AARP: Not Your Grandfather’s In-plant

ANYONE WHO has approached or passed the half-century mark in life is familiar with the stream of mailings from AARP—the American Association of Retired People. Increasingly populated these days by Baby Boomers who adamantly refuse to acknowledge age as a limitation, the organization behind the mailings is a well-oiled machine that relies heavily on print and mail to acquire and service nearly 40 million loyal members. The lion's share of the print and mail that supports AARP's internal needs comes out of the Print Services operation at AARP's Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Although staffed with just 13 people (only three of whom are north of 50), Print Services churns out some 2 million pages a month—about 95 percent in full color—using an enviable range of equipment that pays dividends in efficiency and cost savings for the association. Separate mail and fulfillment operations have 13 and 19 people, respectively, while a print and mail operation in Lakewood, Calif., (run under an agreement with Pitney Bowes) handles member printing and mailing.

Run lengths at the D.C. facility vary widely depending on the application and the needs of customers. Postcards are often done in lots of 100,000, while some book runs range from 5,000 to 25,000. The array of printing technology enables the in-plant team to do some jobs in two parts: a short run to meet an immediate need and a longer run later to complete the order.

"Our customers love this," notes Pat Peterson, director of Mail and Print Operations, "because it's something they can't necessarily get from an outside printer, and it shows them how our in-plant is really a better choice.

"We give tours here all the time, showing businesses and other non-profit organizations what can be done with the latest technology," notes Peterson proudly. "They tell us we're one of the premiere print shops in the D.C. area."

Deep Capabilities

What makes AARP Print Services so impressive is that it is equipped to handle almost any type of print job. Offset jobs are run on Heidelberg DI or Ryobi 3302 presses, while shorter-run and variable-content work streams off a mix of monochrome and full-color Xerox digital presses, ranging from a Nuvera 288 to a DocuColor 5000 to an iGen3 and a pair of i–Gen4s. Then there's a Xerox wide-format color printer and a host of finishing and bindery systems that enable Peterson's team to produce nearly anything AARP requires. The monthly range of documents includes books and booklets, brochures, postcards, posters, direct mail, promotional materials, letters and letterhead, NCR forms, and a range of digital documents that incorporate variable data printing based on conditional logic.

The prodigious amount of equipment at Print Services is the result of Peterson's strategy to provide AARP with the versatility and flexibility to keep the majority of its printing in-house.

"I love technology because it enables you to do so many things better and more efficiently," she says. "I've been here for 25 years, and as digital printing improved I saw it as a way to make our print operation work better and add value for the association."

Still, she had to convince management that the capital investments made sense.

"We were sending 50 to 60 percent of our work out, especially as digital presses become more common and run lengths decreased. I was able to show that because much of the work was going out to be printed on an iGen anyway, we could do the same work—and more—if we had our own machines, and do it less expensively and more efficiently."

With this logic—and some hard numbers—Peterson showed how an efficient, well-managed in-plant was the best option for AARP. She then proceeded to build an operation that today serves a full range of the association's ongoing member communications and promotional activities.

"For example, moving up to the iGen4s—they replaced two iGen3s—was relatively straightforward," Peterson relates. "We were already doing a fair amount of variable data, so the discussion was really about what we can be, because this technology repositions the entire plant differently for the future."

There's a practical side to this as well.

"The new 26˝ sheet size made it easy to show some of the efficiency and waste reduction we'd see with the iGen4," explains Peggy White, manager of Print Services. "We print almost everything multi-up, and the bigger sheet lets us run three-up on some jobs. We have designers who like to use full bleeds, and the iGen4 lets us do that with a lot less paper waste."

Getting the Word Out

One would think that every department at AARP would be using Peterson's shop, but as with many other in-plants, the audience isn't necessarily a truly captive one.

"We pretty much have all the equipment we need," says Peterson. "Now we need more customers."

Peterson's being as proactive about that as she has been about getting the right mix of equipment in the shop.

"We don't do any insourcing, so we have to make sure AARP staff are aware of all we can do," she says. "We have to promote ourselves."

Her team is planning an open house on March 24 and will send out "save the date" notices to every customer and potential customer at AARP.

"Some customers come directly down to the shop, but others go through procurement so we never see them," Peterson says. "They don't know about the technology we have here or all the things we can do, so we will show them by having an open house."

A Bright Future

By reviewing jobs that have gone outside, she projects that over time she can increase monthly print volume by some 500,000 impressions and that AARP could recognize savings as high as 20 percent.

"The more jobs I can bring in, the better the deal I can make on my click charges. So adding volume makes a difference for the customer and the association," she points out. "If you look at it holistically, it's a savings. The organization has invested in a print shop, so why should anyone at AARP spend budget dollars to send stuff out, when I have a premiere shop right here?"IPG