Rebirth Of The In-plant

With so many threats to their survival, in-plants must adopt an entrepreneurial spirit, forge partnerships and become more visible.

by Steve Jarvis

In-plants are under siege.

The forces against them are formidable: intense internal competition from digital office printing fleets, the threat of internal clients outsourcing jobs to commercial printers, apathetic senior management that doesn't view printing as a core business function, and an overall lack of awareness within enterprises regarding the services and cost savings in-plants can deliver.

To counter these threats, in-plant managers should become entrepreneurs and secure business within the organization. They should demonstrate they can serve as viable profit centers by producing quality work and profits. To achieve this goal, in-plant managers can:

• Form partnerships with information managers within the organization.

• Market within an organization the cost savings and range of services the in-plant can provide.

• Establish in-plant employees as counselors/advisors for all printing needs.

Think Like An Entrepreneur

The in-plant manager, to demonstrate profitability, should adopt the spirit of entrepreneurial initiative that small businesses traditionally employ to establish themselves. This means forging partnerships with departmental information managers to understand workflow and departmental printing needs, and to communicate benefits—namely that well-run in-plants can be 20 to 40 percent less expensive than commercial print shops.

By learning the specific printing needs of departments, in-plant managers can educate them about how the in-plant can improve workflow. For example, by working with the in-plant, departments can route print jobs automatically to the in-plant if they meet a set number of pages. This avoids printer congestion and ensures quality and timely turnaround.

While building relationships, the in-plant manager learns the tasks, budget constraints and overall frustrations with which information workers contend when deciding whether to print in-house or to outsource.

Partnerships foster trust for in-plant and information managers and lead to greater understanding of the printing budgets within which both must work. By mastering a department's workflow, printing needs and budget considerations—and matching or exceeding outsourcers' capabilities—in-plants can regain jobs that were outsourced and earn the right-of-first-refusal for short- and long-run jobs.

Printing: A Core Business Function

To achieve viability and profitability within an enterprise, printing needs to be viewed as a core business function. In-plant employees, like information technology workers, must be recognized as specialists in their field. Printing expertise—coupled with internal marketing and customer awareness—can enable in-plant advisors to review and recommend the best way to complete print jobs.

An in-plant needs to establish visibility within the organization to maintain client awareness. The in-plant cannot be a secret. It must be a recognized, easy-to-use service that benefits clients by being on-site.

Communication with information managers is critical to provide good word-of-mouth references and testimonials that can build new business for the in-plant. When jobs are returned to customers, they should be accompanied by an overview of the in-plant's services. A flyer or brochure serves as a helpful reminder to customers who may need to know if the in-plant can accept PDFs or has scanning capabilities.

Information about in-plant capabilities and frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be placed on the company intranet, included in in-plant capabilities brochures, used in mouse pad inserts and posted to bulletin boards around the organization.

Make Your Shop Easy To Use

But signs and banner advertisements do little good if the in-plant is not easy to use. One way to ensure ease-of-use is to network users to the in-plant for quick and easy job submission via electronic job tickets. Another way is to invite potential customers to visit the in-plant to learn more about the facility and its capabilities. In-plants should consider hosting informational overview seminars to eliminate any mystery that may surround the in-plant's existence. This personal interaction with customers raises awareness of in-plant employees as printing advisors.

The credibility of the in-plant strengthens when customers realize they can look to the in-plant to simplify the printing process, supply job costs and analyses, and obtain advice and options for the most cost-effective means to complete jobs. When necessary, the in-plant can deliver competitive quotes to customers for completing jobs in-house versus outsourcing. If in-plant and outsourcing job costs match, the benefits of security, fast turnaround and customer knowledge should favor the in-plant.

As clients recognize the time and money in-plant specialists save them by taking ownership of all aspects of the printing process—from prepress to distribution—the in-plant's stock can only rise within the organization.

Still, the true benchmarks that management uses to quantify viability are cost savings and profitability. It is imperative for the in-plant to demonstrate and market its cost savings to clients and senior management. Returning jobs to clients with information illuminating the cost savings achieved by printing with the in-plant helps build internal allies who can communicate to management the value of the in-plant.

In-plants must also highlight to senior management the cost savings and revenue they create for the company. Send management monthly financial reports to communicate this data.

Strategic internal partnerships and marketing are key elements to the success of an in-plant. But quality work and rapid turnaround are the hallmarks that will continue to make the in-plant profitable and credible within the organization.

Steve Jarvis is director of production systems marketing for the Document Printing Systems business unit of Océ-USA. He has been with Océ for seven years including four years at Océ's international headquarters in The Netherlands. Prior to Océ, Steve spent 15 years with Xerox in the service and sales organizations both in the UK and the USA. Steve has been involved with print centers and central reproduction department environments for 20 years. He understands the workflow necessary to be profitable with today's technologies and changing print job requirements. Contact him at:

jarviss@oceusa.com