Creative Department Buildout
& Production Expansion
A department with growing demands.
Shrinking capacity to me them.
Role:
Marketing Account Executive
Timeline:
2018-2022
Discipline:
Operations
Capital Procurement
Team Building
Workflow Design
The Challenge
As marketing responsibilities expanded, the existing creative department was constrained by outdated equipment, limited physical space, and workflows that could not scale to meet the volume and quality of work being required. The organization was dependent on outside vendors for production work that should have been handled in-house, adding cost, reducing turnaround speed, and limiting creative control.
The opportunity was clear: build a production-capable creative department from the ground up — the right people, the right equipment, and the right processes — capable of handling a significantly broader range of work in-house at a professional level.
The Execution
A capital project as much as a creative one.
Managed the full scope of the department buildout from initial planning through implementation. This included hiring new creative talent to expand team capacity, designing new workflows to streamline production across the expanded team, and relocating the department into a larger physical space purpose-built to accommodate new large-format production equipment.
The equipment acquisition was the centerpiece of the expansion. Procured and implemented a professional production suite that brought significant new in-house capability to the department.
Each equipment addition required evaluating vendor options, justifying the capital investment, coordinating installation, and integrating the new capability into the team’s production workflow. New processes were designed around the expanded equipment suite to ensure the team could operate efficiently across a significantly higher volume and variety of work.
In-house Capabilities
- HP DesignJet Z9+ — enabling faster in-house production of posters and large-scale print materials
- Roland UV Printer MO-240 — professional UV printing for high-quality branded materials and signage.
- Graphic Whizard cutting machine — precision cutting for print production at volume.
- 3D printers — dimensional signage, display elements, and custom branded fabrication.
- Epilog M2 laser engraver — custom engraving for branded materials, awards, and specialty items.
- Canon C710 copier – large run printing up of menus, booklets, rack cards, and human resource handouts.
Team and Production Growth
- Department relocated to an expanded space purpose-built for production operations.
- Full professional print and fabrication suite procured and operational.
- New creative talent hired and integrated into expanded team structure.
- In-house production capability significantly reduced vendor dependency.
- New workflows were designed and implemented across all production areas.
- Faster turnaround, greater creative control, and lower production costs.
The Results
A self-sufficient production department with professional-grade capability.
Building a production-capable creative department is an operational and capital management challenge that any organization with in-house marketing understands. The ability to assess capability gaps, justify equipment investment, manage a physical buildout, hire the right talent, and design workflows that make the whole system run — that skill set is directly applicable to any organization looking to scale its internal creative operations, reduce vendor dependency, or bring production capabilities in-house for the first time.
