Quick Printing is the resource for the Commercial printing, visual and graphic arts industries. Since 1977, Quick Printing has focused on improving efficiency and increasing sales and profits in the print shop. Industry experts share their ideas and
Issue link: https://quickprinting.epubxp.com/i/455911
Quick Printing | February 2015 17 MyPRINTResource.com development, productivity software team. "We look for how many isolated process packages, or software solutions, exist within their busi- ness. We look at each as possibly serving a very narrow function within the company, but we see a lot of repetition of infor- mation being entered. That introduces opportunities for errors, delays, and costs in the system." A huge opportunity exists for imple- menting end-to-end business workfow solutions designed to eliminate touches in the system. As a result, information is entered one time and reused many times. What's more, a shared database is introduced, so everyone is working off the same information. The lack of an end-to-end workfow solu- tion results in many dollars being wasted. "If you can streamline your operation with a solution like this, you'll be able to keep a lot more of the dollars you're earning," Walsh said. Implementing a Workfow System One way to approach the implementation of a work- fow software system is to identify where the greatest pain points exist within the process. "Many times, we can structure the implementation of the workfow solution so it hits those pain points frst," Walsh said. "You can start at the pain points and expand from there. If you try to change every process in the com- pany at the same time, it becomes overwhelming. Ad- dress the low-hanging fruit, the biggest value return frst, keeping in mind we want to roll it out throughout the company." SmartSoft's Jahn suggested compiling a to-do list and attaching a reasonable timeline to that list. "Some call this a road map, others an implementa- tion schedule," he said. "You need something to help everyone in the process know what needs to be done when, and somewhere to place notes when you are stuck, or waiting for something else to be completed frst. For example, it's tough to train a user on build- ing a quote if you haven't entered your paper specif- cations and pricing." Be sure to assign the to-do list to the right people. Since no one person can do it all, delegate and assign. Stick to the schedule of that to-do list, and consider holding weekly meetings to enhance accountability, he added. Some person needs to be tasked with managing the implementation project, Jahn continued. That could be the CEO, or it might be the production manager. It is rarely the director of IT, who is often strong in setting up networks but lacks experience with the steps be- tween an inbound order and invoicing. Selecting the right person within the company to lead the implementation project will depend on the organization itself, Jahn reported. "Once implement- ed, it is everyone's responsibility to manage the workfow system or systems [including] estimators, production folks. and the shipping department," he said. "They all need to be responsible for managing the workfow system." EFI urges creating a workfow team, ideally includ- ing members from sales, from planning, from the pro- duction foor, and from management. "Creating that workfow team is a huge part of the implementation," Walsh said. "You really want that buy-in from all areas of the company, so you can manage both the inside and out- side infuences on process improvement." Speaking of management, it is also imperative to manage expectations. "These aren't small pieces of software" being replaced, Fujiflm's Hughes said. "Your people have been using it for three to fve years or more, and they've gotten very good at using it. It's diffcult to change. It's going to cause some turmoil in the shop. You must, through good planning and train- ing, do what you can to make the process go more smoothly. But you can't underestimate the time, effort, or cost. The last place to trim costs is in training; that can hurt you." Trends, Now and Later What overarching trends and disruptive developments are impacting workfow now, and which will do so in the future? Hughes said workfow right now is about making connections and advancing automation. Printing is under pressure, but Millennials and future generations will want to print, he believes. However, "they don't want to purchase it in the same old way," he cautioned. "That leads us to online, to portals where they can come in and do everything they need, and eliminate the old touch points." Walsh agreed automation is a major part of the big picture. Within EFI and with clients, the theory of "global optimization" is often underscored. The company tries to identify the constraints within the current system, then set up processes to manage or eliminate the constraints that are causing the most inconvenience or costing the most dollars. The goal is to provide end-to-end operational effciencies and global optimization of the entire printing facility, from the client's desktop through production and delivery and accounting, he said. Another issue is the growing digitization of the entire shop. "Offset is not going away any time soon," Walsh added. "But even in an offset production area, you must have digital thinking in client communica- tion, planning, scheduling, layouts. All that is digital. It's critical to have some infrastructure in place that manages those digital environments that we have today in the printing world." Finally, Jahn sees workfow's future in the cloud. "Even systems residing within your shop are already connected to systems outside your building," he concluded. "Think of email via your ISP, credit card authorizations, shipping quotes, labels, and tracking numbers. They are already in the cloud."