Jerry Sampson

The in-plant customer can be an enigma—aware of the in-plant's existence while at the same time ignoring it entirely. More times than not, this attitude is born of perceptions that are usually inaccurate.

A change that has been occurring and will continue to do so is optimizing processes. The job shop mentality is being replaced with concepts like Lean Manufacturing and process workflow. While many companies have claimed to become more efficient, the truth is, printing still has a long way to go to match that of the electronics and automobile industries, to name a couple.

An in-plant manager must take the initiative when defining the in-plant's purpose and contribution to upper management. It is still a numbers game, and the in-plant manager is responsible for calculating the in-plant's financial contribution and articulating that contribution to upper management.