Tips to Help You Increase Print Production Workflow Efficiencies

Productivity and efficiency are goals all companies strive toward, not just printing companies.

But they don’t happen by accident.

As Paul J. Meyer says, “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer

When was the last time you focused on productivity and workflow efficiency at your print shop? Below are some tips to get you pointed in the right direction.

Prepare for procrastinators.

It’s important to anticipate that your print buyers will be procrastinators. Sure, you’d love to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they will leave you with adequate time to complete their jobs, but that’s unrealistic.

Customers expect you to move at the speed of THEM, not you. This means their due dates and problems become yours, and you have to deal with it. Are you ready?

Takeaway: Implement an online ordering system that efficiently manages your production workflow, so you can anticipate and adjust to clients’ needs.

Know who you are.

On the flip side of bending to the needs of your print buyers, you also must have a solid understanding of who you are.

What and your priorities and your capacity as a business? Do you excel at producing some print products but not others?

5 E’s You’re Doing What You’re Good At:

Enjoy what you do.
Effortless to you.
Excel at it.
Encouragement you get from others.
Energy you get from it.

Takeaway: Instead of trying to be all things to all people, hone in on who you are and learn to focus on the jobs that give you the greatest return.

Hands-on Print Production Workflow Tips

The websites from Marketing Ideas For Printers can be an incredible tool to help you increase efficiency and productivity at your print shop.

Below are six tips from our Tech Support team on how to maximize your website’s Workflow area to help streamline your print production.

1. Sort the Workflow tab by date to gather jobs based on specific timeframes.
2. Use the Workflow tab to drill down to a particular client that may have sent in files related to a big project.
3. Do ‘gang runs’ by combining runs of the same size items, regardless of who ordered them. For example, run every Christmas card order together to maximize efficiency and eliminate waste.
4. Once a job is completed, ensure to mark it complete in the Workflow Tab. This will keep your “Active Jobs” tab clear and understandable, as only the jobs that still need to be completed will show up.
5. Customize the “Job Status” area to fit with your production schedule. This “Job Status” area allows printshops to indicate where an order is in the production process, so utilizing it will help keep your Workflow organized.
6. Ensure those in your organization that need to be notified of a submitted order or estimate request are reported using the “Website Notifications” area of the Control Center. This will alleviate having to manually check the Workflow, as every time an order is placed, you will receive an email notification.

Not a website subscriber and want to learn more? Consider downloading a full-access website (free for 30 days) and exploring the workflow tab and other efficiencies you can implement to start selling more printing today!

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