The print shop at Portfolio’s Strongsville, Ohio, office can best be described as organized chaos. On the surface, it may appear hectic and bustling with numerous tasks, deadlines and projects happening simultaneously. However, behind the scenes, you will find Christian Dohar, the senior production specialist, deftly supervising a well-established system and structure that helps to manage the workload efficiently.
Christian holds a crucial role in overseeing and managing Portfolio’s print production, which has greatly evolved over the years. The Ohio native began working at NAE/NWAN nearly 13 years ago in what he says was “a room, no larger than a mid-sized office, where we had only two printers.” Although he has worked in the same position all these years, his role has completely changed due to the dramatic growth of the company and the department.
“We now occupy a large section of the building, along with eight very large printers — about 40 to 60 feet long — plus other large printers.” In years past, the company would outsource many of their print jobs. Today, however, Portfolio’s capabilities far outshadow local shops. “Now we are one of the largest printing companies in Cleveland!” Christian says with a chuckle, noting that “having this equipment made us realize that not only can we do the work ourselves with a quicker turnaround time, but we can also be much more customizable.”
On a day-to-day basis, one of Christian’s most essential duties is task prioritization. He is responsible for creating production schedules, allocating resources and coordinating workflows. He starts early — typically by 6:15 a.m. — to get ahead of the day’s orders. This involves analyzing project requirements, assessing the team’s available capacity, prioritizing tasks based on deadlines and customer expectations and assigning them accordingly.
“On a perfect day I would have all these machines going at one time while at the same time troubleshooting and working on achieving great balance. There’s always something to do, always something coming in, something going out,” he says.
Christian works with numerous people throughout the Portfolio organization, but he relies on Graphics the most. Working hand-in-hand, the teams assess the needs of the various dealerships and agents who are placing orders. Together they enjoy open communications to make sure they all remain on the same page. “It’s a great group of people that I enjoy working with a lot,” Christian says. “I love the sense of camaraderie, the teamwork that’s essential to succeed.”
This culture is one of the things Christian loves most about working at Portfolio. “Everyone has been extremely friendly, approachable and team-oriented. I feel very lucky to be in the position that I’m in.”
Christian says he inherited his strong work ethic from his greatest role model: his father. “My dad worked three full time jobs from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, as a single dad trying to provide for his family. If I was able to do just a small fraction of what my father accomplished, I’d die happy.”
Outside of Portfolio, Christian has many interests, including spending time with his two older daughters. He also has a passion for coaching and playing soccer. His love of soccer recently coincided with another passion of his — travel.
“I was able to cross a few trips off my bucket list, one of which was a trip to London to see one of my favorite soccer teams play.” Another bucket list item was a trip to Istanbul, where Christian enjoyed taking in “the sights, the smells and the culture. I feel lucky to have experienced that.” In the future, he hopes to continue traveling to places abroad like Greece and Lebanon, where his father lived. He also would love to travel to Southern California one day. “It would be great to see in person many of the people I work with daily in the Lake Forest office.”
And, since he was awarded Associate of the Month in May, his dream may come true if he wins the raffle that will send him to the Portfolio holiday party of his choice. “I would choose the Lake Forest party. That’s a no-brainer!” Christian jokes. It would be the perfect way to not only cross off another bucket list trip for Christian, but to further reward him for his dedication and achievements in our highly productive print shop.
