Enterprise Document Management, Part III: Centralized Production Parts Printing

Integrating Print Centers for Increased Asset Utilization, Cost Savings and Efficiencies of Production Parts

This article, the third in a series, is designed to provide you with an overview of the issues and costs associated with enterprise document management. Parts one and two are available for your review.

U.S. companies, manufacturers included, spend an estimated $50 billion a year in their centralized print operations. Production parts print centers—often referred to as in-house print shops or reprographics departments—are not only producing “in the box” literature such as manuals and product information sheets, but also company stationery, reports and compliance documents. Though centralized printing is typically more cost-effective than desktop printing, this advantage erodes quickly if equipment is underutilized or current contracts are misaligned with actual usage.

Critical Functions for Business Success
By looking at documents produced by manufacturing organizations as a whole, cost savings and process efficiencies abound. For most manufacturers, printing occurs in several distinct environments, each with its own discrete management and reporting structure.

Centralized printing in most plants and other manufacturing organizations is typically a data center-driven environment that produces transactional documents along with other data printing needed for the internal operations of the organization. Additional reprographic or copy center printing which accommodates moderate finishing requirements may also be centralized. Typically, these centers produce manuals, directories, catalogs and booklets, but the range of work depends on the nature of the organization, the management structure and outsourcing arrangements.

Real and Measurable Cost Reductions
Through close analysis of production parts print centers and other data center and in-house print/copy center environments—their resources, technology, service levels and requirements—opportunity exists to integrate the printing environments, better utilize assets and negotiate more appropriate services and supplies agreements to reach an optimized state.

According to a January 2006 InfoTrends survey, 17.5 percent of respondents in an in-house data center indicated they are beginning to produce graphic arts applications, print on demand and reprographics, while another 22.5 percent indicated they plan to merge their facilities with a print shop that focuses on producing graphic arts applications, print on demand and reprographics. Similar results were had among in-plant print or copy departments currently producing primarily publications, promotional and office jobs. In both environments, the desire to merge facilities can be witnessed.

On a cost-per-copy basis, it often makes sense to print documents in a centralized production center. Compared to office printing, economies of scale generally provides centralized production facilities a much lower per-page cost than is found using desktop printers. This cost advantage erodes quickly, however, if equipment is underutilized or if the current contracts are misaligned with current usage. With trends leaning toward declining volumes and attention focused on desktop printing or other digital delivery methods, many centralized printing departments find themselves working under sub-optimal agreements or without sufficient volumes to sustain their investments.

Improvement goals for centralized production parts printing centers focus on increasing utilization in copy centers, where appropriate, and reducing the total cost per copy to the enterprise in lieu of more expensive desktop printing. Experience has proven hard dollar savings of 21 to 75 percent in this environment. By reviewing contract and equipment levels for data center printing, efforts can be applied to identify appropriate equipment sizing through analysis of ongoing user demand. As needed, like processes can be consolidated, and equipment lease and service contracts renegotiated to be more flexible and cost-effective.

If you would like more information on gaining a comprehensive view of your enterprise, contact us today.