Take Our In-plant Survey, Win a Prize

In-plant revenues and volumes. Click to Enlarge.

Preliminary results from an IPG research survey now being conducted show an industry that's heading into 2018 with renewed optimism and positive growth over the past year. What's more, a majority of managers describe their in-plants as highly valued and well respected by their parent organizations.

The survey of in-plant managers — which in-plant managers can take now by following this link — is being conducted by IPG to uncover trends in the in-plant industry. It looks at new services being offered, new applications being produced, volume and revenue growth, and successful business practices that are helping in-plants better run their operations.

An early look at results shows that nearly 54% of in-plants have increased their revenues in 2017 compared with 2016, with 45% predicting continued increases in 2018. Print volumes are on the rise, as well, with 53% saying their volumes this year grew over 2016 totals.

Among the top value-added services selected so far in the survey are scanning and digitizing documents, photo printing and serving as the "brand police" for their organization. Charging back for printing continues to grow, with 72% saying they do this; nearly 60% send monthly or annual reports to management; 69% market to internal departments; 68% have added new services in the past two years; and 70% say upper management supports their requests to upgrade technology.

When asked how much their in-plant is valued by upper management, 33% said they are "highly valued," and 35% felt they are "well respected" in their organizations. At the same time, 39% said their biggest challenges in the year ahead would be "stopping customers from sending print jobs offsite."

These results are all preliminary and will change as in-plant managers continue to take the survey. Please add your experience to the results today by taking the survey at this link. By participating, in-plant managers are eligible to receive one of three $50 American Express gift cards. We will randomly draw three participants' names. Plus, participating managers will be notified by email as soon as the report is complete so they can download a copy before it is published in the magazine.