I visited the City of Cincinnati's in-plant recently and Manager Steven Howe told me of an interesting tactic he tried. He proactively invited facilities management companies to take a look at his nine-employee printing and mailing operation, then asked them what they would do differently if they were in charge. All said they would add staff and equipment, effectively admitting that they could not do a better job than the in-plant was already doing without adding costs. This was valuable data to have when the city's outsourcing czar came calling, and Howe used it to prove to her that the in-plant was providing the city with the best possible deal.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
From the Editor: Outsourcing Talk
I visited the City of Cincinnati's in-plant recently and Manager Steven Howe told me of an interesting tactic he tried. He proactively invited facilities management companies to take a look at his nine-employee printing and mailing operation, then asked them what they would do differently if they were in charge. All said they would add staff and equipment, effectively admitting that they could not do a better job than the in-plant was already doing without adding costs. This was valuable data to have when the city's outsourcing czar came calling, and Howe used it to prove to her that the in-plant was providing the city with the best possible deal.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.