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January 25, 2024
In the Print Trenches: Recalling the "Simpler" Era of Work Order Boards by Jane Mugford |
Two decades ago, at the print company where I worked, we had an expansive board behind the customer service desk. It featured columns for Monday through Friday, with rows representing hours of the day. A ‘dynamic duo’ of schedulers efficiently managed that board, swiftly pinpointing the status of orders. In the absence of one, a backup could seamlessly step in, ensuring the workflow continued smoothly. Back then, there was no digital dominance over schedules, no email exchanges. Communication was as simple as banter across the desk, occasionally coupled with a brisk run around the plant to locate a job. It was astonishing how so little got misplaced, and even more impressive was the punctuality of jobs. When we transitioned to the first Print MIS, replacing the physical board (the work order boards being the dinosaurs of the MIS world), some still longed for that board to serve as a backup. There was a tangible sense of loss – that physical board was so visually accessible and user-friendly. Fast forward to today, and order management has evolved into a far more intricate process; using a physical board is inconceivable for any sizable company. While some may resort to Excel, even that poses risks and is impractical for any print operation. Yet, the nostalgia for those traditional boards persists, especially during moments of frustration with Print MIS systems.
However, the yearning for simpler times often involves an apples-to-pineapples comparison. Though the term 'print' persists in both eras, the nature of the jobs has transformed significantly. Jobs are now predominantly digital, running for hours rather than days. Gone are the days of someone standing in front of a printer, manually pressing the copy button; today, it's press operators selecting jobs on a screen, if they touch them at all. The jobs move swiftly, often running concurrently with others, usually relying on barcodes for tracking. It's a complex, high-tech world, a far cry from the analog simplicity of the past.
So, why does the 'love-hate' relationship with Print MIS systems continue to lean heavily towards 'hate'? Several factors contribute to this prevailing imbalance:
However, the yearning for simpler times often involves an apples-to-pineapples comparison. Though the term 'print' persists in both eras, the nature of the jobs has transformed significantly. Jobs are now predominantly digital, running for hours rather than days. Gone are the days of someone standing in front of a printer, manually pressing the copy button; today, it's press operators selecting jobs on a screen, if they touch them at all. The jobs move swiftly, often running concurrently with others, usually relying on barcodes for tracking. It's a complex, high-tech world, a far cry from the analog simplicity of the past.
So, why does the 'love-hate' relationship with Print MIS systems continue to lean heavily towards 'hate'? Several factors contribute to this prevailing imbalance:
- Initial System Setup: Systems are frequently set up incorrectly from the start, leading to confusion and chaos. Do NOT give up! Work with your vendor to guide and assist you well beyond the go-live phase. This will help in taking huge strides in refining and enhancing system data post-implementation.
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- Lack of Checks and Balances: While data checks and balances are crucial, they are often neglected after the initial phase and completely abandoned post go-live. Rigorous validation and correction of data are essential for building trust in the system, thereby fostering its usage and acceptance. This diligence should be ongoing; it may lessen over time, but checkpoints to validate data in key areas such as estimating, operations, and finance should always be in place. How do you validate the accuracy of revenue? How do you ensure that estimated time allocations for various operations are valid? Establishing routing validation plans is vital—although not as detailed or repetitive as during the initial go-live phase, checks and balances must be maintained to ensure the system's integrity.
- Complexity Overload: These systems can be overwhelming, and the tendency to overlook simplicity hinders progress. Breaking down tasks into manageable components and simplifying workflows can make the system more user-friendly. Here are a few practical examples:
- 1) Let’s meet with all of the production team leads to review the job jacket and determine if there are any issues we can address and any improvements we can make.
- 2) Let’s schedule one two-hour session to review 10 recent jobs to assess estimate-to-actual job data and see if we need to adjust any estimating workflows for planned times.
- 3) Let’s review our late report 1x per week to see if there are any common trends causing lates. In 4 weeks, let’s review the common trends and come up with a plan to address.