Organization:
The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) exists to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the Morgan horse. The Association comprises four departments that accomplish this mission: administration, membership/marketing, publications, and registry.
Founded in 1909, the Morgan Horse Club (as it was then called) was formed to support the Morgan breed. It evolved with the breed, and in 1971 underwent reorganization and was renamed to reflect its increasing responsibilities.
 
Challenge:
For more than fifty years AMHA utilized their publications, marketing, and communications department as their primary contact with their members and with the equine community as a whole. The publications were particularly focused on the business and lineage of horse breeding.

The registry department has kept a comprehensive database of every registered Morgan horse from the beginning of the organization. The registry department certifies that all Morgans bought and sold are of pure breed. The equine industry is a fifty billion dollar a year market for breeders, products, and services.   

For many years the publications and communications department had been losing funds because they were working on antiquated equipment and management techniques and systems. They were utilizing a very large work force that with the proper refocusing of management and equipment could transition the organizational model into a profit center for AMHA.

Solution:
An effective transition of any organizational model is a multi-layered process that must take into account all aspects of publishing and communications. In the case of AMHA, this consisted of transitioning the production equipment from traditional Compugraphic typesetting equipment to state of the art computer and server technology.

The publications also needed the editorial structure to be refocused through imposing the publication, so that the editorial-advertising ratio would be more profitable. The print manufacturing contract also was renegotiated on more favorable terms to take into account the new production time and manufacturing specifications.

The production process of the publications was the most extreme challenge to accomplish, because the average page count of the magazine was around 280 pages and the production department had been more than four weeks behind schedule per monthly issue. The production department procedures were refocused to streamline the manufacturing process of the publications.

Results:
Within a year of transition the AMHA publications and communications department went from seven designers and production people to three doing the same amount of work in half the time and on schedule. Because the publications and communications department became much more streamlined and cost effective, AMHA was able to launch another publication that focused primarily on association business. The association was also able to initiate a public relations campaign to reach beyond their core membership to a larger equine audience, and for the first time in many years the publications department started to show a profit instead of a loss.