Mary Beth Brown has been shaking a lot of hands lately.

In September, Brown was named the Lawrence Hallmark production center manager. She made meeting employees a priority her first few months on the job.

Janice McKenzie, left, a dual folding machine operator and 20-year employee at the Lawrence Hallmark plant, visits with Kim Gouge, section manager and Mary Beth Brown, production center manager.

“It has been a bit hectic, I’ve been trying to meet 800 people,” Brown said.

Brown, 44, has worked for Hallmark since 1981 in a variety of positions, primarily in Kansas City. Before becoming production manager, she served as the director of Hallmark’s global supply chain, a more strategic-planning role. Her new role is more about business and employee relations.

“I think the piece that’s different is, in Lawrence, I am the ambassador for Hallmark,” Brown said “In the positions I have had in Kansas City, there’s a big corporate infrastructure around you.”

Since becoming more comfortable at the plant, Brown said she was looking for more ways Hallmark could benefit the community. Hallmark is the second-largest private employer in Lawrence.

“Since our production facilities are large employers in their communities, the production center managers represent the face of Hallmark to that community,” said Hallmark spokesperson Kristi Ernsting. “One of Hallmark’s beliefs and values is that of being a responsible corporate citizen. That means giving back to the communities where we operate.”

Valuable team member

A litho sheet of 11 cards is inspected by press operators Teresa DaVatz, left, and Zack Richards.

Brown has been involved with Hallmark’s United Way campaign and has represented the company at various community events.

But she is not new to Lawrence. Brown received a master’s of business administration from Kansas University in 1985 after earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State University in 1981.

She lived in Lawrence for six years and left her car in the Hallmark plant parking lot to car pool with people to the Hallmark plant in Kansas City. Brown now lives with her husband and two children in Lenexa and travels to Lawrence every day.

“I love being back in Lawrence,” she said. “At the time I was here, did I think I’d be back? I had absolutely no idea. But it’s fun to be back.”

Even though she does not live in Lawrence, Brown said she was still committed to the community.

“Mary Beth is a valuable team member and a well-respected leader,” said Ray Powers, Hallmark’s vice president of manufacturing. “She leads by example through her dedication to Hallmark and her integrity. We know she will continue to maintain Hallmark’s high standards of quality and that she will represent Hallmark well in the Lawrence community.”

The Lawrence plant produces about 650 million greeting cards a year, including the company’s popular Shoebox line. The plant also specializes in making ribbons, bows, invitations and stickers.

When Brown took over in September, the plant was producing seasonal products, which included Valentine’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day items.

Amanda Lucas holds a sample of a foil pressed overlay for a card, at right, and the completely assembled card, at left. Lucas has worked 26 years at Hallmark.

“That is a real peak production time for us,” Brown said. “So, I think I’ve seen us at our maximum volume.”

In late October and November, the plant produced Christmas cards for President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

“The president’s card we did 1.5 million, which is a huge run for us,” Brown said. “What’s fun about it — we had a little celebration for the employees who worked on it — is everyone takes great pride in producing the card for the president.”

Company’s vision

Brown said she had great respect for Mark Garrett, her predecessor, at the Lawrence plant, and does not plan to change much at the plant. Garrett now works for the Kansas City, Mo., school district.

“The Lawrence team had a great vision when I came out here,” Brown said. “So, in terms of dramatic change, there isn’t any.”

She wants to continue the company’s emphasis on an employee-owned quality system. This is a system where each operator is responsible for the quality of the product they produce, not an independent quality-control department.

Max Herman, a high-speed page insert operator at Hallmark, 101 McDonald Drive, has worked 31 years at the plant.

Brown said she also expected to see improvements in technology at the plant. One of those improvements will be in the machines that add the glittery snow-like accents to the greeting cards.

“Part of what we’re updating will be adding additional capacity because the consumer actually loves those processes,” Brown said.

Meeting demands

More improvements will be made in decreasing the amount of time it takes to convert production from one type of card to another type of card.

“Our business, like anybody else’s business, is constantly changing,” Brown said. “The retailers we work with, their expectations change, their requirements of us change and so I think that forces us to continually look at how we do things.”

The most important thing for Brown, however, is having fun at work. She said it “is one of the axioms” she lives by. Her work at Hallmark seems to fit her passion well.

“We are in a really cool business,” Brown said. “We make products that help people express themselves to people they care about in happy times and in sad times. I’ve been here for 22 years and I’m still here because I love what we produce.”

Debbie Messenhimer, a multi-foil press operator, prepares cards for loading into machines that will stamp colored foils to highlight areas of text and graphics on each card. Messenhimer has worked at Hallmark for 26 years.