IPMA Report: Relocating an In-plant
Bruce La Londe (seated) and Jason Gillam of Blue Valley School District’s in-plant detailed their strategy for getting a new print facility.
In one session at the recent In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference, managers of Blue Valley School District’s in-plant detailed how they were able to get their Overland Park, Kansas, district to approve a new printing facility.
Jason Gillam, director of business operations, and Bruce La Londe, Printing Services coordinator, noted that, due to the district’s expansion, the in-plant had outgrown its space and could no longer provide efficient logistical support to Blue Valley’s 36 schools. Knowing it would be challenging to get the district to fund an expansion, they sought to link the idea with other initiatives that were part of Blue Valley’s strategic plan, and explain how a new print facility would support those goals.
In their case, a study done on the district’s IT operations provided an opportunity. It revealed some inefficiencies, with IT staff receiving deliveries in multiple facilities and not being able to securely store items. Gillam started looking for ways the in-plant could work with IT to reduce redundancies, open up storage space, and strengthen asset controls. He included the warehousing team to broaden the benefits to both IT and the in-plant.
The eventual multi-departmental strategic request noted that sufficient space did not exist to allow for core focuses to be addressed, and pointed out ways to combine equipment used for like efforts, consolidate functions into a single facility, utilize cross-departmental support, and benefit from “efficiencies of adjacency,” Gillam said. A key focus of the request was how these moves would better support schools and students.
New Facility
As a result of this strategy, the district agreed to build a new 55,000-sq.-ft. logistics center to house not only the in-plant but IT project fulfillment, IT desktop support, and receiving and distribution. Printing Services relocated there in March 2023 and has enjoyed numerous efficiency gains. With 14,000 sq. ft. of production space, it has more than twice as much room as in its previous three locations combined, which allows for more equipment to better address redundancy. Paper delivery for multiple departments has greatly improved, warehouse space is now larger and consolidated, and the departments can more easily share resources. The new space also allows for room to sort packages as they are produced to reduce the burden on the delivery team.
The new 55,000-sq.-ft. logistics center.
Gillam offered a few lessons learned during the moving process to help fellow managers:
- Anticipate moving equipment and build it into equipment purchases or leases where possible.
- Create a marketing plan to get work in early to allow for time to move.
- Be meticulous in planning equipment placement and connectivity needs.
- Determine all new IP addresses in advance.
- Design for future utility needs.
- Pay attention to access, such as the size of doors and the floor load capacity.
- Feed utilities from above to allow for easy change.
- Build in additional power capacity.
- Pay extra attention to venting, climate, and humidity control.
In the days ahead, we will continue to bring you highlights from IPMA 2024, the world’s largest conference for in-plant printers.
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.
