Canadian Managers Discuss the Business of Print

Thirty higher-ed in-plant managers from across Canada met in Victoria, B.C., in May for the 44th annual College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) conference. Hosted by the University of Victoria Printing Services, the focus was "The Business of Print."

Peter Muir, president of Bizucate, got things started early Monday morning with his opening presentation on "business excellence." He quickly had everyone awake and engaged, discussing foundations of communication, strategic relevance and operational excellence.

Muir pointed out that even with so many new methods of communicating, print is still valuable and, in fact, can direct traffic to the Web via such new technologies as QR codes and PURLs. He proposed that changing methods of communication could be viewed as opportunities if we are willing to make things happen rather than let them happen to us.

In-plants need to be an integral part of the organizations they serve by understanding their customers, knowing their marketplace and planning for the future, Muir said. They must also market themselves and offer new services that their organization needs, if they want to be strategically relevant.

Operational excellence comes out of continuous improvement that empowers employees and streamlines processes, Muir added. Understanding your goals, analyzing your data, implementing a plan and measuring the results are steps to operational excellence.

"Risk taking is about taking initiative; taking a first step toward change," Muir said. "What would our world look like if more people started projects, made a ruckus and took more risks?"

With this in mind, Muir urged attendees to choose one thing they could begin to do today and challenged them to face their fears, seek out supporters and resist those who would derail their efforts. Almost every innovation, he noted, started with a list of failures.

Gathering Performance and Cost Data

In a subsequent session, Duane Ortel from EFI discussed the value of print management systems for gathering and analyzing data about an in-plant's performance—data that will prove crucial if facility management companies come knocking. Having this data readily available is the only way to properly defend your in-plant, he said.

In another session, Ron Teller, a long-time printer who is now a PrintSmith product manager, provided tools to determine the real costs for each billable process. He pointed out that if you don't know what your costs are you can't know if you are making any profit—and if you aren't making money at something you shouldn't be doing it.

Setting your rates to compete with the next guy may work for a while, he continued, but if you are losing money, you won't last. Teller then outlined his formulas for determining the true cost of doing business.

The conference wasn't all business, though. Whale watching was the order of the day on Sunday, with a boat trip out to the San Juan Islands to see the Orcas. There was ample time to chat with colleagues and discuss issues in smaller groups at the dinner events and hospitality suite.

One topic that popped up frequently was the pending changes to the agreement with Access Copyright, a not-for-profit copyright collective that gathers revenues from those who want to reproduce copyrighted materials and distributes the money to the rightsholders. Many schools are refusing to sign the new agreement, which leaves production of custom course materials in limbo.

The conference wound up with the annual CUPMAC general meeting, where the group eagerly discussed next year's conference, to take place in Regina. It will be sponsored by the University of Regina and the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. PG

To learn more about CUPMAC and see a list of members, visit www.cupmac.ca.