Growth Through Change Drives In-Plants Toward the Future

Four leading in-plant print executives will share their learnings in the session, “In-plant Panel: Growth Through Change” tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Room C144. The speakers include Laurie Metzger, manager, print and promotional products for Valero; Lauren Tarbet, copy center supervisor, Pflugerville Independent School District; Richard Beto, director of document solutions at The University of Texas at Austin; and Mike Lincoln, Colorado State printer.

How is growth through change realized by these in-plants? “For Valero, this means reorganizing and bringing new and innovative ideas into the Print Shop,” Metzger explains.

“It also means changing 30-plus years of a process and migrating to a Web-to-print solution — the most recent change for both our customers and our print shop over the last five years,” Metzger says. “While our shop has not added staff or equipment, we’ve increased workload substantially, and have been able to maintain that workload by utilizing technologies to streamline workflow. Bringing more work in-house has minimized the time customers spend purchasing print, which frees them to focus on their major job duties.”

For the Pflugerville Independent School District in-plant, reports Tarbet, “growth through change means proving our value to our district, and ensuring our future. By adding new services and rebranding existing services, we are pushing to not only increase awareness, but also to reintroduce our services to the many who have forgotten what we offer or did not know in the first place. Our value will be reaffirmed by the substantial cost savings we can provide the district by offering these new or added services.”

Beto, whose in-plant at the University of Texas, Austin, is the fourth largest university in-plant in the U.S., echoes the need for new service and product offerings. “The best products and services that made you successful today may not make you successful tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if you have the best rotary phone money can buy if no one wants it,” he notes. “We must be alert to what new services are needed, what current services need to be modified, and what services should be discontinued. The business needs of our customers are continually changing. We must continue to transform our organization to meet those needs, and we do so as we compete against the best commercial companies. Each morning in Africa, a lion and a gazelle wake up. One must run faster than the other, or else. Whether you are a lion or a gazelle, you better start running when the sun comes up.”

Each panelist will also discuss how they are positioning their operation to ensure their future and remain valuable to their parent organization, and also offer key insights to other corporate and in-house print centers.