Color Wars

Some in-plants are printing more color than ever. Others are faithful to black and white. Why the difference? We found out.

COLOR ME aggressive—or color me unemployed.

Those might be your only choices as the demand for color printing and copying continues to rise and leave unprepared managers drowning in it's wake.

Still, not every manager who decides against increasing his or her in-plant's color printing is necessarily unprepared. Some managers feel that taking on color work would be too expensive or time consuming to justify the effort. They say increased demands on their time and budgets would leave little left for black-and-white work—their bread and butter—and would cripple their overall productivity.

Yet, in-plant managers who have taken on color work, and the expense and responsibility that come with it, say that it's made their in-plants stronger and less susceptible to the threat of facilities management.

Nevertheless, some managers insist it's not that easy—or even necessary. For them color printing isn't a luxury, or even a choice. It's taboo.

"In our organization we have support from the top down that says, you'll get it in black and like it," reveals Mark Brennan, reprographics manager for Middlesex County, N.J. "If you ask anybody would they like to have color, yeah, they'd like to have it. But nobody's really leading the charge and saying: 'Look you've got to do this for us.' "

That's just it, say in-plant managers who've taken on color work. You have to be the one leading the charge.

Opportunities Abound

The difference between an in-plant that takes on color work and one that doesn't, say in-plant managers, is a mixture of foresight, planning and aggressiveness.

"You have to challenge [management] constantly to try to improve your service," opines Dale Rollins, manager of graphic communications for the city of Plano, Texas. "I don't mean to keep up with the Joneses, I mean for your own survival."

Of course, many in-plant managers will say they don't have enough demand for color work to justify challenging management on this point.

But others disagree. They say whether it's coming from you, another department's copier, or it's being outsourced, color work is being produced and paid for, and that's an opportunity for you to recapture lost revenue.

"Keep track of your company's outsourcing expenditures," advises Rollins. "Show them how much they're going to spend, and then show them how much they're going to save by bringing the work in-house. It's the perfect ammunition."

For many in-plants, though, money alone isn't the issue. Color, they say, isn't germane to their work. Furthermore, they say taking on color work would only raise production costs and waste valuable time.

"We're mostly printing court forms, arrest warrants, booking forms and fingerprint cards," explains Paula Schmitt, printing supervisor for the city of Albany, Ga. "Most everything we're doing is internal and we don't need color. It's just not necessary."

Stimulate Interest In Color

Regardless, some in-plant managers insist that in a world where marketing is king, if color isn't necessary, it's at least saleable, and that alone can stimulate the interest and demand necessary to convince your parent company of the advantages of in-house color production.

Furthermore, they suggest that in-plant managers market color production to internal clients as a way to increase the in-plant's services, profits and overall value to the company.

"Color has always sold," contends Joe Goss, director of printing services at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind. "because customers want it. Everyone wants it."

Add to that the fact that in-plants are almost always less expensive, faster and pay more attention to detail than commercial printers, and you begin to see a niche waiting to be exploited.

"Eight years ago they were going to get rid of us," confesses Timothy Costik, chief of graphic arts for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, in Harrisburg. "Now, when they go outside for a price, they're doing cartwheels because it's so expensive."

Like Rollins, Costik agrees that in-plants who lack the funds for color equipment should collect outsourcing expenditures and use them to show how investing in color equipment can save money over time.

"I think you have to be aggressive," reiterates Costik. "Because if you're not offering color, I don't know why the parent company would need an in-house print shop."

Food For Thought

Especially when you consider that color work accounted for 33 percent of all in-plant printing last year, according to IPG survey data, and that nearly 70 percent of in-plants expected to increase their color printing this year.

Of course, every in-plant's situation is different, but managers who have decided to take on more color work stress that staking your fate to black-and-white work alone is tantamount to self-destruction.

"Sometimes it would make more sense to send out four-color work, cost-efficiency wise," says Rollins, of Plano, Texas. "But we don't do it, because that's when they come back and say, 'if you're sending out work now, why do we need to keep you guys?' "

Still, for some, outsourcing color work is more of a solution than a problem. George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va., has never had offset presses in its in-plant.

"They decided that it would be too expensive to create a printing plant," explains Susann Ferguson, director of print services at George Mason University.

Ferguson outsources all color offset printing. Despite the fact that color printing requests have grown by an average of five percent a year, she says the added cost to the university hasn't been a problem.

"It's working out well," asserts Ferguson. "At this point in time why would they invest in old technology [offset]? Digital copiers are only going to get cheaper."

The in-plant does handle color copying, however, to the tune of 10,000 copies a month on a networked Xerox DocuColor 12. Ferguson enthusiastically encourages all in-plants to add color copying equipment for short runs and rush jobs, adding that the equipment can pay for itself in a year.

"I absolutely recommend that any in-plant look into color copying to enhance services to the community," she says.

Like Ferguson, Charles Mannino, supervisor of in-house printing at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology has also seen a steady rise in the demand for color printing.

However, like Schmitt, of Albany, Ga., Mannino doesn't really need to print color to stay busy or to keep his customers happy.

"We do mostly black and white because that's the nature of our work," explains Mannino. "The majority of our color work is in the area of promotional work and budget reports."

Mannino says that although keeping up with the demand for color work isn't a problem, he is aware of the untapped potential of the color market.

"I keep planting the seeds," says Mannino. "Every time I do a really excellent color job, I send my boss a sample and say 'see, imagine what we could do with better equipment.' "

Whether they point to the added expense, the lack of time, the lack of demand or the lack of internal support, many in-plant managers say that soliciting more color work would only have a negative impact on their in-plants.

"Most of our work is black-and-white stuff for the school district," explains Scott Painter, print shop manager for Jefferson Parish Public Schools, in Marrero, La. "The problem with color work is that it takes so much time to produce, and we do so many rush jobs that it really makes it difficult."

But in-plant managers who have taken on color work disagree.

They say that requests for color work should be seen as an opportunity, not a burden especially since the rise of color copying has really only just begun.

"Aboslutely. With the price of color copiers dropping and the quality improving, I think we'll see an increase in color copying," proclaims Rollins. "I don't think it's a trend—it's a reality."

The Best Defense: A Good Offense

Fifteen years ago, Larry Williams, print production manager for Fireman's Fund Insurance, saw trouble looming on the horizon.

"Back then we were primarily a black-and-white operation," says Williams. "But we could see the writing on the wall—if we didn't do the color somebody else would. So we decided to do it."

The reward for Williams' foresight has been an increase in both the demand and volume of color printing at Fireman's Fund and a corresponding drop in color printing costs.

"We save more money on three-panel, four-color brochures than we do on business cards and letterheads," says Williams. "Our savings are like 30 to 40 percent over commercial printers. So we focus on where we're most profitable."

Moreover, Williams says, producing quality color work makes him look good and has helped him fend off attacks from facilities management firms.

"Doing color work has been a feather in my cap," says Williams. "It's increased our internal clients' awareness of our capabilities, but more than that color printing adds value to the company."

And that can help provide more ammunition for your defense in the event that your in-plant is forced to fend off competition from the outside.

by ALLAN MARTIN KEMLER