Government in-plants meet in Denver for NGPA 2012 conference

By Bob Neubauer

News from Back Home

During informal meetings at the conference, members related some of the changes happening at their in-plants back home.

In Delaware, the closure of the state’s Administrative Services in-plant has resulted in more work coming to the Legislative Council’s in-plant. Supervisor Debby Messina said her staff makes every attempt to complete these projects or to suggest an alternate plan if necessary.
Louisiana’s General Services Division is preparing to reduce its offset printing and move more into digital. Director Susie Barthel said requests for scanning services have made her look into this as a potential new service for the in-plant.
Scanning is also a service that Alaska’s Legislative Affairs Agency is moving into, said Duplicating Services Manager John Wright. He is currently using his shop’s Xerox equipment to scan, but he sought advice from other NGPA members at the conference about new equipment and software.
Providing some of that advice was Cindy Goure, from the Colorado IDS document conversion/scanning team in Pueblo, Colo., which runs seven mid-range scanners and scans 15 million images a year. This includes incoming mail, which is opened and scanned for recipients, as well as birth/death records and historic information. With better scanners on order, the operation expects to scan 30 to 35 million images a year in the near future.
Iowa’s Department of Administrative Services plans to add inserting and color printing equipment in the near future, as well as a Web-to-print system.
In Washington, D.C., small agency in-plants appear to be doing a large amount of printing that should be handled by GPO, observed Andy Sherman, director of the GPO’s Congressional Relations Office. He said it would be more cost effective for taxpayers to let GPO procure this work. The Government Accountability Office is doing a study to locate all of these small in-plants, he added.

State government printers from around the country assembled in Denver last month for the 35th annual National Government Publishing Association (NGPA) conference. About 30 government attendees took part in the three-day event, which was titled "Exceptional Government and the Power of Partnership."

In addition to the educational sessions, roundtables and member discussions, the group visited the State of Colorado's Integrated Document Services (IDS) operation, overseen by conference host Mike Lincoln. There they saw the in-plant's extensive offset and digital printing operation—which includes a Xerox Color 1000 and a two-color Presstek/A.B. Dick 9995 offset press, among other equipment—as well as its impressive mailing operation, home to two Pitney Bowes FlowMaster inserters and a 94-bin Olympus sorter.

The conference got off to a great start with keynote speaker Gary Reblin, USPS vice president, Domestic Products. He stressed that even in this age of digital communication via smart phones, direct mail is still a powerful medium. He noted that 80 percent of people look at their mail daily, and 63 percent of mail is kept for at least two days.

"I think anybody would like to say their TV commercial was seen by 80 percent of the people," he argued.

Though digital messages may be cheaper, Reblin added, "Mail is more effective than e-mail." A paper message stirs deeper emotions and richer feelings, he said. Also, he added, people receive fewer of them; the average person gets 157 e-mails a day, but just two pieces of direct mail.

"Direct mail helps you break through the clutter," he said.

Reblin talked about how mailers can use QR codes to increase response rates and get more information to the recipient.

"You can't put everything you want on a mail piece," he said. So add a QR code to link the recipient to that additional information online. Just make sure the scanned QR code brings the viewer to a mobile-optimized site, he cautioned.

Success Through Partnerships

After Reblin, consultant Vic Barkin talked about how in-plants can leverage partnerships with other in-plants and with vendors. He related how he had partnered with other organizations when he was manager of Northern Arizona University's in-plant. For example, he created agreements with the city of Flagstaff and county departments to handle work they were sending out, and he took advantage of a cooperative purchasing agreement to get better pricing.

Barkin initiated a discussion with in-plants in the audience about various partnerships they have with vendors and other in-plants. He advised attendees to find all the government in-plants in their regions, including those at colleges and school districts. Visit them, he said, and invite them to see your plant. Discuss ways to partner and send each other work. But make sure to investigate chargeback procedures and evaluate all costs of doing business, and prepare a formal business plan before moving ahead.

In a panel discussion moderated by Liz Vega, of Xerox, Howie Fenton, NAPL senior consultant; Mike Lincoln, northern regional manager of Colorado's IDS operation; and Bob Neubauer, IPG editor, offered their thoughts on best practices for in-plants. Fenton encouraged them to start insourcing to bring in revenue and keep machines busy; to try to consolidate small agency in-plants that are operating under the radar; and to get control of the state's MFD fleet.

Lincoln advised managers to create strategic partnerships with agencies, to listen to your staff's "out of the box" ideas and to ask customers about their plans for the next year. Neubauer stressed the importance of adding new services to increase the in-plant's value and the need to market that value and promote the in-plant's capabilities.

Neubauer also gave a full presentation at the conference that recapped the latest IPG research on the in-plant industry, comparing government in-plants to those from other sectors. He talked about new services that he has seen in-plants add, such as wide-format printing and envelope printing.

Paper Issues

Sustainability and paper were hot topics of discussion during a session by Corinne Dubois and Toni Waser, of Boise Paper.

"We have a stable and thriving forest products industry in the U.S.," insisted Dubois, who noted that if your paper comes from this country, it has likely been harvested responsibly. This led to some emotional exchanges from the audience as they expressed frustration over the popular misconception that paper is "bad." Dubois blamed advocacy groups for spreading this false message. In fact, she added, "You can't assume that electronic communication is better environmentally." There is plenty of waste in the manufacture, disposal and power consumption of the devices used.

On the last day of the conference, Chris Reich, CEO of TeachU, gave a popular presentation called "Using Game Theory to Make Effective Presentations." Called back for an encore after his initial session, Reich pointed out that in any negotiation, the goal is not to "win," but to maximize the outcome for both sides.

"If both sides have a maximum payoff, you're going to get the most out of it," he said.

Always consider what the payoff is for the other person, he said. Touting benefits like "improved efficiency," he noted, may not excite the other person, so stress a payoff that means more to them. People who seem to make irrational decisions, he said, have payoffs you didn't consider. Also, he added, people have an innate sense of fairness, so if a deal doesn't seem fair to them, they will say no, even if the consequences hurt them.

Find Your 'Sweet Spot'

NAPL Senior Consultant Howie Fenton encouraged managers to monitor their current applications mix to find their "sweet spot" (the products they print most often and most cost effectively) and focus on it—but remember, he added, this sweet spot changes over time. He recommended that managers monitor customers' changing demands and shift the in-plant's focus to provide these services, to keep the in-plant strategically aligned with customers' needs.

He also suggested in-plants compare their actual costs with their estimates and make adjustments.

"It is one of the easiest ways to confirm that you know your true costs and are charging enough" he said.

Positive customer feedback is a great way to show the value of the in-plant, Fenton said. Don't be afraid to ask some of your fans to write letters that praise your strengths. Customer surveys are also important, though he cautioned that they must be "actionable." Don't merely ask how the in-plant is doing, but ask how it compares with the competition. As a consultant, Fenton said, he has kept in-plants from being shut down by using customer feedback showing the shop is better than or as good as outside service providers.

The conference ended with a closing reception and dinner, during which new NGPA officers were installed, and new President Susie Barthel accepted the gavel from outgoing President Doug Beckham. Though no decision was made by press time, members proposed two locations in the Northeast for next year's NGPA conference.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

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