Yearbook Customer Service, had been a neighbor of mine years ago and he recruited me to Walsworth. (In February 2004) We saw each other in Walmart. He and I talked for 45 minutes, had a great talk. Then he started talking about Walsworth having this position (Quality Supervisor and Six Sigma Black Belt ), and I was replying to everything he was saying. He said my background was exactly like the job description they were filling and asked me to send him a resume the next day. A short time later I interviewed, and the rest is history.
Yes, at one time we were neighbors, from around 1987-1993. He lived north of Kirksville, about half a mile from us. Our families had become family friends.
I worked in Kirksville for Burroughs Business Forms Division, which was bought by Standard Register. I basically worked my way through the plant. I ran almost all the machines, became a press operator and from there became a supervisor. After a few years, I was promoted to Quality Manager and later became a Six Sigma Green Belt. My last six months there, I transferred to the plant in Shelbyville, Indiana, before coming to Walsworth. I was at Burroughs/Standard Register for 20 years.
I kind of have it in my blood. My father and I worked in the same plant for 18 years. At Walsworth, in many cases, we create a keepsake or book that has personal value for our customers. You know, in some cases the book is something they are going to hand down from generation to generation. Another thing is the interaction with great people in the plant. We often host customers doing press and bindery checks, during which we get to know them and learn from their perspective.
I had a lengthy interview where I met Gary O’Toole, and I felt like my skills meshed very well with the Quality position. I could see the technology investment. I interviewed with several other managers too, and I could see they were committed and dedicated to moving the company forward.
At lunch, Don Walsworth came by and introduced himself. For the first time in the printing industry, I had an owner shaking hands with me. I was no longer in a corporate environment. I was in a privately-owned environment that was more welcoming and had a ‘common sense’ atmosphere.
As the general manager, I’m responsible for both the day-to-day operation and future-looking strategic items as well.
I like to arrive to work early each day to meet with the previous shift to see how everything went and then hold our morning staff meeting. That’s where we review the previous day and also make sure everything’s on track for the next 24 hours.
The next few hours of my day are spent reviewing upcoming complex jobs, as well as any strategic initiatives we are pursuing. We are always looking at what’s next in the industry.
A big part of my day is also talking with people in each department. It’s important to get to know our team members and see how things are going. Continuous improvement is important, and we’re always on the lookout for opportunities to improve. From there, it’s planning for the next few days, months, year.
While every day is different, we are consistently producing great products.
COVID changed everything. In the history books, I think they will talk pre-COVID and post-COVID when it comes to many industries, including print. In a few ways, it changed things for the good. Other things, like finding great employees, became harder for a while, and that helped us realize we need to make sure we are the employer of choice. It sounds a little corny, but we need to live our values more than ever before to attract and retain great people. Advancements in technology are more important than maybe ever before.
If I were to segment my 20 years into three things: the first would be a consistent 20-year investment in equipment. We have great equipment. The second, I believe, was increasing our commercial workload to where we could employ our core staff 12 months a year without having to lose great people when yearbooks are not in production.
And the third was looking outside of our walls, into the industry and acquiring companies that mirrored our values, our community and our products.
I will say for 30 years my goal was to become General Manager of a printing operation. I was given plenty of opportunities to learn new skills in that time, as well as to see the inner workings of how Gary did his job. He gave me plenty of chances to stand in as acting General Manager in his absence.
I have been blessed. I’ve had plenty of time with the leadership group, and we have a good rapport. They knew my work traits and I had many opportunities to interact with them. We have a great group of employees who I trust daily to make good decisions.
I believe the rest of my career will be investing in people, learning and development and giving anyone opportunities to reach their career objectives. In Gary’s era as GM, we made great strides in equipment, which was needed. In my era as GM, it is going to be more about the people – learning and development and mentoring.
We will still have to keep our equipment up to date, of course.
I see inkjet printing on the horizon to help supplement everything we do. It is fast and efficient. Inkjet presses along with the digital binding equipment are going add to complement our current production and play part in our future success.
David and his wife Melodie
I have lived almost my entire life in the Kirksville, Missouri area. It is where I grew up.
We did live in Marceline for seven years, but we moved back to Kirksville as my wife, Melodie, and I own a flower shop that she operates. Also, our aging parents made it a necessity to live closer, so it made sense to move back to Kirksville.
Both our children, our daughter Stephanie and our son Brian, are married and we have six grandkids total. We have tons of family. If your last name is Sevits and you are in Kirksville, I am related to you. (laughs)
Yeah, on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day I take vacation so I can help out in the shop. I wear a tux and make deliveries; it’s fun. Other than that, I mostly just fix stuff when it breaks.
We love taking vacations, usually to the beach. Like watching the grandkids play sports, we enjoy boating and camping, we enjoy church activities. And I enjoy woodworking, as well.
David Sevits and his family in Destin, Florida
Destin, Florida is our favorite. It is beautiful anywhere within those 50 miles of the Emerald Coast.
My wife and I, as well as our extended family and friends, have spent a lot of vacations together traveling. I would not change a thing.
My brother in law’s a contractor so I help him from time to time. My wife and I have bought homes to flip them. We remodel every home we have every bought to live in, nothing easy like buying a home “move in ready.” I studied Drafting and Manufacturing Technology at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State). I have drawn homes that have been built, done renovation projects, and collaborated with committees drafting church expansions.
I am not an avid reader. The last book I read was a Dave Ramsey book, EntreLeadership. My favorite book is American Sniper about Chris Kyle. I do like several James Patterson books too.
I would say the last series we watched that I really liked was the Longmire series on Netflix.
I love barbecue. Anything that will go on the grill, steaks, and veggies. I have a gas grill, charcoal grill and a Blackstone so morning, noon or night I can cook outside.
While at Standard Register, I worked with Frank Abagnale and the FBI on developing a check that could not be reproduced on a color copier.
Yes, this was way before the movie. But we knew he was a convict who had been given early release from prison by the FBI to help prevent and deter fraud.
Yes, I did. Leonardo DiCaprio was Frank in the movie. You know, when Abagnale was younger, he might have been like that. He was taller than (DiCaprio). He was as much of a con artist as the movie showed.
I don’t know… “Every day you make a choice,” I guess.
In the same situation people can react very differently. I choose to be optimistic and do not let emotion overrun calm consideration.
There are many. But I think the most memorable one is when Gary, Tommy Gardner, Tim Fisher and I traveled to Germany when we were looking to invest in perfecting presses. This was a big step for us that has paid huge dividends in throughput, quality, customer satisfaction, and more. We did a lot of work while there, and we had fun as well. Choosing a press for the future was an extremely rewarding and memorable experience; the chance of a lifetime to see parts of Europe.
