Business Management - In-plant Justification

Printing industry profits increased slightly over the past year, back to the rates of the mid to late 1990s, according to the just-completed 2007 PIA/GATF Ratios Survey. The average printer’s before-tax profit on sales was 3.4% for the typical Ratios participant over this past year. This was an increase compared to 2.7% percent for 2006; it also is within the 3.0–3.4% range experienced from 1995–2001. Profit leaders, printers in the top 25% of profitability, saw profits decrease slightly to 10.1% as compared to 10.3% in 2006. Despite the small decrease, profit as a percentage of sales for profit leaders remained at the same level it was

A new article in Ricoh’s Production Printing Resource Center encourages in-plant managers to look beyond the demanding rush of the day-to-day operations and view their in-plants with an objectivity that sees the big picture: how does the in-plant support the parent corporation or institution? To get a clearer picture, writes Ricoh’s Greg Cholmondeley, look at your operation from an outsider’s point of view. Study it as if you were considering buying the shop, or perhaps as if it were a major competitor. Where are the strengths and weaknesses? What are the opportunities and threats? What seems to work well? Where are things not

COLLEYVILLE, TX—August 7, 2007—Madison Advisors, an advisory firm that provides thought leadership, strategic consulting, and market research to clients in the print and electronic communications industries, today announced the release of the first edition of its Service Provider Market Pricing Study, the industry’s only study of this type. Based on a comprehensive research initiative with several top print service providers in the U.S. market, the Study provides insight into market trends and pricing for outsourced print and mail services. Madison Advisors’ Service Provider Market Pricing Study is priced at $2,500 and is now available for purchase on Madison Advisors’ website http://www.madison-advisors.com/products.html. The

THE IN-PLANT has evolved to become a knowledge disseminator—a unit within an organization that provides value by enhancing the process in which knowledge is communicated. This fact, however, remains unbeknownst to the very hierarchy that drives the organization because in-plants find it difficult to communicate with executive level management. Similarly, the role of the in-plant has been shifting. In the past, its primary concern was placing marks on paper. Now, however, it archives and manages files and provides file access for reprint needs. Where in-plants are generally lacking is in their ability to tag, archive, manage and make accessible all files, images, data

With the January launch of Print Online by FedEx Kinko’s, a Web-based print management tool that lets customers send documents digitally to the company’s print centers, in-plants are facing even stiffer competition. Those without a similar online ordering feature may have trouble keeping print jobs in-house. In addition to adding a Web-based job ordering tool, here are some other tips to help in-plants compete: • Market your services directly to departments in your organization, and stress your goal to be competitive with the local market, including Kinko’s. • Emphasize your strength at solving customer file problems, something the folks at Kinko’s don’t usually want to spend

Though outsourcing may once have been an in-plant’s biggest threat, the newest challenge is coming from inside, says Mike Renn, assistant vice president of Mellon Financial’s Corporate Operation. “I’ve spent too many summers sweating blistering outsourcing arguments about printing not being part of our company’s core business. Of course, these arguments were volunteered by shady outside concerns. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and my in-plant survived. “Now my in-plant is threatened from the inside by the new ‘in-plants.’ High-production digital copiers are springing up all over like weeds. These expensive machines are masters of their operators. They not only demand more copies, more service, supplies and invoicing, but

Why send jobs to the in-plant when a desktop printer or hallway copier can take care of them? That’s what many of your customers are thinking—and doing. It’s up to you to change their bad, wasteful habits. Here are some suggestions from fellow managers. To see even more, check out our e-news story on this topic. Educate Them What we do is point out to all our departments with short presentations during departmental meetings how expensive the cost per copy is for a desktop versus our cheaper cost per copy with our in-plant equipment. We also stress the labor issue: that the department

I have had the opportunity to talk to many high-level leaders in both the public and private sectors about the importance of their in-plants. There’s a scenario that plays out in most of these conversations, and it goes like this: At some point during the visit I’ll be introduced to the vice president responsible for printing. The VP’s name is generally uttered in

Probably the biggest weakness in the relationship between in-plant managers and their bosses is the reporting process: What to report and when to do it. So says consultant Ray Chambers in an article in the December issue of In-Plant Graphics. “Too many in-plant managers use a shotgun strategy in reporting their activities—that is, they gather all the data they can find and fire it up the chain of command,” he says. The problem is, executives are problem solvers, and if you give them data they may assume that you want them to use it. Further, their conclusions may not match yours. Don’t flood your boss

PRINTERS ARE confronted with a double-edged sword of shifting volumes and hungry competition. As the Internet and alternative media have cannibalized conventional print volume, they have also presented startling opportunities to all printers. This article will discuss evolving trends and the strategic positioning that a number of insightful in-plant leaders appear to be pursuing. Insourcing: Essential and Sobering Numerous in-plants are insourcing print volume from the competitive print market to fill capacity on key equipment. In-Plant Graphics’ surveys have shown this practice to be increasing, with nearly 60 percent of in-plants engaged to some degree. While the objective of bringing in incremental volume is