An IPMA Makeover

JOHN HURT spoke quite candidly when he addressed the crowd at April’s IPMA conference. The International Publishing Management Association has gone through some hard times, he said. Membership and conference attendance has declined, and a lack of clear business and recruitment policies have hindered growth.

All that is changing now, continued Hurt, IPMA’s international president. Not only did this year’s IPMA conference in Las Vegas draw an increase in attendees over last year, it generated a profit for the first time in years. The association’s cash flow has been positive for more than six months, he added, its sponsorships are increasing, it has enacted a new business plan and it is concentrating on recruitment and customer service more strongly than ever.

To boost the group’s recognition as an in-plant association, Hurt also announced that it would henceforth be known as the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association, a nod to its original name, the In-plant Printing Management Association.

These announcements, which came during the business lunch on the conference’s second day, were a refreshing and inspiring message to the 125 managers in attendance. Their ranks included a number of first-time attendees, whose enthusiasm was infectious.

Warm and sunny Nevada spring weather graced the three-day conference, which took place two months earlier than usual. It featured numerous educational sessions, roundtables and a half-day vendor fair. Attendees got a tour of the nearby Reprographics operation at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and saw its internally designed online ordering system in action.

At the awards banquet, IPMA honored members with a number of awards. Oregon State University and Washington State University both received the IPMA Management Award (see page 3), and the association presented its 2006 Outstanding Contributor award to Craig Sedgwick, director of the Printing Division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The In-Print awards were also presented to winners, with the Best of Show honor going to the University of Delaware.

Digital Opportunities Abound

The first keynote speaker was James Firestone, president of Xerox North America. The public’s demand for immediate information, he said, along with the convergence of technologies, has opened up a world of digital opportunities for in-plants. Information is no longer published for mass acceptance, he stressed, but it is personalized. In-plants must adapt to this trend and become variable data printing experts.

He stressed the importance of having a digital storefront for your in-plant, so customers can access your services via the Internet. This also adds efficiency to the in-plant’s workflow, he said. Firestone’s presentation was the first of several times that online job submission would be discussed during the conference.

In another session, motivational speaker Carrie Griffin used dance to show what being a leader is all about. She stressed that being a manager is not the same as being a leader. Leaders have specific attributes:

• Self mastery (knowing your strengths and weaknesses).

• Visioning (knowing where you are going).

• Stewardship (using resources strategically).

• Empowerment (understanding, enabling and encouraging others).

• Service (caring about those you lead and helping them grow).

Roundtables Bring Out Key Issues

Three concurrent roundtable discussions allowed attendees to gather with managers from similar organizations. At the roundtable for those in the education field, managers at schools and universities discussed online job submission, sharing their successes and frustrations with off-the-shelf shop management and digital storefront systems. Some, like the University of Washington, have created their own job ordering systems.

One concern was justifying the cost of a management system. Some suggested touting it as a new service for customers, while others felt the cost could be recouped from increased click charges. Steve Rigby, of Washington State University, noted that his in-plant’s customer-facing order entry system has saved his shop thousands of dollars in typesetting costs.

Marketing was another topic the group covered. Many heads in the room nodded in understanding when Auburn University’s Glenda Miley despaired that some campus employees still don’t know about her in-plant. Among the marketing ideas discussed, the managers at Oregon State University and the University of Washington both said their in-plants lead educational classes for customers, promoting their shops in the process. To insource work from outside the university, Miley has joined the local chamber of commerce, giving her in-plant community recognition.

Meanwhile at another roundtable, government and utility in-plant managers discussed the merits of chargeback systems. Those that don’t charge back argued that doing so would only add administrative costs. Countering this, others said charging back allows them to prove their costs to upper management, which justifies the in-plant’s existence through documented cost savings.

Chargebacks were also on the menu at the roundtable for insurance in-plants. Managers shared their thoughts on how to start a chargeback system and how to benchmark to compare prices. Tracking employee productivity was a concern, with some shops using shop management software and others reviewing paper reports from employees.

Other sessions discussed the positive results of variable data printing. Lois Ritarossi, of Roger P. Gimbel & Associates, explained how in-plants can use new technology to place themselves at the center of their organizations’ marketing communications. She pointed to Kennesaw State University, which switched to a customized four-page recruitment brochure, cutting printing and mailing costs by 27.5 percent. After gathering more data via an integrated Web site, the school created a personalized follow-up mailing.

“Most colleges and universities don’t really take advantage of the data that they have,” Ritarossi said.

One in-plant that is taking advantage of data its parent organization collects is Document Services at the Gallup Organization. The 19-employee in-plant uses data from Gallup’s many polls to create personalized mailings for survey participants, said Julie Curd, executive director of Materials Management.

The Omaha-based in-plant uses Printable’s FusionPro variable data software, and prints to a Kodak NexPress 2100 plus, as well as to a Xerox 6060. Curd says monochrome printing is declining at her shop.

Other conference sessions included:

• A Toolbox for Success. The xpedx-sponsored consulting team from Prime Digital Imaging (Don Kendall, Ed Daniel and Jerry Sampson) discussed the online tools they have developed to help in-plants position themselves as essential resources to their parent organizations.

• How to Develop an Online Ordering System. Doug Maxwell and Joe Lance from Brigham Young University detailed how and why their in-plant decided to design its own online ordering/PDF conversion tools. Called Cougar Prints, it provides cost estimates, online proofing, tracking/routing and more.

• Selecting and Implementing Print Management Software.Carol Anderson, of Enterprise Print Management Solutions, revealed the 10 essential steps in selecting, implementing and maintaining a print management system.

• IPG Editor Bob Neubauer unveiled new industry research and discussed the trends illustrated by the data. He also shared ideas for new services in-plants should consider adding.

To keep expenses down, IPMA will hold future conferences in smaller cities. Next year the conference will move to Oklahoma City, June 6-9, 2007. IPG