Editor's Note "Building The Perfect In-plant"

You should see the world through the eyes of a commercial printer. They're certainly looking into your world—specifically, at your customers.

If you haven't been thinking of commercial printers as your competitors, you'd better start. Cutthroat competition is forcing them to drop their prices. They need more business; your in-plant is fair game.

"Ha!" you scoff. "Our customers love us."

But are you supplying value-added services beyond printing? Are you partnering with them to help them increase their competitive advantages? Are you accepting online job submissions? Commercial printers are. If you aren't changing the way you operate, you will lose business.

This important message was hammered home recently when I attended a two-day workshop called "Building the Perfect In-plant." Sponsored by xpedx, the workshop was led by Don Kendall and Gary Smith, the masterminds behind the popular Unisource in-plant workshops of the mid-1990s, for which they were honored as IPG's 1997 Industry Leaders of the Year.

Smith and Kendall, who run a commercial printing firm called Prime Digital Printing, were once consultants for in-plants. They realized that even though in-plants were making significant financial contributions to their companies, their managers didn't know how to calculate and demonstrate that value. From this epiphany the original in-plant workshop series was born.

When xpedx agreed to sponsor this new set of workshops, the pair came up with a whole new program. All the information from the previous workshops, including instructions on calculating your financial contribution, is now posted on a special section of the xpedx Web site.

At the kickoff workshop near Philadelphia, none of the 20 or so in-plant managers in attendance had attended the old Unisource workshops. While it was good to see new faces, I was disappointed that more of the area's veteran managers didn't attend. Possibly they assumed the workshops would be a carbon copy of the ones they attended five years ago. They were wrong.

Smith and Kendall, aided by Prime's Jerry Sampson and Consultant Edward Daniel, talked in detail about the new services commercial printers like themselves are offering, giving in-plants a unique inside look at how their competitors are thinking. They stressed the importance of offering online ordering, something Kinko's and other printers are already tempting your customers with. The workshop pointed out a number of Internet companies that can affordably set up a Web site for your in-plant so you can accept online customer orders.

Attendees discussed an actual facilities management proposal that an in-plant received, analyzing it for weaknesses. By doing this, managers now know what to look for when such a proposal lands on the lap of their boss.

The workshops covered much more than I can fit into this column, but the main point I wanted to make is that I found the information very helpful for in-plants of any size. In 2002 these workshops will be coming to cities all over the country. If you still want to be in business in two years, don't miss them.