Print is a highly complex manufacturing process. Anyone outside of the industry really cannot appreciate how much technical and artistic effort it takes to make a book, a package, a poster, a marketing package, and so on. People think it’s as easy as pressing ‘file print’ just like we do on our home computers. It’s assumed that the colors magically appear as they are supposed to, the pages that are so neatly bound just come that way, and how the document appears on a screen is exactly how it will look when printed. The reality is within every Print company there’s  an army of creative talent working behind the scenes to make colors and images look like they do on-screen. These “technical geniuses” and “mechanical magicians” come up with brilliant work-arounds to handle complex, custom projects, and can make the most complicated presses and machines work properly using their “magic touch”. The intellectual capital contained in the minds of your production facility personnel is kind of like your “secret sauce”. But when things go wrong, it’s the Production teams that usually bear the brunt of the blame. 
Here let me share some common trends we see that dramatically increase waste and costs, in turn lowering profit for Print companies. And know that there are things that Leadership can do to set their workforce up for success on every order the first time. Don’t allow your Production teams to shoulder blame time and time again.

Here are the most common areas we see where things go wrong:

1. Use of Production notes for filling in the specs for jobs. This is hands down the biggest problem in print manufacturing today - companies allowing notes to contain Production specs. Your Print MIS system exists for handling such Production specs. Notes are for cursory and additional information, not related to manufacturing specifications. This is an example of a good note: “Paper has been ordered and will arrive at 2PM today”. It’s precise and informative and has nothing to do with the actual Production specs for the job. This is an example of a bad note: “Print 4/4 on 130lb cover stock”. Why is it a bad note? First of all your MIS system has fields in place to capture this kind of information, which is often required information. Second, if a note conflicts with the specs on a job, confusion will result. And third, notes tend to be inconsistent; each person entering a note will use a different approach. All this just sets your team up for failure.

1. Not holding Sales and Customer Service Representatives accountable for writing up jobs properly. Similar to the issue above, often we will find those that enter jobs into the MIS think they get  a “free pass” because they are too busy. Because of this attitude these people too often tend to take shortcuts when it comes to data entry. This is not okay. Why? The approach taken will employ the use of writing notes copied and pasted from client emails and then left up to Production to interpret. The information may be incomplete, and may leave much up to the interpretation of the reader. This approach is a “no go” in my book. Specs must be entered properly and completely into the MIS. That’s its function. Staff need to use it to its full potential.
2. Integrated systems must pass specs properly to the Print MIS. If you don’t have an integration that is properly passing specifications to the MIS, your integration is incomplete. If a customer can go on your storefront and pick a product that says they are ordering a double-sided 4x6 card on 130lb cover stock, those specs need to be automatically added to a ticket when that job is created. Otherwise the integration leaves too many holes for Production and they spend their time chasing information or assuming what needs to be done. Both are wasteful and prone to resulting in errors.

1. Job jackets that are messy, don’t flow well and/or have duplication. Jackets are the DNA of each and every order. If they aren’t clean, clear and easy to read, you are opening yourself up for waste and poor quality output. Production facilities can often encounter language barriers among their staff, so clean and concise job jackets with easy to read information are your best ways to avoid Production errors.

1. Too much reliance on any one individual. While your army of talent is your “secret sauce”, you never want to be in a position where procedures aren’t documented and processes aren’t learned properly by your Production and Operations teams. Don’t create a situation where you have a couple of key people holding knowledge in their heads regarding the execution of particular tasks. What if that person or persons are sick or on vacation, or worse, what if they leave the company? Then you run the risk of production errors happening because “Sally isn’t in today. She’s the only one who knows what stock ABC Company uses for their business cards”. That is a recipe for disaster. Ensure there is documentation of such details and processes and make sure teams know where to find all relevant information.

In summary, this is what you can do to enable the success of you Production teams:

• Use the Print MIS system as intended.
• Enforce that notes are not to be used for Production specs. 
• Ensure that those entering orders have had the opportunity to properly learn how the MIS works and that all information is objective and entered in appropriate fields with notes used for supporting information only.
• Make sure any integrated system is passing accurate and complete information to the MIS.
• Insist that supporting artifacts used in your operations: job jackets, proof slips, packing lists, etc. are concise and easy to read.
• Build in checks and balances into your workflow to remove the possibility of human loopholes or band-aids. 
• Create a culture of “Do not assume”. Asking for clarification on unclear job jacket details is always “best practice” and should not be discouraged.

Errors and poor quality that occur in Print manufacturing aren’t usually due to equipment issues. Most often the cause is human error. A lot of what goes wrong can be traced back to the information Production relies on in the manufacturing of the product. If the information they get is well documented for them, their brilliance will shine through and this will ensure your customers keep coming back.