Print procurement is a big part of many in-plant managers' jobs.

By Chris Bauer

Tips From The Procurement Experts

• Visit your commercial partner's shop to see if it is clean, the employees are motivated and the customer service staff is responsive.
• Notice if the facility is well organized or if there seems to be confusion on the shop floor.
• Keep in close contact with your sales reps.
• Go to the vendor's facility and pick up a job yourself, and get to know the employees.
• Ask your vendor questions about equipment you are not familiar with, and the best way to produce your jobs.
• Do a cost analysis to see if it is more cost-efficient to send a job out or do it in-house.
• Get numerous bids for each job.
• Don't be afraid to use a large, national supplier.
• Call other in-plants in the area to find out which vendors they use.
• Lean on your local industry associations for assistance.

IT MAY not be a popular topic among in-plants, but sending work to outside printers is often a necessary part of an in-plant manager's job. After all, in-plants can't possibly print everything in-house. Still, some managers don't like to admit that.

"At some industry conferences, it has been like hypocrisy talking about print procurement," admits Joe Tucker, administrator of State Printing and Mail Services for the state of Ohio. "But what better place to have print procurement handled than with the printing experts?"

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Chris Bauer Author's page

You Can't Print It All In-house