How to Make Your Print Shop More Efficient

Efficiency is the goal of any print shop owner. But how do you minimize expenditure of time and effort while keeping your business productive and profitable?

Here are some suggestions on improving the efficiency of your print shop:

• Look at the big picture. Daily print production can sometimes be fragmented, with individuals focusing on their jobs while no one is examining the general flow of work from the outside. Take time to see how each aspect of print production fits into the others, then identify where time and money are being wasted. Overlook nothing. Sometimes seemingly minor glitches can be costly long-term.
• Build a better printing workflow. Using the information gained from analyzing the overall process, eliminate weak spots. If confusing and ambiguous work orders produce bottlenecks that slow down production, devise a way to create more accurate work orders.
• Automate your print order process Our print industry can be a bit slow as a whole in accepting change.  Automated print order management and processing can grease your time to delivery by centralizing orders, facilitating cost estimating and managing orders through the floor all in one spot.
• Put the improvements into effect. This can be difficult. Workers accustomed to performing certain jobs may resist changes. Good communication is the key. When employees understand why changes are being made, and are properly trained to implement them, a successful transition to a more efficient workflow is more likely.

Efficiency experts commonly make two recommendations: Continually seek out better ways of performing tasks, and listen to your employees.

The print business evolves every day. While you may be satisfied today with the fine-tuning of your system, new products and technology require regular reviews and adjustments of your print shop operation.

Often, the staff is more knowledgeable of the details of production than management, so input from employees is valuable and makes them feel part of the process.

Ordant’s price estimating software can make your employees more productive and improve efficiency. Watch our videos and request a personal print MIS demo to learn more.