IPMA 2022 Recap: Implementing Web-to-Print

By Bob Neubauer

John Cruser speaking at IPMA 2022.

In June, nearly 140 in-plant managers and other attendees got together for the first time in three years for the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference. It was packed with informative sessions, many led by in-plant managers. In one of them, an in-plant manager detailed his shop's journey into Web-to-Print.

Implementing Web-to-print can be a complex process, but for Bloomberg Ink, a lot of that complexity happened even before the in-plant got the OK to purchase a system. Manager John Cruser led a session detailing all the internal departments he had to work with and the steps he had to take to implement Rochester Software Associates’ WebCRD software.

John Cruser presents at the IPMA 2022 Conference.

After doing the initial product search and presenting vendors with desired capabilities, he needed budget and management approval so had to detail expected outcomes, challenges, resource requirements, key success measures, potential savings, and more. He had to get voice of customer feedback and legal contract documentation, and review the statement of work with his management. He needed approval from Bloomberg’s “cloud committee” as well as engineering approval for the proposed network design.

Audience members at IPMA 2022.

A core project team was assembled that included customers, marketing, security, and project managers. Workflows had to be mapped out. File management and storage had to be determined. Cruser had to decide how roles would change in the shop after the system went life. There were many more steps in the process than he had anticipated.

“It took me 10 years to get the system in,” he said. But now that implementation is in process, he looks forward to tremendous time savings and efficiency in the future.

Watch a video of the IPMA 2022 conference.

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Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.