Curing Sick Shops

Mismanagement, underfunding and poor morale are just some of the battles in-plants have to fight. Against the odds, some in-plants have turned themselves around.

by Allan Martin Kemler

WHEN RICHARD Raveson first came to the North Broward Hospital District in-plant, the machines were broken, the staff was unhappy and the management was indifferent. The in-plant was like a chronically ill patient in a world without doctors. Thanks to Raveson's skills as a manager, though, not only has the patient recovered, it's never been better.

But 12 years ago, Raveson says, it would have been pretty hard to imagine this kind of turnaround. Back then, the shop was a paltry 1,200 square feet, had only three employees and was outsourcing 80 percent of its work. There were no controls for the regulation of outsourcing, upper management hardly knew the shop existed and the in-plant's previous manager ruled with an iron fist. On top of all that, employee morale was low and print production was limited.

But Raveson had a plan.

"The first thing I went after was to try and make [the shop] as self-sufficient as possible," explains Raveson. "Shortly thereafter, I got the presses working properly and we expanded into larger press work. All through that time my mission was to centralize all the printing services and let everybody understand that if you wanted print, come through the print shop."

Slowly, but surely, Raveson's plan began to take effect.

Been There, Done That

Of course, Raveson wasn't the first person to face this kind of trouble. Four years earlier, Pete Twentey, of the Washington Hospital Center in-plant in Washington, D.C., had a similar experience.

When Twentey took over as director of printing services in 1985, the shop was known as the "Black Hole," he says—work went in, but it never came out. Like the shop Raveson inherited, the Washington Hospital in-plant was saddled with outdated equipment, a small, unmotivated staff and an overmatched manager. At first glance, Twentey says, he had his doubts.

"When I walked in here I thought, 'What the hell am I getting myself into?' I mean, our prepress consisted of an IBM Selectric composer, a light table and a triangle," recalls Twentey. "So my approach, when I first came here, was to look at each opportunity for resource and equipment justification and blend them together."

Using that approach, over the next 16 years Twentey managed to bring nearly every print job back in-house, update the shop's equipment, quadruple the number of employees and move the whole operation into a more work-efficient 14,000-square-foot space. Furthermore, as the shop continued to scale the twin peaks of responsibility and respectability, employee morale began to rise.

The key to it all, Twentey says, is never bite off more than you can chew.

"The most important thing I would tell anybody in an in-plant would be: When you go to justify a resource, do it one at a time and be able to have solid justification to upper management that, indeed, this resource is going to pay for itself," Twentey says.

Unfriendly Competition

Meanwhile, out in Magna, Utah, Scott Richards had troubles of his own. Every few months, Richards' supervisors at Alliant Techsystems would ask him to audit his print shop and compare prices on the outside. Eventually, producing the audit became too much work for his four-person team. So Richards put his neck on the line and initiated a full-scale report to end the debate once and for all. Though it was difficult, Richards feels he made the right move.

"We decided we were tired of doing that [audit], and we did a full-blown inquiry into our price process instead," Richards explains. "And we found that we were 30 to 35 percent lower cost than outsourcing. That was maybe four or five years ago, and they haven't bothered us since."

Richards admits he was concerned about the inquiry's outcome when he started the process. He worried he might lose his job.

"It can be scary, but I'd say don't be concerned, because a well-run in-plant is far and away the better option," he declares.

The Skills That Pay The Bills

But rebuilding a dilapidated in-plant isn't just about turning the tide of lost outsourcing revenue or adding a couple of fancy machines. You also have to have a good rapport with upper management and a strong customer service ethic in place. Most importantly, you've got to be able to deliver what you say you will. Otherwise, you'll never build credibility.

Raveson, of the Fort Lauderdale-based North Broward Hospital District, can attest to that. Though it took him the better part of a decade to change his parent company's view of the in-plant, once he did, he never had to face those questions again.

"I put in a 36" single-color press and a 36" cutter, at which point I guaranteed the board that I would pay this equipment off in two years," recalls Raveson. "As it turned out, they did a spot check...long story short: I paid the equipment back in six months. From that point on, my credibility was high and whatever I asked for I got."

Twentey, of the Washington Hospital Center, says he's been enjoying an upswing in upper management confidence too. While he admits there was a time when management was unaware of the in-plant's abilities, when the shop needed help, another department was moved to go to bat for it and help it get some much needed equipment.

"We have a Foundation department that actually goes out into the public to try and raise funds for the hospital center, and they helped the president to recognize we needed that Shinohara two-color perfector," explains Twentey. "They were actually instrumental for us to get the equipment."

Back in Utah, Richards says improved customer service has made an impact on Alliant's productivity too. But it's also had another effect: It has impacted the culture of the plant as a whole.

"The customer service relations has just made a dramatic turnaround from the past," observes Richards. "We are well-respected, well-liked. We have 95 convenience copiers around the plant, but people are more inclined to bring their copy down than they've ever been in the past."

Show Me The Money

Of course, problems never entirely disappear. Since the turnaround, Twentey, of the Washington Hospital Center, says his biggest headache comes from processing the prodigious amount of work passing through his shop. Though his problem is compounded by the fact that he now oversees mailing services (by his request), in addition to his regular duties, Twentey says, in 15 and a half years he's never turned down work.

"Once we showed them that we had the knowledge and capability of actually doing this stuff, we've been overwhelmed," confesses Twentey. "I'm not complaining though. If we have the capacity, we'll grow into a second and third shift. That's gonna be one of those resources that we justify as we go."

Nevertheless, while employees may be heartened by the sight of new equipment and piles of challenging work, Raveson's experience managing 18 employees reminds him never to forget the power of the mean green motivator: Money.

"Part of the problem was when I first came in they were all very lowly paid. There wasn't any money in it," recalls Raveson. "[Now] I can honestly say we pay close to top dollar with better benefits than anyone in the area."

Raveson also points out that you can't expect to have any success if you don't have a clear idea of what your parent company needs from you. Hiding in the basement or trying to be all things to all people is nothing more than a recipe for disaster.

"If they don't understand what the marketplace is, they're going to have real problems justifying themselves to upper management," opines Raveson. "As long as you can define your market, and you're not trying to print everything for everybody, you're going to be able to produce less expensively. Identify what you're best at."