So far in this series, you’ve learned that every print business needs on-point estimating and superior order and workflow management. While both estimating and order and workflow management help you create a well-thought-out plan, there’s still an essential piece that’s needed to bring about success: scheduling.
As Peter Turla says, “A plan is what, a schedule is when. It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.”
How about you? Does your print company struggle to take the “what” of planning and turn it into the “when” of scheduling? Are you consistently fighting to meet deadlines or to take full control of your production capabilities? If so, keep reading! You’ll quickly discover how superior scheduling can make all the difference between running a good print business or running a great print business.
3 Ways Superior Scheduling Can Take You From Good to Great
It’s no secret that everyone uses a scheduling tool of some kind.
But, what’s the big deal about scheduling? Aren’t all scheduling tools created equal as long as they get the job done? The truth is, no. Just as all of us are constantly exploring and implementing ways to be more productive or use our time more wisely, the same should be said of your scheduling system.
1. Superior scheduling keeps you relevant.
Print buyers don’t need printers who used to be able to meet their needs.
Buyers today expect companies to take the steps necessary to meet their ever-changing demands and priorities. They also expect ongoing optimization of your capacity for their benefit, ensuring you’ll never have to tell them, “no.”
A superior scheduling solution helps you better understand your capacity so you can proactively identify both challenges and opportunities.
2. Superior scheduling helps you maintain priorities.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to never lose track of a task?
A superior scheduling solution keeps everyone working from the same page and allows you to focus on the tasks that matter. Your team shouldn’t have to feel overwhelmed in managing project deadlines or worry about overlapping previously scheduled jobs. They should be free to prioritize and manage their own workloads without fear of unknown scheduling conflicts.
3. Superior scheduling boosts productivity and profit.
Scheduling is never just for the sake of scheduling, rather, it’s an incredibly valuable tool that allows you to minimize production and time costs and maximize efficiency.
A superior scheduling solution offers you better control over what’s going on in your shop and provides easy access to the crucial, real-time job status information you’re looking for. Real-time updates mean everything’s more efficient when you, your team, and your customers are all working together on the same platform.
Just imagine… what if you could automate your scheduling process, increase your production, and manage your resources more effectively? It can be done!
10 Things Your Scheduling Solution Should Have
If you want to stay relevant, maintain priorities, and boost productivity and profit, look for a superior scheduling solution that:
- Displays daily assigned tasks
- Alerts team members to any looming or overdue deadlines
- Defines the availability of resources, whether that’s equipment or team members
- Saves enormous amounts of time by automatically assigning tasks to the correct resources
- Allows you to rest easy knowing you’ll be alerted if/when human intervention is needed
- Eliminates errors by being preventing team members from working on tasks that aren’t ready
- Helps users prioritize their individual tasks for the day
- Lets you indicate whether deadlines are either hard or flexible
- Displays all work in progress at a glance
- Determines the capacity of any given resource to ensure deadline promises to your print buyers are met!
Check Yourself
- Do your shop’s resources often get overbooked causing you to under-deliver on your promises?
- Do you find important maintenance upkeep items get missed because machines aren’t allowed adequate downtime?
- Are you missing out on growth opportunities because of overall production inefficiencies?
If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, your print business could benefit from a superior scheduling system.
The Time is Now
What makes one person or company more successful than the other? After all, we all get the same 24 hours a day.
The secret lies in how you manage the time you have. You can make the most of it by taking control of your time and turning good planning into great execution.
