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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-07-059 - Print Shop AuditI ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~:;;iel:1~~~;"i?irilSti?;rGl"~i ~>r ~,-~ Report To: Audit Committee Date of Meeting: November 26,2007 Submitted By: Michael May, Director Corporate Communications & Marketing Prepared By: Terry Marr, Manager of Marketing & Creative Services Ward(s) Involved: All Date of Report: November 16/07 Report No.: CAO-07-059 Subject: PRINT SHOP AUDIT RECOMMENDATION: For information purposes only. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the summer of 2005 an organizational review (audit) was done of the City's Print Shop to review the current and future needs of the area from a staffing standpoint. During the review several additional recommendations emerged. In the fall of 2006, a reorganization took place and resulted in the Print Shop becoming the responsibility of Corporate Communications and Marketing. In early spring 2007, Print Shop staff was involved in Performance Measurement in order to complete some of the recommendations contained in the audit or provide better analysis for a business case for new equipment. This report provides an update on the additional recommendations that emerged from the audit. REPORT: The following recommendations have been completed: Clarify Coordinator role expectations & set up regular communication between Coordinator and Director (position now reports to a manager). Staff meetings now take place that involve all Print Shop staff to keep them informed and to discuss pertinent topics. The Manager and Coordinator have informal meetings to discuss issues, concerns, procedural changes, etc., and have an amicable working relationship. Develop a succession plan to make future staff turnover go smoothly as such time as the current Coordinator leaves the position. Since the review was done, some processes have been altered to ensure that work flow and load are known by all staff, not just the co-ordinator. Consideration is being given to rotate the co-ordinator duties amongst all staff during the co- ordinator's holidays for the 2007/08 vacation period. Stagger lunch breaks and breaks to ensure there is someone to assist customers at all times. This was implemented so that now, one staff member is always available to assist staff. Obtain voice mail. Voice mail is now available and used when there is a full staff meeting and therefore no one available to answer the phone. Incorporate additional customer service liaison functions into Bindery Operator/Costing Clerk role including proactive and consistent follow-up with all customers advising job status, pickup or delivery options. This recommendation has been implemented with the Bindery Operator/Costing Clerk being responsible for ensuring staff who have requested work are made aware of any production or delivery problems. Develop a communications plan to advise customers about the Print Shop & create and maintain a Print Shop Intranet site. These were implemented in March 2007. As part of the site a temporary survey was posted asking staff for feedback regarding customer service, quality of work, etc. Include the Print Shop in the new employee orientation program including a tour. This was implemented in February 2007. Improvements to the Print Shop requisition form. A new Print Shop requisition form was developed and tested with several staff who use the Print Shop quite frequently. Additional changes were incorporated from the "test" and the new form has been printed. The new forms are in use now. Re-evaluate the minimum quantity requirements in terms of number of sheets, rather than the number of copies. The Print Shop no longer has a minimum number of copies required. Strike a project team to provide input into a business case (new equipment). A team comprised of the Manager of Marketing & Communications, 2 reps from IT, 1 from Purchasing, lfrom Finance and 2 Print Shop staff have gone to a few site visits to investigate high speed copiers. An RFP should be forthcoming shortly with a subsequent report to CMT. Automate the job costing process through use of a new spreadsheet already created. This recommendation has been implemented with costing usually sent to Finance within 1-3 days of month end. Cost per copy for each type of service should be compared to at least 3 major external printing companies on an annual basis to ensure that it is cost efficient to continue to offer the service in-house. When the Print Shop worked on performance measurement in the spring of 2007 matrices were put in place to determine in-house costs. These costs have been tracked, and will continue to be tracked, so they can be used for analysis on an annual basis. Bring the issue of chargebacks in general to CMT for discussion. A corporate decision needs to be made whether to charge all or certain internal services back to the user areas or to eliminate all chargebacks. CMT has had initial brief discussions regarding chargebacks but it was decided that a final decision would not be made until the new equipment costs comes forward. RECOMMENDATIONS NOT YET FULLY IMPLEMENTED: If new high speed equipment is brought into the Print Shop there should be accompanying communication with customers on the changes, as well as service levels and turnaround times. This would be done in advance if the City decides to make the change over. Determine the actual cost per copy of using local photocopiers and printers compared to the cost of using the Print Shop. Post these relative costs at each photocopier and printer. The cost per copy from the Print Shop varies month to month depending on volume and maintenance/repair costs. 2007 costs ranged from 4.7 cents to 1.8 cents per copy. If the City decides to change the Print Shop over to high speed copiers, the per copy price will be fixed and this recommendation can be implemented. A long-term strategy should be developed as to the larger picture of where the City is heading in terms of printing services .... This plan should include a determination on whether to maintain offset printing while also moving toward digital print, or move to entirely digital. Some of the current offset presses and some of the major bindery equipment are in need of replacement now. Parts are no longer available for some machines and the cost of repair is becoming exorbitant. It is unlikely that any offset equipment will remain in the Print Shop if digital equipment is brought in, however, until the RFP and subsequent analysis are completed, which equipment stays and which goes, has not been determined. Develop a business case including a comprehensive list of needs, cost analysis and related items. An analysis will be completed once the RFP closes. It should be noted that switching from the current offset presses to digital equipment, may not result in substantial cost saving for the City but will result in significant efficiencies. If a decision to maintain chargebacks is made, it is recommended that the cost grids be updated with current costs and revised on an annual basis. This past spring, performance measurements matrices were put in place in order to determine more accurate costs. These results will be analysed in 2008 and adjusted if necessary. CONCLUSION: Since receiving the results of the Print Shop audit, staff within the Division has taken concrete action on, or implemented 75% of the recommendations. More work will be done throughout the rest of 2007 and early 2008 on items that pertain to digital copiers which constitute the remaining uncompleted recommendations. Terry Marr Manager of Marketing & Creative Services