Business Management - In-plant Justification

Expanding on his previous speech about sustainable printing at the GPO, Public Printer Robert C. Tapella gave a presentation at the Drupa printing exhibition that covered the organization’s past, present and future. Security challenges, public access and environmental sustainability were among the topics Tapella addressed. “At drupa 2008, we’re looking at chemistry-free plates—plates that do not require cleaning, baking or gumming—to see if they can meet our production needs, as well as other eco-friendly consumables and coatings. While I would like to reduce our carbon footprint, any decisions surrounding such changes would be made because they were sound business decisions,” he reported. Tapella also

THERE’S BEEN a lot of economic belt-tightening taking place during the past three years. How can your in-plant overcome the challenges of tight economic times and demonstrate improved results to your senior leadership? How do you take your organization from good to great? One answer is to use the Five P’s to reposition yourself in the eyes of your major stakeholders. The Five P’s are part of CRI Global’s Reputation Leadership strategy that best-in-class organizations are using to win the hearts, minds and wallets of their stakeholders and customers. The Five P’s are: Purpose, Principles, People, Process and Performance. Let’s briefly examine each one

Your customers have a lot of choices when it comes to print providers. How do you stand out and make your in-plant’s services known? In an article called “Things We Need to Do,” Ricoh’s Sean Doherty offers some tips on how in-plants can differentiate themselves and keep business coming. Among his suggestions: • Be first • Educate your customers • Talk to the right people To learn the details, read the full story at http://ricohproductionprintnews.com/rc_ip2_things.html

How can you profess savings if you don’t know what all of your costs are? A full chargeback system is a necessary part of running a successful in-plant. This article from the IPG archives lays all the cards on the table.

Printing industry profits increased slightly over the past year, back to the rates of the mid to late 1990s, according to the just-completed 2007 PIA/GATF Ratios Survey. The average printer’s before-tax profit on sales was 3.4% for the typical Ratios participant over this past year. This was an increase compared to 2.7% percent for 2006; it also is within the 3.0–3.4% range experienced from 1995–2001. Profit leaders, printers in the top 25% of profitability, saw profits decrease slightly to 10.1% as compared to 10.3% in 2006. Despite the small decrease, profit as a percentage of sales for profit leaders remained at the same level it was

A new article in Ricoh’s Production Printing Resource Center encourages in-plant managers to look beyond the demanding rush of the day-to-day operations and view their in-plants with an objectivity that sees the big picture: how does the in-plant support the parent corporation or institution? To get a clearer picture, writes Ricoh’s Greg Cholmondeley, look at your operation from an outsider’s point of view. Study it as if you were considering buying the shop, or perhaps as if it were a major competitor. Where are the strengths and weaknesses? What are the opportunities and threats? What seems to work well? Where are things not

COLLEYVILLE, TX—August 7, 2007—Madison Advisors, an advisory firm that provides thought leadership, strategic consulting, and market research to clients in the print and electronic communications industries, today announced the release of the first edition of its Service Provider Market Pricing Study, the industry’s only study of this type. Based on a comprehensive research initiative with several top print service providers in the U.S. market, the Study provides insight into market trends and pricing for outsourced print and mail services. Madison Advisors’ Service Provider Market Pricing Study is priced at $2,500 and is now available for purchase on Madison Advisors’ website http://www.madison-advisors.com/products.html. The

THE IN-PLANT has evolved to become a knowledge disseminator—a unit within an organization that provides value by enhancing the process in which knowledge is communicated. This fact, however, remains unbeknownst to the very hierarchy that drives the organization because in-plants find it difficult to communicate with executive level management. Similarly, the role of the in-plant has been shifting. In the past, its primary concern was placing marks on paper. Now, however, it archives and manages files and provides file access for reprint needs. Where in-plants are generally lacking is in their ability to tag, archive, manage and make accessible all files, images, data

With the January launch of Print Online by FedEx Kinko’s, a Web-based print management tool that lets customers send documents digitally to the company’s print centers, in-plants are facing even stiffer competition. Those without a similar online ordering feature may have trouble keeping print jobs in-house. In addition to adding a Web-based job ordering tool, here are some other tips to help in-plants compete: • Market your services directly to departments in your organization, and stress your goal to be competitive with the local market, including Kinko’s. • Emphasize your strength at solving customer file problems, something the folks at Kinko’s don’t usually want to spend

Though outsourcing may once have been an in-plant’s biggest threat, the newest challenge is coming from inside, says Mike Renn, assistant vice president of Mellon Financial’s Corporate Operation. “I’ve spent too many summers sweating blistering outsourcing arguments about printing not being part of our company’s core business. Of course, these arguments were volunteered by shady outside concerns. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and my in-plant survived. “Now my in-plant is threatened from the inside by the new ‘in-plants.’ High-production digital copiers are springing up all over like weeds. These expensive machines are masters of their operators. They not only demand more copies, more service, supplies and invoicing, but