More than 100 Managers Attend IPMA 2009

By Bob Neubauer

Shifting From Surviving to Thriving

Perhaps the session most jam-packed with useful information (and people—it was standing room only) was NAPL Consultant Howie Fenton’s talk on Shifting From Surviving to Thriving. According to NAPL data, the digital leaders in the printing industry are those that focus on hiring and retaining good employees and offering training. During a recession, he said, its important to communicate to staff what is going on and what options are being considered. He suggested cross-training as a way to increase staff value and boost morale.

In-plants should calculate their break even point, he said, and know their total cost of ownership. To survive a review, he pointed out, your costs must be competitive, and this means constant monitoring of competitors. Fenton gave an example of one in-plant that did not monitor its pricing and was overcharging to the tune of $600,000 a year.

He noted that often when he is consulting, organizations only want to know whether it is cheaper to keep their in-plant or outsource it. Frequently, he said, the cheapest option is to retain the in-plant and add equipment to stop work from going outside.

He urged in-plants to articulate the intangible benefits they provide:

1. They are the brand police.

2. Without the in-plant, copyright clearance may not be obtained.

3. Inexperienced print buyers pay an average of 7 percent more.

In-plants, he said, should constantly monitor their customers’ changing needs and respond by meeting those needs.

IF THERE was one recurring theme in the sessions at the recent In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference, it was this: In these tough economic times, in-plants need to be more proactive than ever about finding and creating new business opportunities. Last month, more than 100 in-plant managers traveled to Rochester, N.Y., to learn just that. Though attendance was down from last year, it was impressive nonetheless in this economic climate (especially after the cancellation of the ACUP conference in April due to travel bans at universities).

This marked the association’s 50th conference, and it featured not only educational sessions and a two-day vendor fair, but visits to the nearby facilities of both Xerox and Kodak. In fact, the first full day of the conference started off with a bus ride to Xerox’s Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation, where attendees were welcomed with breakfast and an idea-filled opening session.

“To be relevant, you really have to be much more innovative,” remarked opening speaker Eric Armour, president of the Xerox Global Business and Strategic Marketing Group. He offered observations about the challenges in-plants face. Quoting figures from an IPG survey, he noted that 41 percent of in-plants have been approached by outsourcing firms in the past two years. To survive, he said, in-plants must take on more challenges and seek new, innovative ways to help their customers.

“Business as usual maybe worked three years ago,” he said.

Panel Discusses In-plant Success

To consider some of the attributes of successful in-plants, Y. Rosie Madison, vice president of WW Industry & Photo Marketing for Xerox, moderated an enthusiastic panel discussion. Panelist John Meyer, director of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s HUB Print and Postal Services, recommended sitting down with your best customers to learn about their challenges and then brainstorming ways to help them. This will increase the in-plant’s strategic relevance to the organization, he said. Branding has become increasingly important at RIT, he said, so the in-plant has positioned itself as the “branding police.”

Panelist Peter Muir, president of Bizucate, implored in-plants not to merely wait for work to come, nor even to simply look for work but to create opportunities.

“Only a few create,” he noted.

Working with the marketing department is crucial, Madison said, though sometimes marketing barely notices the in-plant. To change that, panelist Marlene Williams, vice president of Light Production/Mid-Low EPC Line of Business at Xerox, suggested taking some of marketing’s applications and redesigning them to show off the in-plant’s talents. Added Muir: “Show them something they haven’t seen before.”

Following the panel discussion, attendees toured the Gil Hatch Center, where they saw the iGen4, various Nuvera systems and other Xerox printing and software technologies. After that, attendees had a choice of four concurrent sessions on topics like budgeted hourly rates, marketing, MFP fleet management and managing an in-plant during a recession.

Opportunities in a Down Economy

Jerry Sampson, of xpedx, spoke on this last topic. He advised in-plants to find out from their accounting department which jobs are being sent outside and who is buying this work. These are opportunities for the in-plant, he said. Also, interview customers to determine what types of work they purchase outside. Discover insourcing opportunities as well, he said, by looking to your parent organization’s vendors and subsidiaries, as well as to associations and organizations.

In-plants, Sampson said, should know their financial contribution and announce it frequently and loudly.

“You need to report to management quarterly,” he said. If you wait until the end of the year, “it’s too late.” He mentioned some frantic calls he received from in-plants recently, asking him to do an analysis.

