Top 50 Managers Meet In Chicago
In-Plant Graphics hosted the second annual Top 50 roundtable in Chicago recently, bringing together managers from around the country for some intensive discussions.
For the second year in a row, In-Plant Graphics hosted a roundtable luncheon for the Top 50 in-plants. Managers from some of the largest in-plants in the country met in Chicago during Graph Expo to discuss the challenges they share, and to learn from each other's experiences.
For some it was a reunion. For others there were a lot of new names and faces to remember. But for everyone it was a welcome break from the crowds at Graph Expo, taking place just across the street.
What brought these managers to Graph Expo itself was the tremendous amount of gear on display. At the Top 50 roundtable, they revealed what they had come to inspect.
Computer-to-plate systems were one big draw, as representatives from the in-plants at Brigham Young University, the Government Printing Office, Unisys and Louisiana State University all expressed their interest in upgrading to film-free workflows.
Bob Schwenk from GPO said his organization was particularly interested in exploring violet-polymer plates, and companies like Esko-Graphics were certainly stepping up to pitch what they had.
But more than anything, most of these managers just wanted to see what was available.
"We're very open this year," said Rick Neumann, director of the Print Solutions Group at Best Buy Corp. "We're interested in short-run digital color, [Xerox] iGen3, short-run digital/offset, and small finishing equipment."
Mark Dreimiller from Progressive Corp. was also interested in the Xerox iGen3—but had his eye on the Nexpress 2100, as well, which was drawing crowds at the enormous Heidelberg exhibit.
"We're also interested in looking into wide format," he said.
Rich Evans from SAFECO said, "We're just gathering knowledge this year; we're probably not going to buy. But we are interested in variable data printing." He indicated that he too was checking out the NexPress.
Like Dreimiller, Russell Bartholow from the University of Nebraska was looking at wide-format ink-jet equipment, but he indicated that he was even more interested in books-on-demand and variable data software.
But it was Cindy Larson from BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota who did the most business during the show. She reported that she had signed a letter of intent to purchase the iGen 3. She says her in-plant is looking to pick it up in June.
Wide-format Advice
Once everyone had finished eating lunch and shared what they were looking for at the show, Best Buy's Rick Neumann spoke up and said, "If anyone has any wide-format questions, talk to us."
Neumann said almost half of the jobs in his shop are wide-format projects.
Jim VanderWal from the Christian Reformed Church perked up and said his shop has been outsourcing all of its wide-format work.
"We're looking for a cost-effective way to bring it in," he said.
Neumann was asked if he laminated large-format jobs.
"Yeah," he replied. "Laminating and mounting, we do about 90 to 100 hours per week."
Outsourcing Strategies
The conversation looked like it was going to chase down wide-format printing, but once the word "outsourcing" was mentioned, it was a lost cause.
VanderWal from the CRC said he wanted to know, as an in-plant, how to justify the shop's existence, and an appropriate way to outsource work that a shop doesn't have the capability to produce.
Larson from BCBS Minnesota said, "You have to be very tightly organized."
She explained that managers ought to keep very careful records of what is spent on a job, what is charged, and how much an outside printer would charge for the same job.
Neumann, from Best Buy, added: "We actually have a cost analyst that compares our actuals with outside actuals."
Most managers agreed that hiring an outside analyst to prove the value of an in-plant is a good idea. And while everyone outsourced some of their work, nearly all of the Top 50 in-plants present reported that they also insource jobs from outside their parent organizations.
Bringing It In-house
This push to find outside business led IPG Editor Bob Neubauer, who was moderating the roundtable, to ask how managers drum up business from outside the company.
Bob Ackerman, from Allstate, reported that his operation has two full-time employees and one part-timer devoted exclusively to outside sales. They are responsible for bringing all of that outside work into the shop.
He said his shop can do a markup on outside work that it can't do on work coming directly from the company.
"Ten percent of our jobs are outside work," he said.
And that 10 percent is enough to load his shop with as much work as it can handle.
"We're always booked," said Ackerman. "We run three shifts a day five days a week."
