CHRISTUS Health In-plant Partnership with Ricoh Reducing Costs 35%

Del Shankle

CHRISTUS Health, a Catholic, not-for-profit health system based in Irving, Texas, is optimizing and expanding its direct mail services to reach more customers and increase patient engagement. Together with Ricoh, CHRISTUS Health Print Services is already providing 26-31% cost savings to its interdepartmental customers compared to external vendors, equivalent to $685,000, and combined print and mail processing cost savings are more than 35%.

CHRISTUS Health Print Services is leveraging Ricoh Professional Services including Business Consulting, Wide Format Elite Access, RICOH Pro C9210 color sheet-fed production printers, and the RICOH Pro TF6251 wide format printer with Colex finishing. The partnership has resulted in new applications that directly enhance patient engagement and reduce costs for producing ADA-compliant/braille facility signage and other communications materials.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to deliver more engaging and fulfilling patient experiences through print, and with Ricoh’s partnership, have transitioned from a niche service provider to an indispensable resource for the CHRISTUS Health community,” said Del Shankle, Director of Operations, CHRISTUS Health Print Services. “Ricoh’s overall expertise and guidance have been invaluable in helping us make the right strategic decisions and effectively pace and scale our growth—ultimately taking our print operation to a whole new level.”

Since Ricoh’s in-depth operations assessment of CHRISTUS Health Print Services, the operation has moved to a new facility and upgraded technology, doubling in size to turn jobs faster and take on more work at reduced costs. Ricoh’s advanced technologies and use of predictive analytics uncovered opportunities and benefits to be realized by automating operations, streamlining workflows, and utilizing a centralized print production center across their entire network.

With the support of Ricoh’s technology and expertise, CHRISTUS Health Print Services has improved internal production efficiencies, decreased AP costs, improved administrative control over print spend, reduced turnaround times, processed more precise mailing lists, and incorporated higher security to help ensure confidentiality.

“We used predictive analytics to shed light on CHRISTUS Health Print Services’ spend across their entire network and ways to save costs by producing that work internally—unlocking the power of the information that was right at their fingertips,” said Debbie Pavletich, Director, Business Consulting Practice, Ricoh USA, Inc. “Having those data-based insights laid the groundwork for the CHRISTUS Health management team to make the case for expanding their services as a strategic business move, saving the organization money while positioning Print Services as a critical business function and revenue generator.”

Focused on innovative health and wellness solutions, CHRISTUS Health is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system based in Irving, Texas, that was established in 1979. It is made up of more than 600 centers, including community hospitals, urgent care centers, health insurance companies, and physician clinics. The organization processes more than 67,000 print jobs every year, including work for private customers, materials for community support projects and pro bono work for nonprofits whose missions align with those of CHRISTUS Health.

Ricoh Professional Services drive ongoing improvement and continuous growth across workflow, production operations, color management, training and design, communications, sign & graphics, and administration. Ricoh Business Consulting Professional Services helps organizations build better sales strategies, boost marketing capabilities, and get more value from data analytics. In addition to these services, RICOH Pro C9210s, RICOH Pro TF6251 and a Colex, the team implemented Planet Press, AIMS and BCC Mail Manager software, as well as a new inserter.

With Wide Format Elite Access, print professionals have 1-1 access to industry experts to empower them to quickly resolve production challenges and share best practices for sign and graphics workflows, regardless of brand. This fast-track to support helps simplify the complexities surrounding wide format applications, enabling printers to avoid production delays, increase uptime, improve media usage, maximize equipment capabilities and accelerate their business.

Source: CHRISTUS Health

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with In-plant Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of In-plant Impressions.