A Healthier Way to Print

For many years at Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS), associates had free reign to print as many brochures, booklets, flyers and forms as they saw fit, with very little monitoring of costs. When materials became outdated, thousands of copies were discarded and more were ordered.

"Sometimes people got very free with ordering things," remarks Amy Leach, director of Corporate PR and Marketing.

The task of printing this heavy volume of work fell on Brian Rader, BVHS Print Shop coordinator. Jobs came in as email attachments, and he got to them when he could using aging offset equipment.

"We were producing more than 4.5 million pieces per year," reports Leach. "That was just way too much for one full-time employee to handle. It definitely had to be streamlined."

Today, after two years of effort, that streamlining has totally transformed the printing process at the Findlay, Ohio-based non-profit health system. Unnecessary printing has plunged, slashing print costs by a staggering 30 percent—enough to pay the salaries of three full-time BVHS employees. Job submission is now organized and efficient, with clear communication of job requirements and delivery dates, and strict adherence to brand standards. In addition, an array of state-of-the-art digital printing equipment has boosted the print shop's productivity.

"It's 100 percent better now," reports Rader.

Rethinking Printing

Getting to this point has not been easy. It required not only the implementation of new software and systems, but mass retraining of BVHS employees to get them to think differently about printing.

Employing more than 2,000 associates, Blanchard Valley Health System serves an eight-county area in northwest Ohio. It includes two hospitals (Blanchard Valley and Bluffton), two long-term care facilities, medical equipment stores and many other entities.

Until 2012, the BVHS print shop was part of the maintenance department, where it didn't get much attention.

"The print shop really wasn't advancing like it needed to," Rader admits.

Less than a year into her job, Leach was asked to take on responsibility for the in-plant.

"The print shop works every single day with PR and Marketing," she notes. "It was only logical that the print shop would align with PR and Marketing."

As she familiarized herself with the printing operation, Leach quickly saw a problem.

"We weren't seeing the true cost of what was going on at the print shop," she says. "Anybody could order anything."

The solution, she decided, was to move all of the print budgets from departments throughout BVHS under the control of PR and Marketing. That way her department could monitor what was being printed and make changes. If an associate wanted to order 5,000 brochures, PR and Marketing could tell them to start with just 1,000.

Leach and her team began looking at each project and eliminating those deemed unnecessary or switching them to an electronic format. She was also able to address the problem of brand consistency.

"A lot of people weren't abiding by the graphics standards," she points out. "Things were being put out in front of the public that did not meet the quality standards that PR and Marketing wanted to maintain."

Now those jobs could be redesigned by her department to meet the graphics standards.

Beyond Email Submission

To move beyond email for job submission and better coordinate that process, BVHS purchased Océ PRISMAaccess job submission and print management software. This has made a world of difference, simplifying the ordering process and providing customers with more information about their jobs.

Previously when associates emailed jobs, they got no confirmation that the job was received nor any information on when it would be completed. Jobs weren't prioritized at all.

"Whoever yelled the loudest got theirs the quickest," laughs Rader.

With Océ PRISMAaccess, once a job is submitted, customers get a notification that it was accepted along with a delivery date.

"It keeps the associate who placed the order in the loop," says Leach.

The system lets BVHS customize job tickets so the print shop gets the information it needs, such as type of paper, finishing requirements, expedited delivery needs, etc. Océ PRISMAaccess has improved the in-plant's control over production, leading to faster turnaround times.

Cost Estimating Tool

Perhaps most importantly, though, Océ PRISMAaccess has given BVHS a handle on its printing costs thanks to a cost estimating tool.

"It can actually tell me, at the click of a button, how much a particular job is going to cost," notes Mindy Radabaugh, corporate public relations and marketing coordinator. She was brought on to serve as intake coordinator, monitoring all job submissions to ensure they meet graphic standards, are free of errors and have proper approval.

If she sees that a job will cost more than expected, Radabaugh goes back to the customer to discuss ways to streamline the project. For example, if a department is ordering four brochures, she asks if they can be combined into one. If a book contains pages of unnecessary information, she tries to reduce the page count. This involvement has gotten associates to think more about what they're printing.

"People are ordering smaller quantities more often, and that really helps reduce the waste," remarks Radabaugh. As a result, BVHS has been able to reduce printing costs by $118,000 over the past two years.

Leach is emphatic about the value of having an in-plant.

"I think the print shop is an extremely valuable tool for organizations to have," she declares. BVHS considered outsourcing its in-plant, she notes, but that would not have eliminated printing costs. By retaining and improving the print shop the health system is able to more closely monitor and control what its associates print, saving money.

"It's more [about] printing in a smart way, and learning how to best utilize the dollars that you have," she points out.

Equipment Overhaul

In addition to Océ PRISMAaccess software, BVHS also upgraded the in-plant's equipment. The shop now runs:

• A Canon imageRUNNER 4580

• A Canon imageRUNNER 7095

• A Canon imageRUNNER Advance 8095

• A Canon imagePRESS C7010VP

A Duplo DC-445 creaser, a Multigraphics folder, a Challenge Model 20 cutter and two paper drills make up the in-plant's bindery.

Improving the print shop's capabilities has enabled it to do work it previously couldn't handle.

"We've brought some projects into the health system that we used to outsource," notes Radabaugh. "It's costing us a fraction of what it would cost to have it outsourced."

Leach praises BVHS CEO Scott Malaney for supporting her efforts to make the necessary changes. Throughout the transformation process, she kept him updated on her efforts and the resulting savings.

"Mr. Malaney was extremely proud and shared the news with the board members," she says. "I think they look at it as an invaluable tool now, which means we were successful. But it took a team effort."