In-plants Around the World

In Australia and Canada, in-plant associations are hard at work educating their members and giving them the tools they need to thrive.

By Bob Neubauer

In-plants are certainly not just a U.S. phenomenon. Though the International Publishing Management Association (meeting this month in suburban Chicago) and the Association of College and University Printers (story on page 14) are probably the world's most successful in-plant groups, other country's in-plants have also formed associations.

Two of these groups are NIPPA, (the National In-plant Print & Publishing Association), which draws members from Australia and New Zealand, and CUPMAC (the College and University Print Management Association of Canada).

With about 145 members, NIPPA (www.nippa.com.au) has grown 45 percent in the past three years, says David Harrison, president. This is due largely to improved marketing, the professional development opportunities NIPPA offers, increased sponsorship, and expanding into the New Zealand market, he says. Started in 1993, NIPPA hosts an annual conference (held last month in Melbourne) and posts pertinent information and training opportunities on its Web site.

CUPMAC (www.cupmac.ca), which started in 1968, also holds a yearly conference. (This year's event, taking place this month at Viamede Resort, in Ontario, features your humble editor as one of its speakers.) As with ACUP, this conference is CUPMAC's big event of the year, where members mix and mingle, while attending educational workshops. Unlike ACUP, though, CUPMAC is a dues-paying organization with a formal constitution.With about 50 members, exclusively from universities and colleges, CUPMAC has seen slight growth in recent years, says Terry Oakes, president of the group, though he acknowledges that many busy in-plant managers are not yet aware of CUPMAC.

Similar Concerns

Australian and Canadian in-plants share many of the concerns of their U.S. brethren, such as marketing to customers to keep them from sending work to outside printers, copyright enforcement and controlling the number of printing/copying devices connected to the network.

"It is also hard to find the funding for new technology if you are on a break-even or subsidized budget," says Oakes, voicing a dilemma that U.S. in-plants know all too well.

Another mutual concern:

"We need more support from senior management to allow us to control output costs," Oakes says. "I believe in general that universities and colleges do not know the total cost of printing on their campus."

Also like their U.S. peers, Canadian and Australian in-plants have to deal with facilities management firms trying to move in on their business. CUPMAC member Ray Konecsni, from the University of Regina, feels much of the threat comes from inside the in-plant's parent organization.

"Senior management is still easily swayed towards outsourcing as a golden nugget of opportunity for cost savings," he says. "Without fully analyzing the situation that mistake is often made, however there are definitely cases where, if not full, rather partial outsourcing does make sense. It is still a matter of each organization analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and formulating appropriate action plans for each of them."

Adds Oakes: "My personal belief is that, if your accounting is up to snuff, you are producing good product at good value, you have good staff with good service, you are not overstaffed and no one is standing around idle, and you have long-term vision, then the threat of outsourcing is minimalized."

Likewise, NIPPA's Harrison takes a practical approach toward facilities management.

"It is part of the landscape and needs to be managed not feared," he says. "A well-run operation that markets within its host organization is rarely under threat."

Big Support for Digital Technology

In-plants Down Under seem to be embracing digital technologies in great numbers. Harrison, who is manager of Murdoch University's printing operation, lists some of the big trends he sees among in-plants: Scanning to e-file, use of optical character recognition, integration of business operating and workflow software, and providing CDs/DVDs.

In Canada, Konecsni also says in-plants are increasingly getting involved with scanning to file/e-mail and CD/DVD duplication.

"Online submission and electronic storefronts seem to be emerging in more and more shops," he says. "As the cost of color drops, demand is growing, so new markets seem to be emerging in that field as well." He also sees a rise in wide-format printing.

"Also, with remote learning on the increase, we need to assemble course packs here and make them available for printing elsewhere," adds Oakes, CUPMAC president, who feels that all in-plants should have as their goal the establishment of an enterprise print system that connects all copiers and printers and accounts for every print on campus.

Insourcing Less Alluring

Though roughly half of all U.S. in-plants, according to IPG survey data, are exploring insourcing opportunities, Canadian and Australian in-plants seem less excited about the idea.

"It is growing, although some host organizations have restrictions in this regard to protect local business communities," reports Harrison.

Oakes, who works at the University of New Brunswick, says his in-plant insources bindery work from local print shops that lack the right equipment. However, he added, this is balanced by the outsourcing of film work, perfect binding and oversized offset printing.

"Our shop in particular does not market or solicit external business," notes Konecsni, though he adds: "We provide services to the faculty, staff, students, friends and alumni of the university."

Like in the U.S., the business sectors in these countries do not quite know what to make of in-plants.

"Some businesses choose to look at us as being subsidized and given an unfair advantage," reports Konecsni. "Those that think of us as an opportunity for partnership have done so, and we have negotiated contracts to achieve better prices."

Adds Oakes: "As long as we stay out of their territory they don't bother us. We have actually helped a lot of local printers when they are in need of supplies or bindery work, and they reciprocate the gesture, as well. I would say we have an exceptional rapport with every printer in town, and we know them by name."

In Australia, Harrison likewise keeps a positive outlook:

"Commercial print businesses should be more aligned to the in-plant, and we should work together using SLAs [service level agreements] to develop better offerings to the client base. No longer should commercial printers be seen as the enemy, but rather our best allies."

Are You Valuable or Effective?

In Australia, a white paper on the in-plant industry has been engendering a lot of discussion.

Sponsored by Canon and authored by Richard Vines, the paper compares, among other issues, in-plants that compete on the basis of their effectiveness with those that compete on the basis of their value.

"Effective" in-plants promote themselves as cheaper, faster and friendlier than the competition. This is a difficult tactic, the paper says, and leaves them vulnerable to outsourcing.

"Valuable" in-plants aim to become essential elements in their parent organization's value chain. They exploit their intimate knowledge of customers, their links with internal units and their unique solutions that are difficult for outside service providers to emulate.

"A vigorous effort is therefore required to promote the concept of a valuable in-plant," the paper states.

The white paper also promotes the concept of "rightsourcing"—examining each job on its merits and then deciding how to source it, rather than automatically favoring one sourcing model.

Download the white paper at: www.nippa.com.au/whitepaper.pdf