IPMA 2023 Highlight: Ideas for Success

By Bob Neubauer

Learning from peers is the top motivation for attending the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference. One session at the recent event featured three managers offering their ideas for success. John Wong (County of Ventura), Mike Puckett (Vanderbilt University), and David Chappell (Sarasota County School District) talked with Elisha Kasinskas (Rochester Software Associates) about their struggles and victories. (Watch video highlights of this session here.)

Attendees at the session listen to the panel discussion.

Wong noted how his in-plant stayed open and available during COVID to provide service. This enhanced its value and it became the logistics and communications hub for the county, able to react immediately to customer needs. He urged his peers to think like entrepreneurs and look at what their competitors are doing. Make it easy for customers to work with you. His shop made it easy for them to order business cards using RSA Impact VDP. Talk with customers early in the project schedule and offer improvement ideas. And be enthusiastic about printing, which will impact customers, he said.

Puckett related how Vanderbilt had closed its in-plant just prior to COVID, and then realized it would need signage and medical forms. So, after laying off 36 people, it brought three of them back. They subsequently proved the value of the in-plant, and he is now rebuilding the operation. He does this by meeting often with customers, getting to know them, and rebuilding trust. He conducts “secret tours” of campus buildings looking for ways to improve them and then presents his ideas. This has generated a lot of orders, and volume tripled since he started.

Attendees at the session listen to the panel discussion.

When Chappell came to the in-plant, he discovered it was using technology from the 1970s, with orders coming in on paper. Using RSA WebCRD software, he has automated the workflow, reducing job turnaround from up to eight weeks down to less than a week. He reduced the number of color papers available to teachers to three due to supply chain issues. It’s important to continually educate customers, Chappell said. He attends school kickoff meetings in the fall to explain the in-plant’s services and sends monthly emails with helpful tips. He also visits schools to explain why teachers should stop printing on copiers and send their jobs to the in-plant. So far his efforts are paying off.

“We have a 98% rating of happiness,” he boasted.

Download the free Idea Book, Ideas to Take Your In-plant Beyond All Limits to get 30+ ideas, thoughts, and tips.

Attendees at the session listen to the panel discussion.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.