In-plants Meet in Rochester for Leadership Workshop

Peter Muir gives the opening keynote.

This week in Rochester, N.Y., Xerox brought together 30 in-plant managers for a Thought Leadership Workshop at its Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation. With the theme "Amp Up Your In-plant," the day-and-a-half event began Monday with a networking reception and dinner, followed by a keynote presentation by Peter Muir, president of Bizucate.

Muir talked about the importance of listening to those who are speaking to us, especially in this era of "digital clutter." Listen to hear, he encouraged, not to respond.

IPG Editor Bob Neubauer opened the event with a presentation on in-plant trends culled from new IPG research.

Despite taking place just days after the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference in Denver, the event was well attended. Managers came from a host of organizations, such as Columbus State University, Goodwill Southern California, Brooklyn College, Houston Metro, Keuka College, the State of Mississippi, Gustavus Adolphus College and Physicians Mutual Insurance Co., to name a few.

The crowd listens to a presentation.

On Tuesday, IPG Editor Bob Neubauer opened the event with a presentation on in-plant trends culled from new IPG research. During his talk, animated discussions popped up about some of the topics he was covering, such as fleet management, chargeback rates and facilities management. He encouraged managers to survey their customers to learn about problems they are having with their services, but which they are not telling the in-plant about. Also, he said, make sure you are personally visiting customers' offices to find out about services they may need you to provide.

Attendees learned about Xerox's latest production inkjet presses, the Brenva HD cut-sheet press and the Trivor 2400 continuous-feed system; they got an update on the "amicable divorce" of Xerox and Conduent, its business process outsourcing business; and they heard about other Xerox offerings, such as e-publishing.

The crowd listens to a presentation.

A customer panel made up of managers from Arizona State University, Alfred State and Compassion International revealed success stories and best practices during a lively discussion with Muir. Attendees also checked out all the new Xerox technologies on display in the Gil Hatch Center.

The Thought Leadership Workshop is an annual event held by Xerox to support and educate in-plants.

"We are passionate about the in-plant," remarked Rob Piersielak, director of Production Marketing Operations.