Decision makers want to know why your in-plant is taking up space. Benchmarking against similar in-plants is the only way you can answer their questions.
By Mike Renn
"Why are you here?"
Be prepared. When uttered by upper management, this question has nothing to do with metaphysical philosophy.
Decision makers want to know why your in-plant is drawing pay and taking up space in their otherwise orderly company or organization. Do you have the right answer and proof to lower the arched eyebrow of the doubtful?
Proper benchmarking is the only way an in-plant manager can adequately answer this question. Besides saving your skin, learning how to create, distribute, weigh, present and leverage a benchmarking report can open a world of opportunities for you and your in-plant.
Benchmarking is nothing more than an "apples-to-apples" comparison of your in-plant to your peers. If you do it correctly you'll avoid the worms, pick a healthy crop and polish what you've gathered.
Create
"The unexamined in-plant is not worth keeping."
It you don't have the answers, be prepared to drink the poison. But what are the questions you need for your benchmarking survey? Unlike Socrates, we don't have the time or our participants' indulgence to question everything.
Here is a hint. If you don't know, ask. Inquiry fosters a partnership relationship between you and decision makers and gives you a solid starting point. This also applies to the format of the survey. Trying to guess what's important to management is counterproductive and risky.
What does management want to know? Here are a few examples:
• Is the in-plant offering the right mix of services?
• Is its pricing competitive?
• Are you selecting the right type of equipment?
• How can you make things simpler?
• Are you moving in the right direction?
Also, what do you want to know about your peers' operations? Don't neglect this. If you ask the right questions your in-plant can gain vindication, recognition and the opportunity to grow.
Now that you know what to ask, know how to ask it. Be careful how you phrase questions on your benchmarking survey. Asking "do you still use offset?" is a lot different than "do you have offset capabilities?"
Make questions simple to answer and weigh afterwards. Yes, no and multiple choice questions garner a greater return of responses and the best results. This structure also adds control to the responses.
Don't forget, you and management are partners. Submit your benchmarking survey to management before putting it into play. This serves more than placation. Review and discussion will help hone the survey into a powerful tool. Mutual goals and the means to accomplish them will be revealed.
Design the survey for fast, maximum response. E-mail works well. Mailed paper surveys often end up as unopened coffee coasters.
Distribute
"What does not outsource you, will make you stronger."
Trepidation can stall the best-constructed benchmarking survey. Don't be afraid to submit it. It's a way to make negatives into positives. If your in-plant is well run, the results will serve as confirmation. If your operation scores lower, the data can help you improve. It shows that you are being proactive.
Select potential participants that mirror your organization's core business and publishing needs. Stay apples to apples. Often it's more convenient to collect mixed fruit, but it will taint and discredit the survey. Match financial institute to financial institute, insurance company to insurance company and so on. Look for similarities in size and focus.
How do you find such similar in-plants? The International Publishing Management Association (www.ipma.org) is a great place to start. This non-profit organization for in-plant managers presents a cooperative forum to grouse, commiserate and trade best practices. It is totally non-competitive, so there is no need to guard secrets of success. The IPMA staff will assist you in identifying members that match your company's business and who might be interested in responding to your survey. The paltry membership fee will more than pay for itself.
Getting a Big Response
A slickly created, easy-to-answer benchmarking survey isn't enough to guarantee a good response—and a good response is needed. Too small of a sample won't carry enough weight with upper management.
So consider, what's in it for the survey respondents? How will they benefit? Offer to share the information you gather. Make it easy for other in-plant managers to convert the results of the benchmarking report for their own use. You've saved them from having to create their own.
Cooperation can lead to the salvation of multiple facilities. They can march like proactive printing gurus into their managers' offices with the answers firmly in their grasp before outside print providers can raise questions.
Weigh the Results
"Conducting the benchmarking survey was the first step and therefore a small one."
You've gotten your responses. Now what? Compare them. Discard those that deviate too far from the mean. These can skew your report. In other words, get rid of the statistical outliers (and just plain liars).
Input your responses into a malleable computer program like Excel. This will allow you to format, calculate and graph answers simply. Raw data often isn't very exciting, but a graph is worth a thousand decimal points. Pie charts, histograms and trend lines open eyes.
Go back to your partner in management. Confirm his or her needs, and then weigh the responses accordingly.
Present Your Results
"The task of the in-plant manager is to perceive reality, not to create or invent it."
All benchmarking surveys should be clear, concise and bulletproof. Your survey needs to exhibit a bright spot even if it filters down from the end of a tunnel. If it lacks any of these qualities don't present it until every facet can be realized.
Be clear. Make sure it can only be interpreted one way: The way you intended it.
State the purpose. For example: "XYZ reprographics is committed to maintaining the highest service standards and best practices. This study is a reflection of this commitment."
Be concise. Don't make this a mystery novel. Management shouldn't have to wait until the last page to find out whodunit or how it's being done. Their time is at a premium. List your findings right after your purpose. Here's another example: " XYZ rated favorably with participants in the following: range of services offered, technology, return on investment, customer service evaluation and cost savings."
Be bulletproof. Credibility is essential. Always be honest. Don't tamper with the data to alter the findings. Make your report easy to verify. List the participants. Briefly explain the process. A copy of the blank survey should be included, followed by the responses and graphs.
Leverage the Data
"Show me where to stand and I can improve my publishing operation."
Now you have leverage. How? You've gained a way to measure your facility's performance. Score high and you can leverage your new guru status to expand services, reward staff and maybe even start insourcing business. Scored lower? This gives you a stronger argument to pursue upgraded technology and to implement new best practices to elevate your operation to the level of your peer group.
Now you have to extend your benchmarking beyond a survey.
In-Plant Graphics magazine can help with your benchmarking. IPG often conducts surveys on services, salaries and technology. This source offers both credibility and convenience.
Benchmarking pricing should also be at the top of your list, but only if you want to be competitive. In this, do not limit your comparison to in-plants. Compare yourself to the commercial printing world. This way you can grow business and reflect cost savings more accurately. This can be done through blind bidding. Other resources are companies, like Franklin Estimating, that offer software packages with updated national pricing.
Here comes the warning: Don't just undercut the pricing you find. Know what your real costs are. Otherwise, how will you determine if you are efficient, profiting or even how you really compete?
Benchmarking technology needs to go beyond vendors. Consult with your staff. They have to live with your decision. Ask your peers. Go to trade shows like Graph Expo in Chicago. See technology in action. Talk to operators, not just salespeople. Once you've adopted a benchmarking philosophy you'll apply it to every aspect of your in-plant.
Plato had no idea his allegory of the cave also applied to in-plants. Once managers are freed to explore beyond their own limited world, they become enlightened and can never go back.
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- Mike Renn