“By the time they make that 911 call, they’re on life support,” he said. In-plants, he added, must be aggressive in telling their organization about their benefits and savings, before it’s too late.

Greg Cholmondeley, Ricoh’s In-plant Segment Marketing Manager, gave a session on marketing your in-plant, in which he urged managers to keep customers “ecstatic.” That way, he said, they will sing your praises, confirm the truth of your marketing messages and drive business to you. His suggestions included creating a customer advisory panel (to include non customers), conducting short, simple and frequent customer satisfaction surveys and developing a marketing plan. This last item should start with a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Don’t forget, he observed, an in-plant’s staff is its sales force; their attitudes and interactions reflect on the in-plant.

Romano Kicks Off Day Two

Leading off on the second day of the conference was RIT professor emeritus Frank Romano. He polled attendees repeatedly about their capabilities and services while discussing trends like variable data printing (variable images will be the next big trend, he said) and ink-jet production presses. Romano poked fun at the confusing contracts that facilities management firms write and the notion that companies think they will save money by using an FM.

“I still think that nothing ever beats an in-plant in terms of cost,” he declared.

Richard Griffin, of Central Piedmont Community College, led a session on justifying equipment and software acquisitions. To get what you want, he stressed, show how the equipment will benefit the organization—not just the in-plant. The first step is getting the in-plant’s staff excited about it, he said. Next, visit departments and show them how the new equipment will help them. But also listen to them and understand their true needs.

When you make your presentation to upper management, bring a representative from each department that will benefit from the new technology. All they have to do is affirm the benefits you describe. If no one can come, at least get a signed letter stating the benefits to that department, he suggested.

“You need to involve other departments in this process,” he said.

Other sessions including a talk by NAPL’s Howie Fenton (see sidebar) and one by IPG Editor Bob Neubauer, who recapped the major news in the in-plant industry over the past year, noting that the graphic arts industry appears to be taking an increased interest in in-plants.

Kodak For Breakfast

On the third and final day of the conference, attendees traveled to Kodak’s facility for breakfast, sessions and a look at the NexPress assembly line, where they learned that it takes a week to build a NexPress and 21⁄2 weeks to test it.

After breakfast, Elaine Wilde, Kodak’s vice president of sales, recapped some of the trends in the in-plant market, including transpromo, and introduced in-plants to Kodak’s Stream ink-jet press, a technology she said would eventually rival—if not replace—offset.

This was followed by sessions on color management, team development, RFPs and Web-to-print. Barb Pellow, of InfoTrends, discussed this last topic, referring to it as “e-enablement.” Automation, she noted, will reduce the number of times in-plant staff has to touch a job, thus increasing the revenue of each job.

“It starts with Web-to-print,” she said, adding that 60 percent of printers say Web-enabled services have improved their revenue. By next year, she said, 45 percent of jobs will be sent to printers via the Web, according to InfoTrends data.

“It’s time to catch up if you aren’t in the e-enablement game,” Pellow said.

She invited two in-plant managers to relate their real-life experiences with Web-to-print. Chris Barklay, of Connecticut College, said 95 percent of his shop’s volume arrives via the Web. Tony Seaman, of the University of Mississippi, said 80 percent of letterhead, business cards and envelope jobs arrive through EFI PrintSmith Site, and about 20 percent of his overall volume.

Pellow continued the discussion in an afternoon session on how to thrive in a digital economy. She predicted that the cost of a full color digital impression will drop below 21⁄2¢, and longer runs will move to digital. She urged in-plants to get more involved in multi-channel communications, because marketing departments are moving in this direction. (See related survey results on page 34.)

As an indication of the direction technology is moving, Pellow introduced attendees to the quick response code, a two-dimensional bar code that is currently all the rage in Japan. People can photograph these codes with cell phones, causing the phone’s browser to open a specific URL. In Japan she saw QR codes on shirts, advertising and even tombstones. Pellow thinks QR codes will leapfrog past PURLs.

After a few more sessions on mail room security, job tracking and management strategies, attendees gathered for the awards reception and banquet. For the third year in a row, the In-Print Best of Show winner was revealed in a video that showed the judges picking the winner. That honor went to Briggs & Stratton for a colorful art catalog. IPG

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.