Top 50 Report The Big Movers

When the going got tough, these in-plants boosted their sales anyway.

From free-falling consumer confidence to scandalized captains of industry, it's been a rough year for the U.S. economy. Likewise, many in-plants have reported a drop in revenue, including 19 of those in the Top 50.

But 26 other Top 50 in-plants not only survived the crunch, they flourished in it. They have increased sales, expanded their services and now rest on a foundation more solid than it was before the economy turned sour.

How did they do it? Basically by keeping their eyes open for new opportunities—and not just printing opportunities.

The Copier Monopoly

Sales Growth Here are the top 20 in-plants according to sales growth compared with 2001 figures:
Rank	In-plant	Sales Growth
1	Best Buy	77.05%
2	University of Oklahoma	22.09%
3	State of Oregon	19.49%
4	California OSP	15.46%
5	University of Illinois	14.89%
6	Iowa State University	13.53%
7	Spartan Stores	13.45%
8	Ace Hardware	10.59%
9	Louisiana State University	8.39%
10	Papa John's	8.11%
11	Washington State University	7.84%
12	Blue Cross-Blue Shield, MN	6.82%
13	Briggs & Stratton	6.25%
14	Commonwealth of Kentucky	6.21%
15	Brigham Young University	4.39%
16	Progressive Corp.	4.35%
17	Wal-Mart	4%
18	University of North Carolina	3.91%
19	University of Oregon	3.91%
20	University of Michigan	3.74%

Of all the Top 50 university in-plants that increased their sales in 2002 vs. 2001, University of Oklahoma Printing, Mailing and Document Production Services reported the largest increase: 22.1 percent.

One reason was that the shop took on the management responsibility for all of the copiers belonging to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The deal was finished on July 1 of last year, says John Sarantakos, administrator. Since then the in-plant's revenues have increased 20 percent, he adds.

And since the in-plant was supplying the copiers, why shouldn't it supply the paper as well? Sarantakos reports that his in-plant was able to gain control of the entire campus's paper supply and now supplies cut sheet stock from his own supplier. The deal is roping in a tremendous amount of revenue as Sarantakos says his facility is delivering up to a skid and a half of paper each day to university departments.

Sarantakos says he expected the downturn in print business this year. Even though his shop was looking into these new revenue sources anyway, the drop in printing sales provided the impetus to get the ball rolling.

As for how much he's marking up all of that paper, Sarantakos says he's not telling.

A Little Luck, Lots Of Fulfillment

Contrary to many other in-plants, Best Buy's Print Solutions Group tends to thrive when things turn sour for the company, says Rick Neumann, director.

"The company has a very promotional atmosphere," he explains. "For instance, September was bad for Best Buy, but good for Print Solutions."

When Best Buy's numbers take a dive, Neumann says, the company starts promoting itself. To do that, it needs lots of posters.

But Neumann didn't just sit back and watch the numbers change in 2002, he chased down other revenue streams to make sure his shop stayed in the black this year. And that it did. Of all in-plants on the Top 50, the Best Buy Print Solutions Group reported the biggest jump in revenue this year, an impressive 77.05 percent.

One reason for this growth was Best Buy's acquisition of Musicland. The in-plant was able to bring all of Musicland's printing work in-house.

"It took us seven or eight months just to get the workflow figured out," reports Neumann.

He explains that of the in-plant's nearly $14 million in sales this year, 35 percent came from work printed for Musicland.

Neumann also attributes a large part of the health of his shop to its focus on fulfillment services.

"We do fulfillment for the entire organization," he says. He adds that because the shop has ended up running much smaller quantities in its fulfillment operation, it has seen a significant—and lucrative—jump in the job count. In fact, Neumann says his operation has seen a $2 million increase in fulfillment revenue.

"It's been a steady road that we keep climbing," he says.

New revenue streams also accounted for the 19.49 percent increase in sales at the State of Oregon's Publishing and Distribution operation. Manager Kay Erickson reports that her in-plant recently completed a consolidation with the Department of Revenue's printing operation. The resulting increase in new jobs required the purchase of two new inserters from Bell & Howell and Pitney Bowes.

Additionally, the shop added data center printing to its menu, and is now handling check and warrant printing, as well as mainframe reports, for the state.

Doing His Homework

At the University of Illinois Office of Printing Services, Director Geoff Bant's first strategy is research.

"We asked our financial people on campus if we could get a printout of every piece of work that was done off campus," he says. "So now we know exactly how much money is out there that we could theoretically get. And we can identify which customers are going to which vendors."

This is part of the reason the in-plant's sales increased almost 15 percent. Another reason is a five-year software installation the university is undertaking. University employees needed training manuals. So Bant's operation made them available via networked copiers.

Watching for opportunities to increase revenues and ultimately improve service to their parent organizations has helped make in-plants like these part of the IPG Top 50.

- by MIKE LLEWELLYN