Business Management - In-plant Justification

Managers must stay ahead of developing trends, while offering higher levels of quality and service than ever before—and don't overlook taking in outside work. Competitive pressures in all industries have companies focusing on their core businesses. Companies that once sought diversification as a means to success are narrowing their focus. In-plant managers face a unique challenge in this environment. They must find innovative ways to help their organizations communicate better and faster. And they must rapidly transform a cost center into a profit center—all while making the necessary investments in technology, people and end-user satisfaction. Let's look at the factors driving these forces

Learn all you can about the latest communications technologies, then take charge and guide your organization into the 21st century. Do you want to be leading your parent organization's in-plant operation in the 21st century? Assuming that you do, you must begin immediately to accelerate your efforts to deal with the rapidly changing technology, employees and global influence. You have to reengineer your career, as well as the in-plant operation. Almost all organizations today are facing increased competition for their products and/or services—locally, nationally and globally. To meet these challenges, organizations are rapidly revising their goals and operations. This means

Do you need new equipment? Keep records, do research and network. Only then can you get what you need. "SHOW ME the money!" A single, colorful line might work for a football star in a movie (Jerry Maguire), but an in-plant manager requesting funds for a new purchase must work like a galley slave to be shown something other than the door. The justification process must start before you even know you need equipment. It must be a daily task involving obsessive record keeping and reams of research. It must not go on in secret. Rather, the higher-ups should be kept

Don't cling to your analog past. Digital solutions abound. Analyze your operation, research your options and move into the digital age. The technology is now securely in place for totally digital production of a job from initial design to printed piece. In the near future, in fact, the decisions you make may not be whether to go digital, but rather which parts of the digital pie you choose to bring in-house and which parts you use outside services for. To make these decisions you need to be aware of the options that are available so that you can analyze your present and future

Communicating with upper management is crucial to your in-plant's survival, but you must also keep track of your expenses—and know your competition. Before we talk about justifying the in-plant, let's define it. An in-plant printing operation is a small, independent business operating within a corporation or other organization. Typically, the organization's business is not printing, nor anything related to it. The in-plant exists to provide a service to the organization only because it's less expensive than buying the printing commercially and/or the organization feels it will have more control with the printing handled internally. As a printing manager, justifying your in-plant

We become complacent without competition. So start thinking like a competitor. Your employees will begin to feel it, and performance will improve. Several years ago, I asked two well-known printing consultants how much money a company could save on printing by opening an in-plant print shop. "In-plants lose money," one said. "The only advantages to an in-plant are convenience and better information security," the other said. "But they won't save money." Having run an in-plant for many years, I thought, "No way." Think of how in-plants save money. We have no salesmen, no expensive storefront. We don't need plush carpets, neon signs, expensive brochures,

In-plants have found that showing off their capabilities to customers and senior management helps generate new business. Learn how UC-Berkeley went about it. One of our primary obstacles at University of California-Berkeley Printing Services has been exposure to, and physical presence with, our customers—and, more importantly, those qualified campuses and agencies with whom we should be doing business. U.C.-Berkeley Printing Services works for all nine U.C. campuses, three national laboratories (federally funded but administered by the university), several of the 20 California State Universities and a number of state agencies. Print buying within our system is not mandated; therefore, we must maintain

If you've been "getting by" for years without charging back, it's time you faced facts and started doing it—otherwise you can't prove you're cheaper. To many, the thought of initiating a chargeback system brings to mind accountants, ledgers, difficult formulas—but it shouldn't. Chargeback systems are not difficult to set up and are easy to administer once you determine your standard rates. Regardless of how difficult you may find this process, at some point in time it may very well be the saving grace for your internal printing operation. The printing cost is divided into three primary categories: Labor, Material and Overhead. For those of

To effectively compete in a cut-throat world, in-plants must learn to operate like any other business, concentrating on cost, quality and customer service. There was a time when in-house print shops had it made. They knew work would keep flowing in; all they had to do was sit tight and wait for it. Incredibly, even as companies trip over themselves in their haste to outsource "non-core" operations, some in-plants are still pretending to live in that dreamy time of eternal job security. Unfortunately, their dream is destined to take a nightmarish turn unless they wake up and start running their in-plants more like

When FMs come calling, they don't knock on the in-plant manager's door. It's up to you to be ready—and beat them to the punch. Facilities Management (FM) companies say they can save corporations, school systems, hospitals or any organization with an in-plant, millions of dollars annually by better managing the in-plant and better utilizing the equipment and personnel. They often claim they can do this with better materials, less space, less time and greater efficiency, utilizing professionals with years of experience. The FM will take over your reproduction tasks, freeing your company to concentrate on its core business. The FM may also