Leading In-plants Embrace the Future

In talking with in-plants, I’ve noticed that top in-plants seem to embrace the future and actively engage to make needed changes. Here are some strategies from in-plant leaders about engaging for the future, staying relevant, and addressing outsourcing, along with their advice for other in-plants.

These leading in-plants are growing using different, yet successful strategies:

• John Sarantakos (University of Oklahoma): Being engaged for the future is about being at the forefront, being proactive and finding ways to manage change.
• Mike Lincoln (State of Colorado): His operation is transforming and evolving in a methodical and sustainable way.
• Karen Meyers (Michigan Farm Bureau): Establishing a print governance committee is important to her shop’s future focus.
• Andrew Yee (Dynamic Funds): Building relationships so that they are “at the table” when projects are in development.

These leading in-plants all use listening as a way to remain relevant. They listen to customers, to the market and even to commercial printers.

• Lincoln watches and learns from his commercial counterparts, leveraging those learnings inside state government. “By knowing our agencies’ missions we can offer the most relevant services,” he says. “Our relevancy is [then] gauged by the success we have in morphing these solutions for other agency customers.”
• Yee listens for issues and tries to solve them. He saw a need for business continuity planning and began offering the service, finding that people loved working in his facility.
• Sarantakos finds it critical to project the in-plant as a positive contributor that is ingrained in the university’s culture. He keeps customers apprised of the in-plant’s advances and advantages, and runs ideas past valued customers before adding new services.
• Meyers wants her in-plant to be viewed as a resource, making a point to keep current about marketplace technology and opportunities. “Meeting customer needs and time frames assures our relevancy to our customers,” she says.

Communication is Key

When asked how they mitigate the risk of outsourcing, a common theme between these in-plant leaders is communication, both with customers and management. More than just continually communicating current activities and the value the in-plant provides, these in-plants ensure that efficiency and optimization are at the forefront of their activities, using data, job post mortems and other analysis tools so the customer base and parent organization understand the in-plant’s “lean and mean” focus.

These in-plants also bank on more than just good customer service levels; they stress the value of their deep insight into the business needs of their customers and ensure that their customers publicly sing the in-plant’s praises, lessening the likelihood of conversations about FM groups and outsourcing.

Some advice from these leaders to other in-plants:

• Build trusting relationships that get the in-plant involved early in the creative process.
• Act as a consultant.
• Survey customers after work is completed to ensure customer expectations are met.
• Take chances.

Meyers and Lincoln both suggest continual learning and forward movement. Lincoln was direct: “Read, observe and innovate. Complacency will devour those who are stationary in our industry, creating opportunity for others to captain your ship.”