Philadelphia Welcomes ACUP

The Association of College and University Printers conference took place in IPG's home town of Philadelphia this year, drawing 95 managers from four countries.

By Bob Neubauer

Philadelphia may be a showplace of American history, but for printers the city carries a separate significance thanks to local legend Benjamin Franklin. After opening one of the city's first print shops here, he went on to make a name for himself as a printer and patriot.

So when the Association of College and University Printers came to town recently, how could the group get through its three-day conference without a visit from old Ben?

On the second day of the 40th ACUP conference, actor Ralph Archbold brought the nearly 300-year-old printer alive, recounting "his" memories of George Washington and Paul Revere, his apprenticeship in his brother's Boston print shop, his long walk to Philadelphia and his authoring of Poor Richard's Almanac.

This fitting talk was just one of many sessions witnessed by the 95 attendees from 64 institutions, including five managers from overseas (Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.). The event was hosted by Maury Kane, director of Duplicating Services at Temple University, and included a terrific lineup of speakers, as well a trip to Atlantic City and a dinner in the monkey house at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Taking place just blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, conference sessions covered useful topics like merging print and mail, marketing, variable data and revenue enhancement. In addition, IPG Editor Bob Neubauer revealed the results of a major in-plant research study detailing a surge in insourcing and digital printing (including variable data printing), plus increases in data center printing and in-plant employees and budgets.

Critical To The Mission

In the opening keynote, Dr. Robert Hassmiller, executive director of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, reminded managers not to view their in-plants as individual operations but as part of the auxiliary services team, and thus essential to the school.

"You're part of a mission in the institution that's absolutely critical," he said.

Though NACAS is officially neutral about outsourcing, he expressed concern about colleges making outsourcing decisions without truly considering the strengths and advantages of their resources. After all, if a dean gets swayed by a facilities management pitch and lets the FM buy the in-plant's equipment and take over printing, how can the school get out of that situation if it doesn't work out? It will no longer have the equipment.

Hassmiller noted that university in-plants have more locations than Kinko's, and the money generated at each Kinko's store is equivalent to what the average in-plant brings in. But to compete, he noted, in-plants have to act more like Kinko's in one critical way: Promotion.

"The need to market your services internally...is just about as critical as it is for the local Kinko's," he said.

Underscoring this, three managers offered their marketing ideas at a separate session. Ken Watson of Louisiana State University talked about the promotional newsletter he produces for customers. He also visits clients personally—including local community colleges—to market his in-plant. To draw potential customers into the shop, LSU Graphic Services has made its conference room available to university departments.

Offering a U.K. perspective, Andrew Scott, head of Print Design Services at Glasgow Caledonian University, stressed the importance of a customer-friendly Web site and weekly meetings with department heads. Kelly Woodward of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said that after her in-plant went through an organizational change, marketing the positive effects of that change to customers was crucial.

Beyond Customer Satisfaction

More important than marketing, though, is retaining the customers you have. To stress this, Ray Chambers of Juniata College and Jean-Luc Devis of Oregon State University spoke about customer satisfaction.

"You really need to go past satisfaction," noted Chambers. Help your customers succeed and reach their business goals. To do so, though, you must understand what they do and what motivates them.

Devis stressed that the customer is the most important person to the in-plant. Employees should understand that customers do not interrupt their work, but are the purpose for it; customers don't depend on you, you depend on them.

To keep customers in good spirits, he said, answer phones promptly and never keep customers on hold longer than a minute. CSRs should always sound pleasant and pay attention to what the customer is saying, he said, since tone of voice can account for 82 percent of a message's impact.

"The telephone is the most important point of contact with the customer," he noted, though he added that customers on the phone should never take precedence over those who are there in person.

In his in-plant, Devis had the customer service area redesigned so instead of a counter coming between staff and customers, there are now tables with seats for the customer.

Devis looks at complaints as opportunities. They offer a chance to educate the customer and to repair and solidify your relationship. They also point out areas the in-plant needs to improve, he said.

