In-plants Make a Strong Showing at Graph Expo

It was reassuring to see so many in-plant managers at Graph Expo this year. The Chicago trade show has been drawing the in-plant crowd for years, but managers have generally gone about their business quietly, not making much of a splash. This year, because of the number of in-plant events taking place, they were much more visible.

As you’ve no doubt heard, In-plant Graphics organized three sessions for in-plant managers to cover three very important subjects: Web-to-print, benchmarking and adding value. Each drew about 50 managers, who enjoyed a free breakfast or lunch and a chance to mingle with their peers.

“This was my first Graph Expo, so interacting with other in-plant managers was high on my list of priorities,” noted Staci Hill, in-plant manager at Freese and Nichols, Inc., in Fort Worth, Texas. “My goal in attending the sessions was to see what obstacles others were facing and measure my shop against those concerns.”

Hill said the sessions gave her some great insights and the opportunity to network with other in-plants.

“The most memorable event was the breakfast sponsored by Xerox with the three ladies as the panelists,” she recalled. “They brought good energy, and it’s great to see women at the helm of such top-notch organizations.”

This session featured Kristen Hampton, who oversees the State of Michigan’s in-plant; Mickey Wood, of CoreLogic; and Kim Johnson, with Federated Insurance. Xerox Marketing Manager Allen Lea interviewed the three about their efforts to transform themselves from printers into value-add partners. They discussed topics like digital publishing, Web-to-print, variable data, skills needed by today’s in-plant managers and plans for 2015.

All three stressed the importance of having good relationships with customers and meeting regularly with departments to discuss future projects.

The Benefits of Benchmarking

In another of IPG’s in-plant meetings, sponsored by Canon Solutions America, NAPL Consultant Howie Fenton explained the benefits of benchmarking and how it can strengthen an in-plant.

“If you proactively benchmark your performance, then if you’re ever called in, and an administrator says, ‘We want you to write an RFP to outsource all that you do,’ you’ll have ammunition to say ‘You know what, this is our core competency,” Fenton said.

The power of benchmarking, he said, is that having this data can stop the outsourcing conversation dead in its tracks. Fenton discussed some of the key performance indicators in-plants should measure, such as sales per employee.

Then CSA’s Aaron Hale unveiled a free benchmarking tool called the Performance Challenge (Performance-Challenge.com), created specifically for in-plants. Developed in collaboration with research firm InfoTrends, it scores users based on industry research and analysis. (See related story.)

Managers can take the basic Performance Challenge, which asks just 20 questions and gives a quick assessment of where the in-plant stands; or they can take the Ultimate Challenge, which asks 50 questions and provides a much more detailed analysis.

“It’s well worth it, because in the end it’s going to yield a result that’s going to dig in and show you exactly where you need to make some improvements,” noted Hale.

It asks in-plants what percentage of their revenue comes from insourcing, what percentage of their digital jobs get outsourced, how loyal their customers are, how well they compete against outside providers, how often marketing sends them work, and other questions. Then the tool calculates a score showing how the in-plant compares to others in these areas, and giving the manager targets for improvement.

Web-to-Print Primer

The third IPG event was a luncheon sponsored by Rochester Software Associates that featured Villanova University’s Mike George, director of General Services, relating his shop’s experiences with Web-to-print software.

Getting into Web-to-print, George said, is like starting an entirely new business. You’ll need to involve staff, IT, the vendor and customers to successfully launch it. You’ll also need to have a workflow set up to handle the additional work you’ll start receiving.

Villanova was the first university in the country to implement Web-to-print software, he said. Once his shop began offering online ordering to students via RSA’s WebCRD, job volume increased dramatically. This year, 46,908 student jobs came through WebCRD. Many student jobs arrive between midnight and 5 a.m., he said. To get them printed for morning pickup, he adjusted shifts to bring an operator in at 7 a.m.

One way Web-to-print can help bring in additional work is because it can give the in-plant clues about other work customers are doing. When George sees large orders for envelopes and stationery come through WebCRD, he proactively calls the client to ask if they are about to do a large mailing, and then offers to print that job.

“Nine times out of 10, that call initiates a quote,” he said. “Seven times out of 10, it actually turns into a job.”

IPG’s in-plant events weren’t the only places in-plants congregated at Graph Expo. They attended educational sessions with in-plant themes, went to evening activities hosted by vendors, hung around the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association’s “In-plant Place” networking lounge and attended IPMA’s “Lunch & Learn Session.”

In that session, four in-plant managers took the stage to talk about using metrics to prove their shops’ worth, making it easy to do business with their shops, getting staff involved and adding new products and services. Sharing their observations were Steve Dimond from MIT; Craig Allen from Sun Life Financial; Adam Orcutt from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Abbas Badani from Penn State University. The event was moderated by Elisha Kasinskas, marketing director at Rochester Software Associates.