McGill Consolidates Two In-plants

For years, Carmin Cristofaro managed two separate in-plants for McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), in Montreal, Quebec. Each was located in a hospital, with about two miles separating them.

"Sometimes you were splitting job orders between the two print shops," he says. "It became very difficult to manage."

So when one of the hospitals started looking at the in-plant's space for clinical use, Cristofaro saw his opportunity.

"I talked to my boss and said, 'Why don't we take this opportunity to merge the two print shops?'" he recalls.

In October, after two years of planning, the move and merger finally took place. Both in-plants were relocated into a new facility in downtown Montreal. With easy access to restaurants and public transportation, and windows to let in sunshine, the new location has boosted employee morale and made for a more efficient printing operation.

"It has surpassed everybody's expectations," Cristofaro says.

What's more, he is gratified at the thought that MUHC thinks so highly of the in-plant that it was willing to lay out half a million dollars to finance the rennovations.

"For an in-plant nowadays, in today's economy, to be getting this type of support by the administration is quite something," he says, adding that the in-plant will pay the money back over the next five years.

Cristofaro feels MUHC values the in-plant, called Document Management Services, because it provides more than just printing to the 12,000 employees in the six-hospital system.

"We are looked at now as more than just 'the print shop.' We're 'document management,' and they see a lot of potential in this department, so they're giving us more and more resources and responsibility," he says.

His department has taken on management of MUHC's archives, as well as the shredding of confidential materials. It also manages the organization's multi-function devices, printers and fax machines.

Just prior to the move, the in-plant upgraded its Xerox equipment, adding a Nuvera 144EA, a DocuColor 252, a DocuColor 700 and a wide-format WF8254. A new Duplo DC-8000S collator was also acquired.

The move itself took place over two weekends. First, the in-plant at the Royal Victoria Hospital was moved. During the following week, all of its work was handled by Montreal General Hospital's in-plant. Once the first in-plant was up and running at the new location, Montreal General's in-plant was moved.

Xerox took charge of transporting its equipment, and the offset and finishing equipment was moved by the company that services it. The hospital’s preferred mover took care of moving the supplies and furniture.

Though slightly smaller in size than the combined space of the previous in-plants (3,000 vs. 3,300 square feet), the new facility is quite roomy, Cristofaro says, because space has been utilized more efficiently. Duplicate services were combined, like the stock room and service counter.

In preparing for the move, Cristofaro did not overlook one crucial factor: employees from two different shops would now be working side by side. To get them used to one another, he had them attend two workshops where they spent time working together and learning about self-managed teams.

"It prepared them for the eventual merger," he says.

Because so many of the in-plant's customers had been submitting hard copy orders (60 percent of them, Cristofaro says), the in-plant decided to keep a service counter at the two hospitals so it could continue to provide personalized service to hospital staff. The in-plant purchased a Web-to-print tool called PrintSys from Prisme, a Quebec-based company, as well as a system called SmartSend (from Xerox) to scan and submit documents from those counters. Staff will be given access to PrintSys and trained on its use by the service counter staff. Eventually SmartSend will be enabled on MFDs throughout the hospital complex giving staff complete remote access to the in-plant.

As Cristofaro and his staff settle into their new digs, he feels confident about the in-plant's future, thanks to this relocation and merger.

"As I told my staff," he says, "this is a real confirmation of the important role that an in-plant still plays in an organization and a testament to the good service we provide." IPG