"We get insourcing via word of mouth," said George Craig from the University of California- Berkeley.
Craig was interested in the idea of having outside salespeople on the in-plant's payroll. He wanted to know how the other shops compensated them.
"Sales models are turning from commission to bonuses," said Best Buy's Neumann.
Mike Loyd from LSU said his operation technically isn't permitted to have outside salespeople, so instead, the in-plant has a "marketing manager." What's in a name?
"When we got into insourcing we did it to figure out where our weaknesses are," offered Neumann.
New Revenue Sources
Insourcing is just one way to bring added revenue to an in-plant. The managers at the Chicago roundtable had many other strategies for bolstering sales.
LSU has started to do CD burning.
West Barton from BYU said his shop recently placed fax/scan machines across the campus.
"It's becoming a very popular segment," he reported.
Rick Fiebiger from Best Buy said his in-plant was turning to fulfillment to increase its revenue flow.
"We're trying to figure out what commercial printers aren't doing," he said. Fiebiger reported that what his in-plant found is that commercial printers usually won't do fulfillment, so they're working with the marketing department to solidify a partnership in that area.
"We're working with marketing to manage it better," he said.
BYU, which does a lot of fulfillment for its distance education program, uses student workers to handle the warehousing and other manual work, said West Barton.
Online Submission
The conversation veered off to the side as Neubauer introduced the topic of online job submission. Just about every shop present said they have it in some form, but opinions varied widely on how beneficial it is and how to implement it.
Cindy Larson from BCBS Minnesota said 95 percent of her in-plant's work comes in electronically—most of it over the company's intranet.
Additionally, her in-plant has implemented what she called "a business card solution" that allows her customers to simply plug in their information and order whatever quantity of business cards they need. The result, she says, has been very successful.
Larson says the move to electronic publishing that online job submission signals hasn't hurt her printing business.
"Our printing business continues to grow because our business continues to grow," she said.
But other managers were not so optimistic about the advent of online publishing.
"PDF is killing us. We just lost a big job from the patent office," said GPO's Schwenk. He explained that some customers are no longer printing jobs but putting them on the Web only.
Other managers shared what they were doing to utilize the Internet to supplement their revenue. LSU's Mike Loyd reported that his shop is in negotiations with Printable Technologies to set up an online ordering system for commodity items like letterhead, envelopes, business cards, and memo pads. He said his shop picked Printable because the software automatically populates the database and is customizable.
Some in-plants, like BYU, said they had designed their own Web ordering systems. Progressive's in-plant is currently building such a system.
In the same vein, Evans from SAFECO reported that his in-plant has watched its Web design group grow larger while the printing side gets smaller.
Variable Data: A Mixed Blessing
After a brief discussion of how to deal with problem employees—Mike Loyd at LSU said his shop maintains a "four strikes and you're out" rule—the attendees began discussing variable data. As the conversation unfolded, it became clear that variable data printing was a great opportunity that could also present lots of problems.
"The biggest nightmare is mixing up the data. The simplest things can throw the whole merge off," said Mark Dreimiller from Progressive. Part of the problem, he added, is that no one wants ownership of the database.
Don Davis from LSU agreed that data management presented a problem.
"In our organization there's no one keeper of the list," he said, "and I think it's the list management that has caused all of the problems."
Mike Loyd at LSU said that his problem is a political one at the very beginning of the process.
"It's hard to get a hold of the data from the offices," he said, explaining that other offices on campus often don't want to share information with him.
What's Your Impression?
By the end of the meeting, there was one small issue that brought more disagreement than any of the others.
How do you count impressions?
It quickly became clear that there is no industry-wide standard. After some polling of attendees to see how they count impressions, Progressive's Dreimiller brought the compromise to table. He reasoned that it doesn't matter how a shop counts its impressions as long as it is a consistent system.
By the end of the meeting, the major lesson learned was summed up by Jim VanderWal from CRC.
"You have to lose the 'print only' attitude," he said.
Added LSU's Mike Loyd: "If it's something that's got words on something, we'll do it."
