Making 2012 a Successful Year for Your In-plant

THE IN-PLANT industry, like many other industries, has been knocked off balance by the economic turmoil of the past several years. As companies have been forced to cut costs, print has been identified as an area of potential cost savings. Gone are the days of 500-page, end-of-year reports and formal printed presentations. These major drivers of print volume have been replaced by documents housed on SharePoint sites and PowerPoint decks to be presented digitally. And now that companies have made this behavioral change, they are unlikely to change back.

In 2012, even the remaining in-plant facilities that have survived the turmoil will not be out of danger. They need to continue to evolve towards a new business model that justifies their existence in a world of "electronic ink" and e-mail marketing.

The Assertive In-plant

There was a time when a full schedule of print jobs fell into the laps of in-plant operations. All that was required of the production staff was to sit back, wait passively for jobs to come in and then complete those jobs. However, in today's more competitive printing environment, the passive in-plant facility will likely find itself out of work. In-plants that want to stay relevant (and in business) must commit to making 2012 the year of the assertive, intelligent –in-plant.

To help build capabilities and drive new revenues, the transition to an assertive in-plant facility can happen in three phases.

Phase I: Market internally

In-plants must promote themselves within their organizations. For example, they need to get closer to the departments that require large print jobs to assure them that the in-plant is capable of meeting their needs, to gain first right of refusal before any job is outsourced. They must also proactively share examples of recent work to showcase capabilities to internal decision-makers and show the relative low cost compared to third-party printers.

They can also effectively market themselves by becoming integrated internally at every level. They should adopt the direction of the organizations they serve and mirror their goals. These goals will likely include:

• A constant drive to improve processes to lower costs.
• A strong green initiative that reduces the environmental footprint.
• Expanded services to make the corporation more relevant to more customers.

All of these goals should be directly applied to the in-plant facility as well.

In-plants also need to become integrated into the marketing department by managing not only print projects, but also by managing other aspects of marketing campaigns. For example, the print facility could implement and measure the effectiveness of print collateral through the use of personal URLs and by monitoring click-through percentages or response rates on variable data mailings. They can also become subject matter experts who consult on the use of PURLs, QR codes, variable data campaigns, social media tactics and U.S. postal regulations.

Phase II: Update Technology and Expand Offerings

To stay relevant, in-plants must also make sure that the hardware required to deliver next-generation services is up to date with the new demands of the organizations they service. For some, this means adopting digital press technology that allows variable data printing and in-line finishing. For others, it may mean a larger investment in a high-speed continuous-feed inkjet press.

In 2012, the industry will see an increase in the number of these units in the market, and while representing a large capital investment, they ultimately increase output, save money on a per-sheet basis and streamline the in-plant process. While not right for every application, inkjet printers are working their way into the mainstream, and high-end in-plant facilities should consider making the investment.

Further, every in-plant facility in 2012 should be running shop management and Web-to-print technology—software that allows print jobs to be requested and processed entirely through an online interface, which streamlines the processing of internal jobs. Web-to-print not only saves time, but serves as a highly efficient way to market the in-plant facility to the organization it services.

If the process for printing a job is seamless and fast, internal stakeholders will view the in-plant facility as a professional, modern operation and will be less likely to farm out print jobs to third parties. If they haven't done so already, it is a good idea for in-plant managers to seek out a qualified print provider to help implement a Web-to-print strategy.

Phase III: Insource to become a profit center

Once new technology is in place and once a collaborative relationship is established with the marketing department, in-plant facilities should ideally capture all of the internal printing business and have a full queue of work to complete. However, in the case that the presses still have bandwidth, there is one more step that the assertive in-plant team can employ to maximize profitability: insourcing.

Insourcing refers to when the in-plant brings in outside jobs to help position the facility as a potential profit center. There is nothing that proves value within an organization like going from being a cost center to a profit center. This model is especially relevant to facilities that experience seasonal business such as universities, where the fall and winter months are bustling with activity, but summers are slow; or consumer brands, where the holiday season is busy but other months can see reduced demand for collateral.

The economy has changed, but that does not mean that in-plant production needs to stop. The demand is shifting from sheer volume of print production to how much value is actually being added to the organization. Successful in-plant managers will need more ingenuity in 2012, but they will also have to be good salespeople. If technologies like digital presses and Web-to-print systems are in place, and the in-plant facility markets itself aggressively to internal stakeholders and outside customers, then 2012 can be a very productive year.