Business Management - In-plant Justification

The “If you build it, they will come” approach may have worked for Kevin Costner, but it’s bad business advice for in-plants, believes Dwayne Magee, director of Messiah College Press in Grantham, Pa. He prefers “the Goldi-locks philosophy”—not too big, not too small, just right. In today’s unpredictable economy, if current volumes can’t justify it, he advises, forget it.

Representatives of three major in-plant printing organizations voiced concerns about the "Subject Matter Expertise for Printing Services Performance Audit" being performed on the Washington State Department of Printing. Only one of the prequalified firms had past experience evaluating printing plants.

In his latest blog entry, Ray Chambers delves into the curious way that the State of Washington is handling the audit of its Department of Printing. One big concern is the method used by the State Auditor’s Office to select a “Subject Matter Expert” to conduct the audit.

What’s going on in the State of Washington? The State Auditor’s Office (SAO) has selected a “Subject Matter Expert” to conduct a “Printing Services Performance Audit” of Washington’s Department of Printing

Today, insourcing accounts for more than half of the revenue generated by the 14-person in-plant at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge. "Becoming a profit center has greatly, if not completely, eliminated outsourcing threats," proclaims Dale Johnson, manager of Graphic and Mail Services.

Even though the pages of In-plant Impressions are filled with articles about successful in-plants that save their organizations tons of money, this information doesn't seem to matter to some executives out there, who naively believe they will get a better deal from a facilities management company.

The proposal to perform a fleet analysis and recommend real savings could just as well come from you as from an outside vendor, but you have to let people know you can do it.

Just before July 4th we got word that another major university is closing its print and mail facility and writing specifications to outsource these services.

Knowing your sweet spot and making sure it evolves as your customers' needs change is more important then ever. If your sweet spot does not align with customers' needs, then you're not making the products your customers want at a competitive price, or offering the services they need most. This can result in questions about the value of your in-plant.

The 2010 In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference brought close to 100 in-plant managers to New Mexico's largest city. The topics, speakers and enthusiasm were almost as hot as the weather.