Meeting Of The Minds

At a recent IPG roundtable in Chicago, representatives of some of the Top 70 in-plants compared notes and shared ideas in a lively exchange.

by Bob Neubauer

It was a landmark event.

Print managers from corporate giants like Allstate and Boeing mingled with representatives from leading universities. The supervisors of the Ohio and Washington state printing operations chatted with managers of the top insurance company in-plants, like Blue Cross, Safeco and Cigna.

For the first time, the leaders of some of the country's largest in-plants sat together in one room to share their views. In-Plant Graphics organized this meeting during the recent Print 01 trade show in Chicago to give the Top 70 in-plants a chance to meet and discuss their large operations.

The meeting was made possible by the sponsorship of Printable Technologies, a provider of solutions enabling printers to incorporate online tools into their present business models.

Though a similar, more informal meeting took place during the IPMA 2001 conference in June, the Chicago roundtable marked the first official meeting of the Top 70 in-plants. (IPG ranks the Top 50 each December, and our Web site extends the list to the Top 70.)

Many Differences

Perhaps the most telling sign of how different these large in-plants are from one another was in the way they handle business cards. The prices they charge range greatly, from a low of $10 for 500 to a high of $115 for 500 (two-color) cards.

Some said they don't handle business cards at all. Others have a link on their Web site to an outside business card vendor's site, allowing the customer to come to the in-plant with the order. Still others have developed their own online ordering sites for business cards and similar items.

Other differences also came to light during the roundtable discussions. For example, not all participants oversee graphic design. Boeing's in-plant doesn't because its customers are the company's graphic designers. At Louisiana State University, design falls under University Relations. Due to an increased workload there, however, LSU Graphic Services was asked to take on some design responsibilities, so it has started its own design department.

Those that do oversee design, said it gives them control over projects and they end up with files that cause fewer problems in prepress. Some shops charge for design; others, like the State of Ohio, don't. Target Corp. noted that if customers go outside of the company for design work it will cost more, so they save money by convincing customers to let the in-house designers handle their jobs.

The State of Washington, which brought design in-house a few months ago, said outside designers often had relationships with commercial printers, so customers were not coming to the in-plant.

PDF Making Inroads

Many of the Top 70 participants said they have PDF workflows, but several reported problems getting customers to create proper PDFs. The State of Washington's representative said its customer service rep brings a prepress person on customer visits to teach the customer how to make a PDF. In this way marketing is combined with training.

Still, as the University of Oklahoma's rep noted, some customers persist in doing things their own way, despite training. Mississippi State University's representative suggested charging customers each time a file has to be sent back to be redone after a certain point. Another manager suggested that, in addition to showing problem customers how much their bad files are costing them, problem jobs could be vended to an outside printer, where the resulting high price might cure the customer's lax ways. Boeing's in-plant puts some repeat jobs on CD so customers can use the disc next time.

Variable Data: Wavering Interest

Though variable data is being touted as a major trend by vendors, few of the Top 70 participants are using it in jobs. One manager felt it was overrated, and another pointed out that most customers don't have very good databases.

The University of California-Berkeley's representative noted that in-plants have to be careful about using variable graphics in print jobs; when the graphics change, the piece no longer qualifies for a bulk rate discount from the USPS.

The Top 70 in-plants have the same problem most in-plants have with departments buying their own copiers and bypassing the in-plant. Some, like LSU, are in charge of copier management and get to decide whether or not to approve purchases. Others, like Purdue University, ask local copier vendors to consult with Printing Services whenever university departments come to them to buy a copier. Cigna's representative said that since he controls the paper supply, he can always tell when a department is adding a copier.

All managers reported a big increase in digital printing. Unisys, with 30,000 documents to support, said it is moving to digital printing to stop the waste involved when inventorying items. Last year a large amount of offset-printed pieces had to be thrown away after they became obsolete.

One of the participants, Allstate, has an Indigo digital press, though Allstate's rep said its Xerox 2060 costs half as much to run as the Indigo and thus gets much more use. The State of Ohio replaced its Xerox DocuColor 30 with a Canon 5000, which is reportedly running great.

Despite the size of the Top 70 in-plants, survival is never far from their minds. After discussing the recent demise of two former Top 50 in-plants, participants offered their own survival tips, the first of which was to "follow the images" and continually look for new business. Allstate, Unisys and several other in-plants have found such new business by insourcing from outside organizations.

The UC-Berkeley rep suggested folding other departments, like mail, into the in-plant to make it more crucial to the parent organization's business.

Keeping upper management informed is essential, managers agreed. Boeing's in-plant management is in close contact with the upper levels, sending weekly activity reports. LSU and Target suggested getting the top brass to visit the in-plant, perhaps during an open house—just make sure it's clean, busy and there are no employee problems brewing, noted Target's rep.

Winning awards is another good way to give your operation a good reputation, stressed Allstate's representative. Allstate, UC-Berkeley and Cigna have earned NAPL Gold Awards, and many others have won In-Print awards.

This is just a sample of the countless ideas exchanged at this meeting of the Top 70 in-plants. Because of the enthusiasm generated by this roundtable, IPG plans to turn this into an annual event. It will likely be scheduled during next year's Graph Expo, October 6-9.

Bob Neubauer can be contacted at Bob Neubauer

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The Participants