In-plants Aren’t Commercial Printers
In his latest blog, Ray Chambers observes that printing consultants, industry marketing “experts,” and even vendors have been active at in-plant conferences lately, telling in-plants what they're doing wrong and how to fix it. The trouble is, Chamber says, they are thinking that in-plants are just like commercial printers, and follow the same rules. They don't, he says.
"There are fundamental differences between in-plants and commercial shops," writes Chambers, a former in-plant manager. "The in-plants serving insurance companies or state government or higher education or non-profit organizations or manufacturing companies are all different. Each has evolved to meet the unique needs of its parent organization, and that evolution is framed and informed by the industry it serves and the technology it uses.
"So while in-plants may produce similar products, use similar technology, and have similar issues, they are different types of organizations and go about their business in different ways," he continues. "I faced a completely different set of problems, issues and customer needs when I managed the in-plant at a large state government agency than I did managing the in-plant for a large university."
He goes on to relate an incident from his days as a university in-plant manager when a vendor made a recommendation without even considering the in-plant's delicate situation. Read about this and more in Chambers' latest blog, "In-plants Aren’t Commercial Printers."