In-plant Networking in Sacramento

Getting together with other in-plant managers is a rewarding experience, as attendees of IPMA and ACUP conferences have long known. So it’s always refreshing to learn about smaller regional in-plant networking groups that are bringing managers together.

In Sacramento, Calif., one such group has been meeting quarterly for the past year. It boasts 35 active members from 25 government agencies all around the state capital.

“We meet at different locations each quarter to allow us to tour each others operations,” notes Jerry Hill, communications manager for the Communications and Imaging Resource Center at the California Department of Justice.

The State Agency In-plant Managers’ Networking Group met most recently in mid April at the California Department of Transportation’s in-plant. Twenty five managers gathered for 90 minutes (starting at 7:30 a.m.) to discuss how they have reinvented their operations to meet changes in information technology distribution. They also talked about marketing and changes they have made to better meet their clients’ needs.

Hill says the meetings are a great way to share notes on equipment they have purchased or are looking into.

“I’ve had people come over and look at my Canons, and I’ve gone over and looked at people’s Xeroxes,” he says. Group members have also donated equipment to one another that they no longer needed. Hill says he once turned over an underutilized Heidelberg DI press to the state senate’s in-plant, to replace its aging DI.

The networking group was organized by Hill, essentially due to popular demand.

“I used to have occasional interaction with some of the other state print agency managers on different things, and they all said the same thing: we really need to all get together,” he explains. “So I just said, ‘O.K., I’m going to make this happen.’”

The group’s next meeting is slated for July 18 and will include a barbecue. But the conversations are what Hill is really looking forward to.

“It’s really sharing that knowledge and networking on best practices,” he says. “It’s been very helpful.”