Trends Negatively Impacting In-plants

The greatest threat to in-plants is a result of outsourcing companies or facilities management companies who are interested in taking over (FM) or outsourcing the in-plant’s work. When a sales person from one of these companies approaches the C level executive responsible for the in-plant, they often focus on these three questions:

  • Why is your company offering printing services if it is not your company’s core competency?
  • Is the in-plant’s facility mission strategically aligned with the parent company?
  • If we could sell (outsource) or manufacture (FM) the same products for less money, would you be interested?

While the first two questions may generate some interest, it is the third question about pricing and potential savings that almost always does. That is why it is critically important for in-plants to take a proactive role in monitoring and benchmarking their prices against a market


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This in-plant primer article is the fifth in a 12-article series designed to help dealers and print vendors understand in-plants called “In-Plant Primer: From Operations Basics to Advanced Sales Concepts.” Topics so far have included: defining in-plants and different in-plant types, the top challenges and issues, the typical in-plant customer contacts to engage in workflow conversations and the impact of technology trends.

This article will focus on in-plant industry trends.


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