Turning Savings Inside Out

INSOURCING IS more than a trend. It can be a life saver to your in-plant. Who knew it would send me on a 3,000-mile last-gasp attempt to rescue my in-plant?

Insourcing in Theory

The policy of providing printing services to clients outside of the in-plant’s organization pays off in more ways than one. In the utopian model of insourcing, the in-plant manager zeros out his budget with external revenue and gives internal clients the lowest cost services possible. In return, the external clients gain the benefit of the in-plant’s cost-cutting philosophy.

I sat through a session on insourcing at an IPMA national conference years ago. I often credit this session for my adoption of insourcing and have always neglected to mention the presenter: Rustin Myers, of Grocery Supply Co. Myers, an affable Texan, told how he faced down outsourcing antagonists with a fistful of revenue. I thought insourcing was a novel idea, but I never could have imagined it would turn into a thriller.

Insourcing looked good on paper, but how would it play in practice?

Insourcing in Practice

I’ve never been good at good-byes. I find them problematic. My solution is to simply avoid them.

Several years ago, my company, in redefining itself, divested itself of one the largest parts of our customer base. In retrospect, I should have known I didn’t own the basket that I put all my eggs in. Our in-plant was left with a gaping hole that you could almost hear the wind whistle through. We were through. Our internal customer base was abysmal.

What can you do? Business is business. That’s the way it works, right?

Wrong.

As my customer base waved good-bye and lamented the loss of our services, I thought of the Myers insourcing session.

I told my customers maybe we could still do business, while I put a business plan together for insourcing. The approval process and mechanics that went into the insourcing process is the subject for another story to be browsed on nights where sleep eludes the reader.

We became a print provider to our old customers in a new way. They now had a virtual in-plant. We took our engrained in-plant cost savings philosophy to the outside and gained tremendous success. The clients appreciated our suggestions and customer service. They rewarded us with a loyalty that extended over many years. Simultaneously, we explored and nurtured new internal clients with needs not being met satisfactorily by outside providers. This started to replenish our depleted in-house customer base and give us balance. This should have supplied a happy ending and an article with a shorter word count, but it just didn’t happen.

Parting is Such Sour Business

Our in-plant found our newly developed internal customer base going the way of the old. This department performed consulting that involved stacks of customer-directed print. It was sought after by another company and sold by ours. It was an amicable and beneficial parting for all but our in-plant. Fond farewells were extended all around.

Prior to this parting, this group had enjoyed our savings and services. These were wonderful people to work with, who appreciated our accelerated approach to providing quality printing. The split threatened to sever this symbiotic relationship.

Still more problematic was the dilemma it left us with. How would we fill the hole in production again until we could rebuild the internal business?

Talk about déj