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Welcome to the In-Plant Insights Blog

Read about topics relevant to in-plant, in-house and corporate print centers in all vertical markets. Get insights from RSA and guest industry bloggers like Howie Fenton and Ryan McAbee.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 10 March 2023

Let Workflow Automation Become Your Next Employee Webinar

The print center for a healthcare system in San Antonio that serves multiple hospitals and emergency departments was faced with growing demands. To adapt and keep pace with competitors, it needed more advanced solutions that would help it earn back customer trust. Learn how workflow automation has become the equivalent of a full-time employee (FTE), and earned back customer trust for this in-house print center in a March 28, 2023 In-plant Impressions webinar.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 March 2023

5 Steps to Overcome the Fear of the Unknown

While a variety of factors can cause decision making hesitation, with the faster pace of change no one can afford to make poor or delayed decisions. Indecision or hesitation can negatively impact your ability to respond to new challenges, slow the growth of new products or services, and impact key business areas. In this blog, we describe the signs of decision hesitation and the 5 steps to overcome the fear of the unknown.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 February 2023

The Four STEPS to Increase Productivity

A common productivity killer for printing operations is bottlenecks. With a recession potentially looming, industry experts are advising print providers to increase their productivity to help address a business slowdown and other current trends. In this post, industry consultant Howie Fenton offers his four STEP process (staff, training, equipment, and procedures) as part of an approach to resolve bottlenecks to increase productivity.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 10 January 2023

11 Predictions of How Print Industry Trends Will Impact Your Business in 2023

Our 11 predictions about how print industry trends will impact print centers and how to respond to reduce the challenges these trends create. While most in-plant print centers have been struggling with challenges ranging from demand to supply chain to staffing in the last few years, the trends and pace of change have accelerated. The issues from the trends alone would be challenging, but the combination will create “perfect storms.”

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 12 December 2022

Avoid the Failed Implementation Closet to Achieve Your Plan

This third blog in our responding to change series addresses how to implement change and avoid a trip to the “failed implementation closet.” It answers the planning question of how an operation can deliver on their strategy/plan to position themselves to rapidly respond to change with suggested tips, tools, and an example operational project plan.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 14 November 2022

Energize Your Print Production Workflow

It’s critical for today’s print shops to control internal costs and supercharge staff productivity. See how to get ahead by supercharging your print workflow from start to finish with RSA’s modern production print workflow solutions. Each integrated product gives you greater automation capabilities and enables you to do more with every available resource.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 03 November 2022

What Do You Need to Support Your Strategic Plan?

Part two of a three-part series about positioning your in-plant to change and reduce the risk of outsourcing by answering three questions- where the operation should be going, what resources are needed to support the vision, and how you plan to get where you want to go. This blog discusses the staffing, software, hardware, and financing resources you need to support your strategic plan.

  • Press Release
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 19 October 2022

RSA Announces New QDirect™ Output Management Software Version

QDirect output management software's latest release increases efficiency and reduces costs with new printer groups. Any print operation with multiple production printers can utilize new printer group capabilities and experience the rewards that workflow automation provides.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 October 2022

Are We Experiencing a "Who Moved My Cheese" Moment?

Intuitively we know that change is a constant. However, technology changes have been gradual and did not threaten the in-plant business model. In comparison, changes brought about from the pandemic have been fast, and may threaten in-plant businesses. These changes are comparable to the metaphor of someone moving the “cheese.” If you see that these changes are impacting your business, it’s the perfect time to start planning for next year to help minimize threats and maximize your future opportunities.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 19 September 2022

QDirect New Release Increases Efficiency and Reduces Costs

In addition to QDirect output management’s abilities to control, automate workflow, route, and manage production print output, any print facility with multiple production printers can increase efficiency and equipment utilization and reduce costs with the new QDirect software release. Available soon, advanced load balancing and job splitting increase throughput with new printer group “cluster” printing and automated job routing and splitting to the best device for the job.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 19 September 2022

Get the Rewards of Workflow Automation

Crack the code to automating your workflow with our latest releases. Discover the rewards of automating your print production processes. Save dozens of steps in your workflow, spend less time manually managing production, and operate more efficiently day after day. With RSA's latest releases, you'll easily get more done with your existing staff and production printers.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 09 September 2022

Prepress Automation Benefits Surpass Hiring Inexperienced Staff

If you are struggling to find new prepress staff, an alternative is to add prepress automation software. Often overlooked when hiring inexperienced staff is the increase in rework. This blog shows that prepress software automation costs less than hiring inexperienced prepress staff.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 05 August 2022

The Shift in the Costs and Risks of Hiring VS Automation

As production volume increases and staffing remains a challenge, we have a choice to hire inexperienced staff and train them or increase the amount of automation. We compared these options and found that more rework resulted from hiring inexperienced staff, which cost more and reduced the availability of paper. When comparing hiring/training to automation, remember that the costs and risks of hiring inexperienced staff are higher now because of the staffing crisis and paper shortage.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 July 2022

If You’re Problem Solving Who is Steering the Ship?

At a recent in-plant conference I was reminded of the benefits of remaining focused on long term strategic goals. Spending too much time on production issues like finding paper and rehiring staff can shift your focus away from strategic issues like remaining aligned with your parent organization. An excellent presentation about workflow automation showed how one in-plant has benefited from remaining focused on working toward their strategic goals for over a decade.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 09 June 2022

Surviving Today’s Challenges to Help Your Recovery

In this post, Howie Fenton previews his IPMA conference presentation designed to help in-plants in your recovery from the last two and a half years. He offers suggestions for dealing with four top issues: declining volumes, hiring new staff, and minimizing complaints about pricing, and the impact of the paper shortage.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 06 May 2022

Print Center Consolidation Stumbling Blocks

Some in-plant print centers, including a university in-plant, survived through the pandemic by consolidating staff, cross-training everyone, and performing more like a nimble, small commercial company where all staff could perform all the shop's tasks. We discuss the motivation, previous in-plant consolidation trends, and five stumbling blocks to consider if you need to plan for the consolidation of staff or services.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 22 March 2022

Future-Proofing Your Print Shop with Technology, Automation, and Tools

Will your print shop be ready for what’s next? No one knows exactly what’s coming, but you can be more ready when it does.  Working with In-plant Impressions, RSA has developed resources that you can use to put you on a path to future-proof your operation, whether you are an in-plant print center, commercial print or service bureau operation. See all of the future-proof resources in this blog.

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Since 1986, thousands of production print centers have turned to Rochester Software Associates to improve their workflows, increase their productivity, and delight their customers. Our software solutions for transform and conversion, output management, and web to print Turn Printing Into Productivity™. Above all, what really sets us apart is our intense focus on customer satisfaction.

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