IPMA 2005 Transforming Your In-plant

Prime's Don Kendall noted that in-plants can no longer survive just by providing the lowest-cost printing; now they must also be a strategic resource for the organization while providing customer service that makes customers feel they can't do without you.

In a survey, he said, 79 percent of executives felt that outsourcing improved customer satisfaction and reduced costs. Another 71 percent believed it enhanced productivity. These are the beliefs in-plants have to counter. By working with the marketing department to improve communications with customers or integrating with the IT department, in-plants make themselves harder to outsource.