In an often humorous presentation (as when he detailed his experiences with the "toilet" on a train in China), Dr. Michael W. Jackson urged attendees to aggressively advertise their services, make customers feel special and learn to delegate jobs. He said that in the future, in-plants will come under more scrutiny, as identity theft and security concerns mount. An increase in foreign students will mean publications will have to be printed in multiple languages.

Ever in search for more space, universities will scrutinize in-plants for any available room, Jackson said. They will also demand a smaller work force, and require the use of temporary workers. At the same time, in-plants will be compelled to hire young people who understand the frequent technology updates.

Changes For The Better

In several ACUP sessions, in-plants discussed changes they have implemented that allow them to continue providing benefits to their schools despite advances in communications technology.

• Wayne Riggall, manager of Waikato Print at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, described his operation's move from manufacturing to knowledge management. By scanning a student's ID card, the in-plant can tell if the student is in the class for which materials are being purchased. This also updates the in-plant's records so it knows how many copies of that course pack it still has to print. His goal, Riggall said, is to let professors make course packs available digitally and let students decide whether to print them or read them online.

• Ever since Millersville University brought both Print and Mail Services under her jurisdiction a few years ago, Barbara Buchanan has worked to enhance mail with new equipment that would save the university money. She got customers to support her request for an ink-jet printer and postal software, additions that saved thousands after implementation. By making sure the print staff understands postal rules, her operation has also caught design errors that might have led to expensive postal fees had they been printed.

• Two managers shared how they have enhanced revenue through new services. At the University of Arkansas, Theresa Hatcher has worked with IPMA Marketplace to sell promotional items, like personalized key chains, pencils, cups, etc., to departments and groups. This generated sales of $119,292 between January and March, and profit of $20,279. At Iowa State University, Gary Boyd found new revenue by producing architectural drawings, earning $435,000 in the first 15 months. Architects post PDF files of plans and the in-plant retrieves and prints them.

• Steven Goodman, director of Campus Services at the University of Illinois at Springfield, talked about his "one stop shop" operation, which offers everything from design to mailing. Having a one-stop shop allows the in-plant to schedule work to meet deadlines, he said. While customers love submitting all work to a single location, sometimes they neglect to include the mailing database, incurring delays. "Printing is rushed and then sits in the mail area waiting for the database," he said.

Digital Trends

At a technology roundtable, managers discussed whether new technology was threatening their business. One participant noted that black-and-white clicks are down 10 percent this year, and work is migrating from centralized printing to Internet blackboards. While this has hurt the bottom line, it has forced in-plants to look for new ways to make a profit.

"Revenue really comes from service," said Jim Muchler, of Bucknell University. "We design Web pages, e-mail broadcasts with graphic designs, variable data. We have clients who come to us and say...'Can you update our Web site for us?' "

Participants agreed that variable data printing (VDP) is the way of the future (and to increased revenue), and the way to get there is to strongly market it to the university decision makers, especially through the use of studies and surveys.

"If we can provide value-added data that VDP really works, it could benefit us," Muchler said. "Those who make the decisions might see the difference."

Echoing this, Richard Sands, of Heidelberg USA, discussed the importance of VDP to the university market, and how the return on investment is worth the cost.

By the end of the decade run lengths will decrease by 78 percent and 30 percent of digital color work will be personalized, he said. Applications of VDP include direct mail, invitations, customized sales collateral and newsletters, said Sands.

Jeffrey Smith, president of ProBuyers LLC, presented a session on higher education copier programs. He has noticed an increase in the number of schools getting faster machines with online capabilities and saddle stitching. Smith warned against hidden copier costs like PostScript drivers, firmware upgrades and staples, and he advised managers to challenge vendors who say they are the best by asking them for data backing that up.

In a session on copyright issues, Rosemary Chase, of George Mason University, discussed the concept of "fair use," and urged managers not to reproduce copyrighted materials under fair use without considering the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount and substantiality of the work and the effect of its usage on the value of the work. She told managers to make sure the school's copyright compliance policy is posted on its Web site or any place the Internet can be accessed on campus.

—Kristen Monte also contributed to this story