Kyle Merck

Experience

• 

  American Color

  Jun 1985 - Oct 1994

  Department Head

  Beginning my career in the Prepress industry as a prep person for the scanning department, I rapidly moved up to a scanner operator, working on a Crosfield drum scanner. During this time the company was installing the precursor to electronic prepress, a Crosfield 880 pagination system. I quickly moved into this department and became what I later found out was the youngest Certified operator in the country. Through the years I trained a number of people to become operators on this system and advanced to the head of the department. Show less

• 

  Pacific Color Graphics

  Oct 1994 - Jan 1999

  Production Foreman

  This company was an offshoot of American Color, and I was one of the first employees asked to join the Irvine location. Here is where I transitioned from a Crosfield operator to a Certified Scitex operator. My primary production duties focused less on layout and more upon retouching and color correction. Clients at the time included Warner Brother Studios, Disney, Kawasaki, Big Sky Country, Learning Tree, Morey Boogie, Architectural Digest, and Hachette Publications. I also began to develop my skills as a Mac operator using early versions of today's standards. My mac abilities were used to move me into the Hachette account which included such magazines as Road & Track, Cycle World, Big Twin, Car & Driver, and Car Buyers Guide. I spent my last year there as the a Production Foreman managing my own crew of 20+ employees. Show less

• 

  Irvine Press

  Feb 1999 - Nov 1999

  Prepress Manager

  My climb up the management ladder continued here at Irvine Press. My time here was spent on increasing productivity for the Prepress Department, which I was able to do to an increase of 600%. (Although some credit is due here to my predecessor for running it the department so poorly.) This was also my first lesson in working myself out of my own job. With the increased productivity, the owners were finally able to sell the company, which did not include me in the package. It was still a great experience though as two important things came out of it. The first was that I learned how to do a lot of work with just the bare bones of out-dated equipment. The second was that the owners offered me a position in their other company in a completely unrelated industry simply because, "​in 25 years of managing people, you Kyle are the best employee I have ever hired." Flattering to be sure but I had to decline, it was a Travel Agency, and the looming specter of the internet was about to decimate them. Show less

• 

  Ryan Press

  Jan 2000 - Jun 2002

  Prepress Manager/ Art Director

  This position was offered to me the same day I was offered a position at Irvine Press. Ten months later and this position was looking to be filled again. That should have been a sign. My experience increasing productivity through technology and automation fell on deaf ears. This was an "old school" print shop that was set in it's ways and was not going to make any changes. I did manage to implement a few changes in the DEPARTMENT at least, leaving it in better shape than when I found it. These changes included moving from a written ledger for image archiving to an electronic one that auto-populated through an import, and digital department schedules. Show less

• 

  Mico Printing & Packaging

  Jun 2003 - Oct 2009

  Production Manager

  This was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge base again as I entered the Packaging Industry. Printing and designing in 2 dimensions is fine but in three dimensions was wonderful. I began my tenure here running the Prepress Department which also included learning, running, and managing a CAD system. It was here that I also began to hone my skills as a database developer. Those skills would serve me well. Within my first year I had developed systems to turn written job tickets into electronic ones. This was expanded to include rewriting their out dated quoting system, creating systems to track paper, schedules, inventory, etc. Any information that could be digitized was, and automation soon followed. These new systems allowed employees to be re-purposed, including myself. I became one of two Plant Managers. I maintained everything from the time a client walked in the door until it came off of Press (the other Manager handled all of the finishing and shipping). Life was good for quite a few years. The company took a hit in the credit crunch of '09 and had to be sold. Unlike my experience in the past, this time the deal included a job for me. The only employee NOT connected to the family to get such a deal. Moving from a dynamic, creative environment over to a new company didn't suit me well. They didn't know how to fully utilize me, I left 5 months later. Show less

• 

  Colour Concepts

  Oct 2009 - Jan 2013

  Chief Information Manager

  CCI was a web to print company based in Riverside California. Though I was initially brought on to automate their Prepress Department, I was quickly advanced to overseeing all aspects of their information management. This included rewriting their quoting and tracking system, improving their scheduling system, developing various pricing models, and most significantly, managing the development of their web presence. Although they had an existing site, I was tasked with monitoring and reporting on the progress of the newer site with a stable UI and greater scalability than the current site. My duties here included managing and monitoring all in house design, outside programming, data entry, alpha and beta testing, and training of existing staff. As the company was in financial straits during most of my tenure there I was also responsible for meeting with and demonstrating the new technology to potential investors both domestic and international. During the last 6 months of the companies existence I also took on the managing of the Prepress Department. Show less

• 

  Second Story Data

  Sept 2012 - now

  Founder

  Development of Smartphone applications and information management systems for small business. Clients include companies in the printing industry, apparel industry, retail and web based sales, legal services, and the entertainment industry.Information is power. Let us make you powerful.

• 

  Yebo Group/Black Rhino Display

  May 2013 - Dec 2015

  Designer

  Brought on as a Graphic, Structural, and Database Designer. Company specialized in short run packaging and signage. As such I really had a chance to be as creative as I saw fit. Most of the customer base was new to Packaging and really needed our help and guidance in giving them a product that both fulfilled their needs while staying within their budget. Lots of interesting and creative projects.

• 

  ACG | EcoPack

  Dec 2015 - Feb 2018

  Project Manager

  Estimating, Database Development, Prepress, Inventory, Scheduling, Customer Service for a medium size Folding Carton Company. This company could not decide exactly what to do with me so I did a little bit of everything. Great experience if I ever need to run my own shop one day.

• 

  New Frontier Group

  Oct 2019 - Mar 2022

  Lead Developer

  This company specializes in travel insurance and medical claim adjudication. Primary duties are to write a Jira like piece of software for tracking the progress of software development projects, and to maintain their existing FileMaker solution (externally referred to as Onyx). Once these were in place I served as the Lead Developer for the Department and wrote solutions that allowed them to transfer data that was encrypted to HIPPA standards for the transfer of private medical data across disparate systems. The formats include Aetna’s proprietary format, 835 medical formats , as well as the newer 837 medical format. This project included not only getting these formats to speak directly with the existing FileMaker solution (Onyx), but to allow translation from any one format directly into another (Aetna to 835, or 835 to 837 for example).Currently re-writing Onyx to become Onyx 2.0. This will harness many of the newer functionalities of FileMaker. Features New Frontier Group has not been taking advantage of since their software was first developed. Show less

• 

  Kyo Logic

  Mar 2022 - now

  Senior Developer