Is Your Equipment Working Harder Than Your Employees?

By Debbie Nicholson, Think-to-INK!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-nicholson-24a53627/

The printing industry is about feeds and speeds that meet customers’ needs! 

If your equipment is not working harder than your employees, you can’t expect to realize substantial growth and strong profits.  Why not?  Because you are stuck! 

Current and temporary staff can help with large short-term projects for handling and post-print pack-outs.  But, within the 8-12 hour shifts, you can only print, laminate, and cut at a pre-determined speed which is slow-moving compared to newly engineered speed-driven printing and cutting equipment.

I know you don’t want to hear this, but maybe your equipment has aged-out!

From the inside of Wide-Format:

In recent weeks I have had the pleasure of assisting a client in researching the purchase of a new Flatbed Cutting System and Grand-Format Printer – in addition to his current equipment line-up.

Here are critical determining factors for the purchase of new equipment:

• Did not meet customer timeline demands
• Customer retention was at risk
• Employee over-time was deficit spending
• Equipment downtime caused additional delays – adding additional overtime
• Overnight and two-day shipping expenses mounted – not chargeable to the job
• Work backlog was growing – putting those projects into overtime status
• Employees were exhausted and weary, making mistakes and calling in sick
• The sales staff was afraid to bring in work for fear of missing deadlines and adding stress
• Administrative functions began to decline because 100% focus was on getting jobs out
• Employee morale was compromised and unhealthy
• Quality of end-product started to diminish in the name of just getting projects delivered
• Put on hold:  Engaging new prospects until manufacturing issues could be resolved
• Retaining new hires failed because onboarding procedures were insufficient
• Departmental communications and feedback lacked clarity and teamwork
• Current customers were not experiencing the company’s mission and vision promises

   
In closing:

The path to success in our industry is not without trial and error but ignoring your internal roadblocks will cause pain and suffering in ways of which you are unaware.  As you can see from above, the cost of purchasing new equipment was the least of his worries.

If you need to replace aged-out equipment, please do not delay.  The current delivery time for new equipment is 3 to 4 months. 

Research to determine what is best for your current and future needs (2-3 years out).  Our printing technologies are changing and getting better every year.  Spend time understanding what’s available to meet your needs and how it can help your company grow -- profitably!

I digress:

When I started working, my grandma said something to me that I will never forget - ”honey, don’t dress for the job you have; dress for the job you want!”

Maybe you should apply that suggestion to your business!