- Elisha Kasinskas
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- August 01, 2013
This article is the second of a series introducing each of the successful in-plant panelists on the PRINT 13 "Empowered In-plants: Tell-All Success Stories from the Field," panel I’ll be moderating on September 9th. The session features in-plant leaders in Insurance, Higher Education, Healthcare and Government.
Introducing: Abbas Badani, Penn State University Mail, Print and Copy Operations (MPC)
Abbas Badani is the Director of Penn State University Mail, Print and Copy Operations (MPC). With 25 plus years of international experience in Print and Mail, Abbas and his team at Penn State continue to prosper and succeed in challenging times, re-positioning the in-plant as a strategic asset of the university.
The operation at Penn State University in State College, PA employs 50+ and has a total budget of over $15 million. The service portfolio consists of digital and offset printing along with finishing, data center output, bulk mail, first class mail, campus mail, and MFD fleet management and print procurement services. The operation runs three shifts five days a week.
In the last five years, the in-plant has acquired numerous pieces of equipment as part of a continuing upgrade and re-positioning of its services. The fleet management program has over 1,500 devices across 25+ locations in Pennsylvania. Multiple software solutions are used to cater to the different needs and segments including Xerox FreeFlow, RSA’s WebCRD, DocForm and internally developed solutions.
Tell All Secret: Find and then market your competitive advantage
Badani has keyed into the fact that by having the in-plant be viewed as a strategic asset and critical to the operating needs of Penn State, he ensures long term viability. "An in-plant in today’s environment is not successful just because it is the cheapest, is service oriented, has been around a long time, or has a loyal customer base. Continuing, he said, "They must be viewed as critical to the operating needs of the parent organization by providing activities that cannot be outsourced easily or cannot be clearly isolated and/or provide a value added service at a cost that can be clearly quantified through a cost-benefit analysis."
The in-plant at Penn State provides key services such as fleet management, print procurement, and data center output that cannot be effectively provided by an external vendor. When these services were married with back end mail room operations a fundamental business model was put in place that will endure for a long time.
Register Today and Watch this Blog for Stories About Each Panelist
Watch RSA’s blog for in-depth stories about each of the panelists and their operations in coming weeks, including: Garry Boytos, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Tom Rohrbach, Progressive Insurance. See the past article about panelist Mike Lincoln from the State of Colorado.
These stories will offer a sneak peek at what sets these in-plants apart, and the information they will share in the session.