Building a  Better In-plant

Justifying New Gear In a Tough Economy

Robert Pettway and his management have been aggressive about modernizing the plant’s production platform. Print Solutions typically leases digital equipment due to its relatively short technology refresh cycle.

“Within five years, products on the market are light years ahead of what you might have acquired previously,” he points out. “We went through a lengthy RFP process and renegotiations that allowed us to bring in several new pieces of equipment and retire older equipment. Through a good partnering arrangement and tough negotiations, we ended up with much better capabilities and what we found to be a beneficial financial arrangement.”

For the Standard Horizon Stitchliner 5500 and the Presstek 75DI, Pettway and his team built very thorough business cases, including ROI analyses they built with Finance and with customers, taking into consideration volumes and expectations.

“Once we developed that information to the point we were confident in it,” he reports, “we presented the business cases to our executives, answered their questions, and satisfied their very thorough analysis. Our executive level management was convinced these two acquisitions were the right thing to do for the business, and we gained approval to buy them outright. Both pieces of equipment will have 10-year-plus life spans and provide full payback within their first few years of production.”

A key challenge for any in-plant is to demonstrate ongoing value to its parent organization. Over the last five years, the Print Solutions department at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has stepped up to this challenge, reinventing itself in the process.

"Until about five years ago," says Robert Pettway, manager of General Services and Mail Operations, "we were strictly a conventional in-plant operation producing corporate materials and occasional in-kind donations for local charities and in support of our community. We were basically viewed as a copy center."

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Building a Better In-plant