Something About IPMA...
Sessions Galore
Numerous other sessions at IPMA provided a wealth of information to attendees. Some highlights:
- Fresh from seeing his in-plant spared from the government's chopping block, Washington State Printer Jean-Luc Devis described how his in-plant saves the state money by offering managed print services for agencies. With up to 50 percent cost reductions possible, he called this a gold mine of savings. Devis walked the audience through the print assessment process, which sets a baseline from which to measure improvements. Then he talked about how to facilitate the RFP process to secure the equipment provider and then implement the managed print contract.
- Another session on copier fleet RFPs by Chris Barclay, of Connecticut College, offered tips, such as including a specific turnaround time for repairs (not an average time) with fees if they don't comply. His contract specifies a $100/hour penalty for each hour the vendor is late. His staff interviews technicians and compares their information to what the salespeople told them. They also double check that all terms highlighted in the RFP are actually in the contract. One thing often overlooked, he noted, is a requirement that the contractor supply a criminal background check for all technicians who will be visiting your campus.
- Chris Donlon, of Kohler, related how his in-plant upgraded its digital printing equipment to address quality issues that had been causing work to go to outside printers.
- Kodak's Mark Egeling discussed variable data campaign planning and how to use marketing science and testing to get the best results. Using scientific method means doing background research, constructing a hypothesis, testing it with an experiment, analyzing data, drawing conclusions and communicating your results. He reviewed different types of campaign testing that can be used to determine effectiveness.
- Dwayne Magee, of Messiah College, talked about insourcing as not only a way to generate revenue but a way to build community relationships and even increase your institutional relevance. Explain to your internal customers that the work you insource is also helping them since it allows in-plant employees to improve their skills (and morale) by handling new types of work. Insourcing can also allow your in-plant to broaden its range of services.
- IPG Editor Bob Neubauer gave a presentation full of examples of new services in-plants have implemented to enhance their value, such as scanning/archiving, sign making, e-communications, engraving and even wallpaper.
- Roger Chamberlain, of the Cincinnati Insurance Co., discussed money-saving and money-making ideas for in-plants. Attendees also offered their own ideas, such as address management, consulting with customers about post card design, bringing diploma printing in-house and cross-training to reduce staff.
The conference culminated with an awards banquet, during which IPMA honored three in-plants for excellence in management (Sate of Washington), marketing (UT-Austin) and mailing (Excellus BCBS).
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.
