Public Printer Invigorates Meeting of Government In-plants

When the National Government Publishing Association met this week in Virginia Beach, they didn't expect their first speaker to present such a negative view of printing. But fortunately, U.S. Public Printer William Boarman was on hand to set things straight when he took the stage moments later.

Though Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager Dave Hansen was supposed to simply welcome the group of government printers to his city, in an unexpected twist, Hansen talked about how the budget for printing had been slashed in Virginia Beach due to declining demand, resulting in cuts to the printing staff—not exactly a strong message to kick off an in-plant printers' conference.

Fortunately, things got back on track quickly when Boarman took to the podium for his keynote address, demonstrating why he is known as "the first printer." Boarman explained why many people make incorrect assumptions about the costs associated with in-plants.

“I think that is a common misconception and a false positive by managers who get rid of print shops. They think that by moving a line item that is very visible, they will save money. Someone in city council can look at this and say, ‘There’s $1.5 million that we can save,’ but they don’t know how much they are going to save in the long run.

"Often they lose track of the expense because it is broken out and into small numbers across multiple jobs and multiple vendors, and may take years before anyone realizes that the older way was the cheaper way to do it. To me this is false positive, and at the expense of some really good city, state and national workers.”

Unfortunately, Hansen had already left the room, missing Boarman's sage observations.

The conference also included speakers like NAPL's Howie Fenton, with a presentation entitled "Only the Strong Will Survive: Three Ways to Become a World-Class In-plant," and Mike Lincoln and Mike Sexton from the State of Colorado's Division of Central Services, who talked about "Re-engineering Government Mail."

Read the full story and see pictures here.