Business Management - In-plant Justification

Moving to a PDF workflow can reduce your headaches, improve your speed and accuracy and keep customers happy. By Mike Renn Suffering the pain of file conversion? A fast-acting PDF workflow can help. Adobe Portable Document Format files save time and money, while increasing customer satisfaction. These tiny, encapsulated files are aspirin to the headaches of accurately reproducing client files created in different programs, versions and platforms. In the not so good old days, electronic print request files would show up in the overnight mail. We would hope—no, actually pray—they would open properly. This was providing they were created in a program our

IPG interviewed Howard Fenton, senior digital technologies consultant for NAPL, on a host of technological and workflow issues of concern to in-plant managers. IPG: In your experience of consulting with in-plant managers, what's their biggest prepress challenge today? Fenton: By far, the biggest problem they're facing is working with and training customers to prepare files correctly. Although this issue is one commercial printers face as well, it seems for be more challenging for in-plants. Somewhat surprisingly, the need for proper training in file preparation often is not recognized by large organizations. Ongoing collaboration between the customer and the print provider about proper file

Yes, some print jobs have disappeared, but printing itself will not. It will change its appearance and create new markets. By Bert Langford Being a printer today can be nerve-wracking. If you print software manuals, just forget it. Directory printers are close behind, as Google and Yahoo get better at localized searches. Newspapers are already losing market share, since anyone with an Internet connection can get the news faster. Despite all this, however, print will never go away. Rather, it will continue to morph by changing appearance and creating new markets to replace old markets, albeit at some net loss to overall print. Inversely,

Make no mistake: you are being targeted for termination by "the Competitor." Your best weapon is the revenue you generate through insourcing. By Rustin Myers There is a scene from that old sci-fi classic "The Terminator" where Kyle Reese (the soldier protector from the future) is trying to convince the terrified Sarah Conner (mother of humanity's future deliverer) of the terrible danger she is in. Kyle yells to Sarah, "Listen. And understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until

No in-plant can thrive without a strategic plan. IPG asked one of the most successful in-plants, the Allstate Print Communication Center, to share its strategies for the years ahead. The IPG Top 50 may be taking a year off, but the in-plants on that list never rest. One of those working hardest to improve and expand its business is the Allstate Print Communication Center (APCC), which ranked number one on last December's Top 50. Allstate's Wheeling, Ill.-based operation, with 365 employees and a $110 million budget, is a technologically advanced operation with a thriving insourcing business. APCC has been recognized for its

Adding fulfillment services is a great way for an in-plant to expand, increase revenues and become more crucial to its parent organization. By C. Clint Bolte A number of surveys conducted in recent years by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) have accentuated the desire and plans among commercial printers to expand into a variety of value-added services complimentary and supplementary to their conventional print services. The most recent "NAPL Creating Value Survey" conducted April/May 2005 had 317 participants and showed the following results:

To lead your in-plant in the right direction, you have to understand how upper management perceives you. Here is one administrator's view. By Ray Chambers Several years ago I managed the in-plant in a large state agency that operated several high-speed forms presses. Supply and paper costs were built into our budget by administration, and we had very little input into the budgeting process. One year, not too far into the budget cycle, it was apparent that we were going to run out of money for paper before the end of the funding year. I went to my boss and explained the situation

The in-plant is in a potentially crucial position in a world of increasing digital media convergence. By Richard Vines The modern world is indebted to print. Gutenberg's legacy gave rise to mass literacy and established the foundation for an era of mass production. But the rise of computer networks and Internet protocols is already spawning a new era. Some of the important features of this emerging world are personalization and mass-customization (instead of mass production), accessibility of content from the desktop and print-on-demand. Most enterprises now use a combination of print-based and Internet-based communication channels. Both workflows are crucial. But

In-plants are in a great position to take advantage of the benefits that variable data printing has to offer. By Regis J. Delmontagne Since it first appeared on the market in 1993, variable data digital printing (VDP) has gone through a remarkable evolution: From an impressive technology for which few people could figure out an actual use, it has become a central tool in creating an exciting new world of high-powered communication. When the industry portal WhatTheyThink.com staged a webinar on the subject, it reported the largest participant registration it had ever had. VDP products were ubiquitous at PRINT 05. A variety of

Decision makers want to know why your in-plant is taking up space. Benchmarking against similar in-plants is the only way you can answer their questions. By Mike Renn "Why are you here?" Be prepared. When uttered by upper management, this question has nothing to do with metaphysical philosophy. Decision makers want to know why your in-plant is drawing pay and taking up space in their otherwise orderly company or organization. Do you have the right answer and proof to lower the arched eyebrow of the doubtful? Proper benchmarking is the only way an in-plant manager can adequately answer this question. Besides saving your