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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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  • 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.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 04 March 2022

Adapting an Old Strategy to Increase Satisfaction, Awareness, and Sales

This article talks about using an older strategy to increase customer satisfaction, awareness, productivity, and sales. The ability to demonstrate shop value has been threatened as more customers work from home, and more communication, marketing, and sales activities have switched to video communications. Adapting the demonstration of operational excellence can help in-plants increase satisfaction, awareness, and sales. 

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 02 February 2022

New Strategies to Increase Satisfaction, Awareness, and Sales

To celebrate the IPMA's in-plant awareness month, this article talks about combining some new strategies to increase customer satisfaction, awareness, and sales. The ability to demonstrate shop value has been threatened as more customers work from home and more communication, marketing, and sales activities have switched to video communications. Using video for communications and demonstrating services can help in-plants increase satisfaction, awareness and sales. 

  • Blog Post
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  • Elisha Kasinskas
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  • 21 January 2022

When Web to Print is the First Priority, WebCRD is the First Choice

Soon after arriving at the Richardson Independent School District (ISD), Print Services Manager Laura Galipeau knew that the shop needed to add a Web to Print solution as a first order of business. Read why WTP was one of her first priorities, why she chose WebCRD, the remarkable results and benefits they've achieved in a short time using WebCRD, and what's ahead.

  • Press Release
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 18 January 2022

Rochester Software Associates Expands Sales Team

RSA provider of production print workflow software solutions for in-plant print centers, commercial printers, and PSPs has expanded their business development team. Bobby Pierce has joined RSA as Director, Business Development in the east US region.

  • Blog Post
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  • Rochester Software Associates
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  • 14 January 2022

Log4j Security Vulnerability News

In December 2021, a critical security vulnerability was announced for the Apache Log4j software library. After determining that certain versions of RSA’s WebCRD and QDirect software solutions were vulnerable, RSA automatically “pushed” changes and a patch to most customers, protecting them within several days. There is no evidence that any of systems were breached due to this exposure.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 January 2022

How to Plan for Growth or Recovery

Despite pandemic challenges remaining, typically there is a sense of new hope associated with the beginning of a new year. There are two planning scenarios. Planning for recovery/rebound while addressing staffing needs, and researching the root cause(s) of lingering low volume and overcoming volume declines. Both involve planning for growth, and we discuss planning and tips for each scenario.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 09 December 2021

3 Strategies to Prepare for Next Year’s New Challenges

Research shows that not only will we continue to experience supply chain and staffing issues in the coming year, we could also experience customer pushback about price increases and slower turnaround times. In the worst-case scenario, this could result in questions about the value of print or, worse, the value of the in-plant. This article will discuss the threats and offer three strategies to overcome them.

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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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