In-flight Service

Despite a tough few years, airline in-plants use promotion and efficiency to get off the ground.

By Mike Llewellyn

So the Dow Jones has been holding steady above 10,000. The rate of layoffs nationwide seems to be leveling off. Maybe—let's not speak too soon—but just maybe, the three-year fiscal winter that has kept the country's economy at a plodding pace is showing signs of a thaw.

That's good news for every in-plant manager who's been warily eyeing dwindling clicks and the migration of forms work to electronic formats.

And it's great news for in-plants fighting through the storm at airlines.

It's no secret that the airline industry has been hit hard in the current economy. No industry felt the economic aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks quite so acutely. And for the in-plants that struggle with proving their relevance to the airlines' core missions, those disembodied numbers that come floating down from Wall Street may mean that better days lie ahead.

But in the meantime, these placard-printing, bid-sheet-rushing models of efficiency are still in survival mode.

At Houston-based Continental Airlines Printing Services, Manager Amanda Rackliff admits the past five years have not exactly been kind to the 24-employee operation.

"Black-and-white volume has gone down 15 percent and color has gone down 32 percent," she says. Across the board, reports Rackliff, the CEO has brought an end to any non-essential printing.

"Because of the changes in technology, we're putting a tremendous amount of forms online," she says. "And many of the individual divisions that had their own newsletters had them cut."

Only four newsletters remain, and three of those are black-and-white versions of their former color selves.

Industry Turbulence

Up in chilly Minneapolis, Tim Bride, Manager of Northwest Airlines Printing Services, is also fighting for work, though he finds it disappearing for a different reason.

"Particularly in the airline industry, there is this tidal wave of outsourcing. [Management] is trained to 'buy instead of do.' And the airline industry has a history of being high-cost, so the vendors of the world become more economically attractive," he says.

That attraction, says Bride, extends to print.

So he spends a great deal of his time proving the worth of the in-plant to the relatively new management team at Northwest, which underwent a management restructuring following September 11, 2001.

"We had people in upper management who supported us in the 70s, 80s and 90s, but now we don't have as much support. They're not against us; they're neutral, but it's sometimes very difficult to convince them that what we're doing is a good thing," Bride explains.

Recently, though, a bit of good luck came his way when his senior vice president toured the in-plant.

"He came away with just this overwhelming support of our operation," Bride says. "He wants to try to route all print through our department."

This is a great turn of events for an in-plant that has spent years churning out in-depth analyses showing its economic value. Bride did three of these reports in 2003, each one bound for a different executive who needed convincing.

"We routinely save 35 percent over the outside, but still you find yourself in a constant state of analysis," he says.

Streamlining Performance

As far as Continental's Rackliff is concerned, though, tough times only mean a change in strategy.

"We're working smarter, trying to streamline and bring in a lot more efficiency, and educating customers as to the necessity of in-house printing since we don't have right of first refusal," she says.

To increase efficiency in the in-plant, Rackliff says it's all about job tracking.

"Before I was here, there was no tracking system in place. It appeared to me that we were literally running around the shop trying to locate different jobs," she says.

To rein in that chaos, Rackliff had the in-plant install a version of QuickBooks financial software.

To further streamline the shop, she began holding daily morning meetings.

"That's imperative to get everyone to work together," she says. "People tend to put a lot of focus on 'What should I do now?' rather than 'What is coming up?' "

Having the meetings, which include all of the supervisors and the lead, helps employees understand where their own jobs fit in with the larger mission of the shop.

Rackliff's other challenge—bringing in more business—has lead her to focus heavily on marketing.

"Because there is no right of first refusal, people are sending us work in bits and pieces," she says.

To get the work in steadier amounts, the in-plant hired a customer service representative—making the in-plant one of the only divisions at the company allowed to add to its head count.

The job of the new CSR is to ensure that everyone in the company understands that using the in-plant saves them a significant amount of money because the shop's customers are neither charged for labor nor for sales tax.

"We're also getting out there more as far as print ads," says Rackliff. "Corporate Communications has allowed us a free full-page ad in their publication."

Executive-level Support Essential

Promotion can certainly help keep an in-plant busy, but what keeps it in business is ultimately upper management support. Both of these in-plants work hard to get it.

"The growth of this department relies so much on top-level support," says Bride.

Rackliff agrees.

"Without upper management support, I don't know how we'd be faring today," she says.

Though Rackliff recognizes the in-plant is "not core," and even though the shop is 15 miles from the airline's headquarters, she says the airline sees great value in the in-plant.

"We get regular visits from our senior director. He's very hands-on and that's important not only for morale but also because it gets [upper management] to understand the value of printing in-house," she says.

Bride is optimistic that his senior VP's recent visit will improve his in-plant's survival outlook. But he still has a backup plan in place.

"My strategy for survival comes in three parts. First, you have to have the lowest cost possible. Second, you have to insource—that has saved us during a number of budget cuts," he says. "And third, never ask for capital. As soon as you ask for capital, your head is on the chopping block."

The shop is already going as low as it can on print pricing. As for insourcing, Bride relies on his background in printing sales to chase down leads that come from former Northwest employees and a variety of area businesses.

With all the time he spends putting reports together, Bride needs a talented staff to help run the shop. He's certainly got one—a very capable lead person to take care of scheduling, and flexible, cross-trained employees who can handle just about every job in the in-plant.

The $3.2 million-a-year, 22-employee facility handles design, prepress, offset and digital printing, as well as bindery work. Its printing equipment includes a four- and a two-color Heidelberg, two Didde Apollo webs, two Xerox DocuTech 6180s and a DocuColor 2060.

Northwest's capabilities are very similar to those of Continental's in-plant down in Texas. That shop includes a six-color Miehle, a four-color Miller, two Ryobi presses, an A.B.Dick and a Didde Apollo. Plus, the shop runs four Xerox DocuTech 6180s.

"We do pretty much everything—flight manuals, bid sheets for pilots and flight attendants," reports Rackliff. Those bid sheets, which in-flight staff use to request their schedules, Rackliff characterizes as "the single highest volume usage we've got on a monthly basis."

Flight Attendant Briefing Sheets (FABS) are another important document, Rackliff shyly admits. They're used to inform attendants where to place food on the service trays.

"Apparently, it has to do with how the warming mechanism works," she says.

One area where the in-plant saves the company a great deal of money is printing placards.

Placards are a "glorified sticker," says Rackliff. But these stickers, which show up all over the inside of an aircraft, have to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards and pass a "burn test."

"We are one of the very few airlines that makes its own placards," says Rackliff.

To do it, the shop relies on flatbed screen presses with UV dryers.

Continental's placard-printing business has caught Bride's attention. Northwest has been outsourcing this work, and paying a big markup in price. After meeting recently with Rackliff at his facility (see sidebar), the two in-plants are hoping to create a partnership.

"We're working to try to move the placard business to Continental," Bride says, which will save Northwest big bucks. Rackliff says her in-plant saves Continental close to $200,000 a year on placards.

Bringing such a savings to Northwest is bound to help his in-plant's reputation, Bride says. Already the shop's future is looking a little brighter.

"We are moving into another building, which is a sign of support," says Bride. "And my opinion has always been that if we can survive 2001 to 2005, then the future looks good, because we'll have overcome so much. If there was any time in our history when our existence was threatened, then this was it."

At Continental, Rackliff agrees.

"The outlook is actually pretty good. We have our peaks and valleys, but by educating our co-workers, they see that we are supporting our own," she says. "We may be short-staffed as all get-out, but the next five years look really exciting."