"Becoming a profit center has greatly, if not completely, eliminated outsourcing threats," explains Dale Johnson, Graphic and Mail Services Manager at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge,

LA. "Just as important, insourcing has generated the ability to provide more services to our parent company."
 
Today insourcing accounts for over half of the revenue generated by the 14-person print shop that serves over 100 internal departments and an insourcing base of over 500 customers. "Our prices are very competitive compared to the local market," he explains.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Johnson readily admits that the process of insourcing has been an evolutionary journey over the past 20 years that has had its share of hurdles. "Actually, our first (insourcing) effort in 1991 failed," he confides. "We tried providing office forms to hospital physicians at a discount, but it turned into a paperwork nightmare." The idea was eventually shelved. However, it resurfaced once again in 1997 when Woman's administration requested that Graphic Services collaborate with another area hospital to provide printing.
 
The second time around proved to be a win/win for the shop and all of its customers. The influx of new business has not only increased revenue, but allowed them to offer a much broader range of services to internal customers.  As the number of outside customers has grown, so has staffing. Today Graphic Services for Woman's Hospital has one account representative, one project coordinator, and one customer service representative, who are dedicated to managing the needs of its 500 external clients.
 
To market its availability to the outside world, initially it relied primarily on word-of-mouth recommendations. Over the years, however, its efforts have widened to include a listing in the area phone book, as well as occasional mailings and discount offers to area nonprofits.
 
Having converted from film to CTP over five years ago, Graphic Services continues to expand its product offerings to include the newest technologies such as high quality short-run color offset, dry board mounting, large format printing, forms management, graphic design, and photo editing. It also provides trade services such as printing plates, bindery, and graphic design. Some of the specialized work such as T-shirts, mugs, and post-it notes is brokered out. "We look to get into outdoor large format sometime in the future."
 
Should all in-plants consider insourcing?

 

Johnson believes it depends on the company. He applauds his company's administration for having the foresight to realize that insourcing may deliver a win/win for all involved. "While still maintaining the highest possible service levels to our internal customers, the administration has been surprised at the level of success we have achieved through insourcing," Johnson explains. "We are proud and grateful to work for an independent, locally-owned company whose corporate culture and vision statement has always placed its workforce first."

 

Little wonder why Woman's Hospital recently achieved the national ranking of #41 of the 100 Best Places to Work by Modern Healthcare and Company of the Year by the Baton Rouge Business Report.