Business Management - In-plant Justification

The legislature has convened for the current term in the State of Washington, and it looks like business as usual, at least for that state’s Department of Printing (PRT). A group of Republican and Democratic Senators, including Senator Rodney Tom, who sponsored a similar bill last year, has introduced Senate Bill 5523, which would eliminate the state printer.

IT'S BEEN kind of a snowy winter out here in Philadelphia. For those of us who like the snow (me), it's been nice. For those who don't (everyone else) it's been tough. But we've had our share of warm winters in the past, so I say it's about time (no matter how many icy glares I get).

At last fall's TACUP (Texas Association of College and University Printers) conference, I used the term "naysayers" to express my frustration in trying to battle the politics of a tough consulting assignment. After that, I wondered what the opposite would be, and discovered the expression "yea-sayers."

As in-plant managers, we are often expected to confirm our value to our parent organizations. We are asked why the organization needs an in-plant. The following is a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect the...Well, bear with me.

In the most recent issue of InsidEdge, the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association's member newsletter, the in-plant manager at a global corporation explains how his department survived a wave of outsourcing by showing the value it adds to the company's core business. The manager offers several suggestions to help other in-plants stay strong in the face of similar threats.

A lot of the people I work with are confused about how to respond to “let’s close the print shop and save a bundle.” There are a lot of excuses put forward to justify closing an in-plant. One frequently used excuse is the cost of new equipment and the organization’s inability or unwillingness to modernize.

An in-plant manager must take the initiative when defining the in-plant's purpose and contribution to upper management. It is still a numbers game, and the in-plant manager is responsible for calculating the in-plant's financial contribution and articulating that contribution to upper management.

In this tough economy, commercial printers are aggressively looking for any new revenue opportunity. Many have targeted higher education as one of their growth areas.

The in-plant printing market segment is a critical component to the overall U.S. printing industry. In 2008, InfoTrends estimated that the overall industry had a value of shipments of $143 billion. The total in-plant printing market had just over an 18 percent share of the overall market, with $26 billion in value of shipments.

How do you define “impression?” Printers have been arguing about the definition of an impression for as long as we’ve had devices that put marks on pieces of paper. Longer, actually.