Want To Make Your Supply Chain Less of a Headache?   

Print Smarter for Enterprise-Wide Savings

Simple truth (based on our experience):  if you are spending a lot of money on printed materials, chances are you are wasting a lot of it by spending it inefficiently.

This holds true at almost any spending level; but it especially applies if you are spending millions in printing annually, enterprise-wide. And before you say “oh, gee, that’s not us” think about all the print materials you use.

The Flashy, the Functional, and Everything in Between

Think about your entire organization: every department, every separate location or facility, and every job function within them. The list is probably longer than you first thought.

• Marketing materials, including brochures, catalogs, sell sheets, flyers
• Presentation materials like proposals, leave-behinds, meeting decks
• Daily business forms: invoices, statements, receipts, order books, business cards
• Internal correspondence forms, like memos, work orders, inventory lists, newsletters, paycheck stuffers
• HR materials and documents
• Specialty items like holiday cards, thank you notes, promotional mailings to prospects

I think you get my drift here. It all adds up. And for most companies, it adds up to a higher total cost than it needs to.

Efficiency Through Better Supply Chain Management

Recognizing all the different elements your overall print spend actually includes is the first step. But the second is in employing an advanced supply chain management process to manage it all far more effectively. And that starts by inviting in an experienced supply chain management partner like Superior.

In no way does that mean “changing everything” or giving up control. Our process is totally consultative and begins with an independent print audit, which could lead to a variety of different recommendations, depending upon your existing situation.

Yes, in some cases an entirely new approach and cast of suppliers would deliver the maximum savings and efficiency to your company. But it is also very possible that success would simply mean better coordination and negotiation with your existing vendors. Our goal is not to take business from anyone; it is to make yours run more effectively.

How the Process Works for You

Our process is built around an independent print audit. That process is well-defined and focused solely on the potential benefit to the customer. Our ISO certification holds us to this kind of customer service.

Let’s look at the steps involved.

1. We Consult with You to Establish the Goals

First, we meet with the owner or manager of the business to explain the process and identify the client’s objectives. Saving money, of course, is primary, but increased efficiencies or streamlining the flow of print projects are also valid goals.

Remember, it is a consultative process. We aren’t selling. We are searching for opportunities to help your business.

2. We Gather Information

This is, as the old tire commercial said, “where the rubber meets the road.” In performing our audit, we ask you to let us look at all of your print activities across your entire enterprise. Brand by brand, business unit by business unit, even cubicle-by-cubicle if applicable. A comprehensive solution calls for this kind of depth.

We have nearly 100 years of experience in helping businesses like yours increase their efficiency. That allows us to recognize opportunities across the full spectrum of projects involving print and promotional items.

Our information-gathering audit will likely include these steps:

• Learning how many people in your organization are buying print in any form.
• Talking to those people to learn why they are using current vendors (and how they arrived at those decisions) to better understand the current situation.
• Looking for risks to their revenue streams, and assessing their performance under disruptive situations. (The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example.)
• Pulling and evaluating invoices and any other information in the system that involves printed materials or promotional products. This helps shine light on opportunities for savings even with current vendors.

3. We Analyze Our Findings

As experts in procurement sourcing, we have unmatched experience in the industry along with a vast worldwide network of capable providers. With that background, we are able to look at the data we’ve collected and evaluate it. We look for chances to save you significant time and money in two ways.

• We can compare individual project examples with hundreds, even thousands of similar projects to determine whether different vendors (or renegotiation with current vendors) would be more cost-effective for your business
• We will look at your complete spectrum of print projects from a print supply chain management perspective to determine the degree to which a managed plan would impact your bottom line.

Armed with this analysis, we will put out project procurement and pricing requests to determine just what kind of savings could be generated by adjusting your print management practices and consolidating printing across your enterprise.

Then, of course, we report the results, including projected yearly savings, to you and answer any questions you may have.

4. We Work with You to Implement Any Desired Changes

As I’ve said from the beginning, it’s up to you. The final step is the implementation of all or any of the steps we’ve recommended to improve your printing efficiency.

You decide our involvement.

We can help you negotiate with your current vendors to get better pricing. Sometimes that can happen just through the economies of scale involved when you consolidate projects with fewer vendors, or simply approach your overall print activities on a more strategic, pre-planned basis.

Or, of course, we can step in to act as your print management supply chain partner. This is where our advanced technologies and incredible resources can likely make the most difference.

But again, it’s up to you.

Celebrate the Success Enterprise-Wide

This isn’t part of the process, but it is a typical result of the process. Once you make changes in your process, people across your entire organization recognize the benefits that those changes bring.

• Accounting loves it, of course, as it stabilizes costs and makes spend more predictable
• Marketing enjoys the fact that a more cohesive effort drives savings and helps make materials more effective
• Procurement/purchasing departments are typically thrilled, as we can guarantee savings that will be realized by following the process
• HR loves it as employees, no matter where they are working can efficiently receive documents and other important materials

That’s another strong incentive to challenge your supply chain with an independent print management audit. With a new level of efficiency and savings guaranteed, what have you got to lose?

A Proven Partner

If you’d like even more reasons to trust Superior, how about these?

• Printing expertise? We’ve earned FIVE consecutive Best of Print & Digital awards, based only on reviews from our customers.
• Promotional product savvy? Our parent company is one of the largest distributor of promotional products in the country
• A recent example of “coming through” for customers? Ask the state of Michigan. During the COVID crisis, we delivered 7 million respirators when all other suppliers failed. Even the governor praised our performance in the media.

The Savings Won’t Start Until You Act

Call us at 800-968-1416 to learn more about our free print supply chain audit. Or reach out to us or one of our talented Superior sales reps using the contact information in the menus at the top of this page.

If your print spend is in the millions, you’re probably leaving a lot of savings on the table. We can help you pick it up and put it back on your bottom line where it belongs.