A Busy 'In-plant Awareness Month'

At Colorado's IDS operation, visitors assemble for a tour of the in-plant (and some donuts) as part of its In-plant Awareness Month activities.

As In-plant Awareness Month comes to a close, in-plants around the country are still actively promoting their value by holding open houses, luncheons and other activities to remind customers they are there, ready to help.

The state of Colorado's IDS operation has had a host of activities and promotions going on all month, including its popular "Donut Tuesdays," when customers can stop by the in-plant for (you guessed it) donuts, plus tours of the operation. Posters and banners in various buildings promote the in-plant's services as well.

"Every week we have been sending out the reminders and including a new service tip/suggestion," says Barbara Novak, Communications/Marketing Manager for the Division of Central Services. "We also have employee 'survival bag' drawings twice a week throughout February where everyone gets a chance to win with a variety of items to survive the work stress: candy, crackers, water, movie passes, MP3 players, flashlights. We will also be holding two employee lunch events for both our campuses and will have raffle drawings and goodie bags with IDS-printed promo items."

Visitors tour the state of Colorado's in-plant during In-plant Awareness Month.

At the University of Oklahoma, the in-plant passed out customer appreciation valentines at its satellite copy centers on Valentine's Day, and is holding an open house at its main plant on Feb. 28. On that day, breakfast and lunch will be provided to in-plant staff, as well.

Fox Valley Technical College held an open house on Feb. 14, and is holding several half-hour training sessions to educate customers. These cover topics like  “How to download images off the Internet,” “How data becomes print” and “How to submit orders online.” The in-plant also launched a creative and fun promotion to teach customers about its capabilities.

"We put together an interactive game called Kahoot where we asked people to answer six questions about our department," explains Jessica Van Dyn Hoven, manager of Printing Services. "This was a really fun way to test everyone’s knowledge of our department."

In-plant Awareness Month is an annual event created by the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA). For more ideas on how to celebrate In-plant Awareness Month, visit the IPMA Web site.