State of Tennessee In-plant Takes Over Office Signage

It’s always good news when in-plants add new services. It makes them more valuable to the parent organization, while heightening the potential for expanded revenue streams.

At the State of Tennessee’s Document Solutions operation, that new service came in the form of office signage. Until recently, the state’s real estate division handled that, but now Document Solutions has gained control over the signage contract, which covers all indoor signage like directories and the name plates that go on cubicles and office doors.

Assistant Commissioner, Tammy Golden

Overseen by Assistant Commissioner Tammy Golden, Document Solutions comprises approximately 70 employees and is responsible for supporting all state agencies with services like printing, graphic and Web design, document scanning, and warehousing and distribution.

For the past nine years, Golden says, a system was in place where the real estate division would order inserts for plastic signage using Document Solutions’ online ordering system, but order the hard plastic signage from an outside vendor.

“If they were moving a department from one building to another, they would order the plastic signs from the company, they would order the inserts from us, we would send the inserts, the company comes out, they put the inserts in the plastic signs and hang them where they go in time for the agency’s move,” Golden explains.

Like most in-plants, Golden says Document Solutions is always looking for new services to add, so when she got a phone call from the real estate division asking if the in-plant would be willing to manage the contract and be the liaison to the vendor, since it already handles the printing of the inserts — the answer was obvious.

Since taking over the contract, Golden says the in-plant has actually streamlined the process for ordering from the vendor, making it easier for both parties. An online form allows Document Solutions to quickly request what it needs from the vendor.

“Since more people are working from home, there’s more shared space and less assigned space, which means moving more agencies into one building because they have fewer people coming into the office each day,” Golden says. “So, we expect it to ramp up. We don’t know what kind of volume to expect yet, but we feel comfortable that we’ll be able to manage it.”

Golden says last year’s contract purchases only totaled around $20,000 thanks to the pandemic, but as more agencies need to move, she suspects that number will increase.

Though the foreseeable future is still unclear, Golden is confident the contract will further integrate Document Solutions into everyday procedures for the state.

“Every time we can do something that ingrains us in the normal workflow of state government or allows us to help state government operate as a whole, that’s always a good place for us to be,” Golden says.