2009 Printing Industry Hall of Fame: Quest to Be the Best

THE TERM "wake-up call" generally refers to a heightening of one's awareness to a situation that needs to be rectified. Herb Zebrack is living proof that the term can carry dual meanings, including a literal application.

This story traces back some 50 years, when Zebrack was a teenager attending L.A. Trade Tech during the day and working at a print shop during evenings. Zebrack also managed to squeeze in some courting time in-between, making for a rigorous schedule.

"What I learned by day, I could use by night. And what I learned at night, I used by day," Zebrack recalls.

With the shop's presses running at a not-quite-brisk 1,300 sheets an hour on a 50,000-run job, Zebrack would pull off the occasional sheet to inspect. Other than that, it wasn't a real hands-on situation. But, in burning the candle at both ends, Zebrack soon found himself dozing off.

Enter one guardian angel.

"One day I was dozing off and I got a tap on the shoulder," Zebrack recalls. "The guy says to me, 'Hey Herb, the great thing about printing is no matter how good you think the quality is, you can always make it better.' And that's stuck with me until this day."

Zebrack, 75, the president of Hawthorne, CA-based Lithographix, spent the next 50 years striving to make the quality of his printing better and better. He's left an impression on the printing world in general, and Southern California in particular, en route to his inclusion in the 2009 Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame induction class.

Zebrack has done a remarkable job overseeing the incredible growth experienced by Lithographix in its 30 years under his guidance. When he took the ownership helm in 1980, the company was posting $1.6 million in sales, while doing business out of a 6,400-square-foot facility. Today, the business racks up sales of roughly $125 million in a 250,000-square-foot operation.

With humility being one of Zebrack's biggest assets, he defers credit for growth to the team, not the individual in the corner office. "Our growth is not a tribute to me, but a tribute to we," he says. "We grew it together, all the Lithographix employees."

Destined for Print

Zebrack grew up in East Los Angeles, "the other side of the tracks," he recalls, and enjoyed a happy, loving family life and childhood. Printing wasn't really on his radar screen; one day Zebrack could picture himself being a lawyer, given his persuasive demeanor, but he never felt driven toward any one vocation.

"I didn't give much thought to printing until I got into high school," Zebrack says. "I picked the course because I needed a class to finish out the day. And the great thing about my printing class was the instructor, who never took roll, so you could come in late or not at all."

Law school would never materialize, but the industrial arts college set Zebrack on the destined path. After graduating, he worked for a couple of shops as a pressman and foreman, before arriving at Lithographix—a sheetfed and web commercial facility—as a plant superintendent. He quickly learned about the hotbed of competition that existed in Southern California, including George Rice & Sons, Anderson Lithograph and ColorGraphics. And, when he took control of the company, he saw constant reminders of this, not the least of which was a large Los Angeles startup that tried to ply his employees with promises of gargantuan salaries.

Zebrack was incensed, to say the least, but the experience showed him who was truly on board with the company, and who could be bought. "The new startup offered all our key salespeople and key managers outlandish money and other goodies," Zebrack notes. "It was certainly a hell of a challenge to keep them all here. It would have been devastating if they had hired all of our top employees. But, in the end, the only people we lost to them were folks we didn't particularly care if they went or not."

A Printer's Printer

So, if the employees of Lithographix weren't showing up every day just to cash a fat paycheck, what were the elements that kept the workers happy and loyal? Part of it, according to Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP U.S.A.) President Marke Baker, is the fact that Zebrack rose humbly through the industry ranks.

"Every morning, Herb goes in, gets a cup of coffee and walks through his plant, spending more than an hour talking to employees," Baker says. "And, he's also looking at the product on the floor. He wants to know where the unfinished jobs stand. Then he'll go upstairs, remember what he's learned on the floor, and call the salesmen and say, 'Why is that job still sitting by the press?' The employees are like, 'wow, he knew that job was stuck in the corner?' They just love him to death, because he was one of them."

As for his dealings with Zebrack in selling him several Mitsubishi sheetfed offset and web presses, Baker says the most appropriate adjectives are tough and fair. "He's probably one of the toughest, but fair, negotiators you'll ever come across, and it's probably because it's his money," Baker adds with a laugh. "In negotiating, he'll push you as far as he thinks is fair, just like you would expect his customers to do to him."

From the customer point of view, Lithographix has developed a well-earned reputation of being a high-quality print provider, not just one that is competitively priced, according to Urban Hirsch, president and CEO of Ink Systems. "Herb's been one of the true visionaries in the high-quality niche," Hirsch says. "He probably runs the best printing plant in the West, without question. It's a real showroom."

Zebrack stresses that the company's survival has hinged on being able to provide customers with something far beyond commodity pricing. "If you can't give the buyer something that the printer down the street isn't giving them...you're not going to be in business very long," he cautions. Relationships and products that make the client look good speak toward that objective.

Zebrack feels he brings integrity to the table, and fosters an environment where employees can feel free to speak their mind, even when those opinions don't mesh with the president's views. "I feel it's every employee's obligation to voice his or her opinion in order to better the company," he notes. "You can learn from the dumbest, as well as the smartest."

In the past, Zebrack has played an active role in the L.A. Litho Club, and is currently on the board of directors for the Web Offset Association. Boasting a "roof full of solar panels," Lithographix is a leading solar power producer in the state of California, and certainly one of the most environmentally responsible.

Away from the office, Zebrack enjoys taking cruises with his wife of 55 years, Paulette. They generally hit the seas twice a year, and one of the most memorable for the Zebracks was a pass through the Panama Canal. "You just marvel at the genius of the people who created it," he says.

The Zebracks have three sons—Allen, Jeff and David. Allen is a dentist, while Jeff and David are employed at Lithographix. Herb Zebrack especially treasures the time he gets to spend with his four grandchildren. PI