Print Management Saves You Money And More In Your Print Supply Chain
Last week, I talked about the ways that having a print supply chain management system in place can help you streamline your marketing efforts and make the entire process more efficient and more effective at generating business. But not all businesses conduct elaborate marketing efforts on a regular basis, so the desire or need to create full-color brochures and fancy catalogs doesn’t come along every day.
Still, almost all businesses use printed forms every day. Order forms, pamphlets, instruction booklets, invoices, spec sheets, tags, labels and other printed materials are just a part of doing business. Does print supply chain management make a difference here?
That one’s easy – only if you are interested in saving your business significant money. Our Corporate Kiosk™ technology allows you to standardize all appropriate printed forms so that they are the same across all of your business centers and branches; they can be supplied according to a preset “on demand” schedule, or reordered as needed by whomever you authorize to do so. This saves you money in several ways.
Lowest Cost For Assured Quality
The first, and perhaps most obvious, way print supply chain management helps your supply chain is in the cost of the printed products. We work with an extensive network of over 1,000 printers nationwide and therefore will match the best resource to your needs.
Printers with unmatched label expertise, for example, will print your labels. Those specializing in standard invoices or business forms will be chosen for your projects in those areas. Since we know their capabilities, we can pick the best value on your behalf. And we know their dependability which you couldn’t know if choosing for yourself.
After being in the print business for almost a century and being ISO certified, we don’t have to reinvent the proverbial wheel with each reorder. This means costs can be reduced in the processing, submitting and proofing process. Once it’s done, it’s in the system and “ready” indefinitely. There is no danger of unexpected cost overages from inexperienced employees making “renegade” print supply chain decisions.
Your People’s Time Is Your Company’s Money
Your business will also reduce costs in less obvious ways with Corporate Kiosk. A big one is in “opportunity” cost. When all the decisions are made in advance, it is as simple as clicking an online button to reorder materials. Your people will no longer have to waste time digging out a previous order, locating a previous vendor from long ago, and editing or tweaking a form to be ordered. What can they do with all that time they saved? The things you hired them to do!
They will thank you for taking that responsibility off their shoulders and accounting will thank you for minimizing or eliminating the man-hours wasted on the recurring task of print reorders. Don’t forget the costs of storage either. When your inventory is so effortlessly resupplied, there is no reason to tie up valuable square footage stocking large quantities.
Mistakes Can Cost Money – And Your Reputation
When workers who are inexperienced in ordering print materials are put in position to do that, it is inevitable that mistakes will occur. While certainly not intentional – and the employee may have done his or her best – that is little comfort when a job has to be re-printed as a result.
It is equally problematic if an error is missed, and results in chaos or confusion when the forms are used, or at the very least, embarrassment when clients, partners or suppliers encounter forms that fail to present your company in the best possible light.
Commodity Or Opportunity?
In short, thinking of your printed forms as commodities can be a costly mistake. Most of the materials your business must print have very different uses and requirements. Labels have far different applications than invoices. Order forms and work tickets have very different functions than marketing materials designed to engage prospective customers. It only makes sense to ensure that each is printed with the expertise to do them right, and the technology to print them cost efficiently.
That’s precisely what Corporate Kiosk and Superior Business Solutions can offer you. I can provide more information if you get in touch with me. Or save time, and contact one of our sales representatives, who are skilled in assessing your business needs and finding solutions that will reduce not only your costs, but also your stress level.
