What would you like to learn more about in the print ind?

[Pauly]

From my time being around this forum, There's a lot of questions asked, some more than others.
in saying that, What is 1 topic you'd like to learn or learn more about in the print industry?

Pricing?
Colour managing?
Printing & matching spot colours?
Client / Job management?
What else??

 

[Johnny Best]

How not to feel bored when asked this sort of question on this forum and refrain from writing something.

 

[FireSprint.com]

These 4 are on my mind right now:

Production Floor:
-We're planning on moving our shop in a few months as I have mentioned. Once we do that I'm planning on bringing in a color expert to help us dial in color consistency. That's a big one for us that we can certainly get better at.
-Tracking OEE across multiple platforms. How much time is our equipment actually running in the day? How do we improve the bottlenecks

Customer Service:
-Setting up a customer service plan for a stellar client experience
-Technical training for our customer service team so they can be a go-to resource

 

[rjssigns]

Color management and Profiling.

Profiling for me is a dark art. Should be completely automated but it isn't. Tweaks by an experienced user are still required to get spot on color.

 

[White Haus]

For me, it would be job management/scheduling.

Still struggling to find a solution for efficiently writing up orders and getting them (efficiently) scheduled for production.

 

[mim]

Definitely color management and profiling

 

[fuzzy_cam]

For me, it would be job management/scheduling.

Still struggling to find a solution for efficiently writing up orders and getting them (efficiently) scheduled for production.

Try out some sort of project management software.

We have used several different ones over the years but currently use Trello - have been for 2+ years now and it works great! They have a free version (that we're about to max out on feature and user use with) and a free add-in called Playway that puts all of these jobs on a calendar based on the due date set.

Possibly unnecessary, but to elaborate:

We have our lists set up in order from Front Desk, Installation Schedule, Production Ready, Production Floor, Closeout, Employee 1, 2, & 3

The Front Desk section is where "cards" (a card per order or project) are added by anyone in the shop that takes one in via phone or from a walk-in. Cards get moved to Closeout when they're ready for pickup and ready to be billed out through our accounting software. Print supervisors take care of Production Ready (print-prep) and the floor staff move on any items in the Production Floor list. Employee lists 1-3 include active jobs from non-floor staff requiring design work, bidding or proofing, etc. that is the responsibility of that employee.

 

[Gino]

Why is there air ??

Gotta be more to it than just filling up volley balls.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Definitely color management.

 

[White Haus]

Try out some sort of project management software.

We have used several different ones over the years but currently use Trello - have been for 2+ years now and it works great! They have a free version (that we're about to max out on feature and user use with) and a free add-in called Playway that puts all of these jobs on a calendar based on the due date set.

Possibly unnecessary, but to elaborate:

We have our lists set up in order from Front Desk, Installation Schedule, Production Ready, Production Floor, Closeout, Employee 1, 2, & 3
View attachment 156009

The Front Desk section is where "cards" (a card per order or project) are added by anyone in the shop that takes one in via phone or from a walk-in. Cards get moved to Closeout when they're ready for pickup and ready to be billed out through our accounting software. Print supervisors take care of Production Ready (print-prep) and the floor staff move on any items in the Production Floor list. Employee lists 1-3 include active jobs from non-floor staff requiring design work, bidding or proofing, etc. that is the responsibility of that employee.

Cool, thanks. I've briefly explored Trello in the past but will give it another look. Nice to see how it's being used in a production setting.

 

[Pauly]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions to that they'd like to learn,

The reason why i was asking is that i've been recording some tutorials for our clients that i'll be posting on our website and youtube.

So i thought i'd extend it to helping others in print by going over some of our practices we use in our shop, and touch on topics such as:
- Color management (basics of profiling a printer)
- Project/job managing (covering software like trello & alternatives)
- Basics of pricing (excel calculators, ways of pricing etc)

And anything else that i may be able to aid in.
Unfortunately i don't have answers for everything, such as the the limited possibilities you can achieve with air.

If this is something that interests anyone here, let me know, react to this comment. give me a sign

I'm not saying im an expert in any of these fields, but i believe i know enough to help others gain traction and further improve their practices or even open to other ideas.

 

[ColorCrest]

These 4 are on my mind right now:

Production Floor:
-We're planning on moving our shop in a few months as I have mentioned. Once we do that I'm planning on bringing in a color expert to help us dial in color consistency. That's a big one for us that we can certainly get better at.
-Tracking OEE across multiple platforms. How much time is our equipment actually running in the day? How do we improve the bottlenecks

Customer Service:
-Setting up a customer service plan for a stellar client experience
-Technical training for our customer service team so they can be a go-to resource

Maybe consult with someone before the move who can advise about treatments for certain lighting, walls, and flooring areas?

Also about creating *paused* and *commenced* timestamp fields on your WIP list for use by machine operators while CSRs work a customer loyalty / rewards program in your CRM. Not to mention quick training in customer / computer / quality / components from zoom-like presentations along with a custom internal technical and SOP Wiki?

 

[ColorCrest]

So i thought i'd extend it to helping others in print by going over some of our practices we use in our shop,

This is so very helpful to others and one of the best ways to gauge and learn.

 

[FireSprint.com]

Maybe consult with someone before the move who can advise about treatments for certain lighting, walls, and flooring areas?

Also about creating *paused* and *commenced* timestamp fields on your WIP list for use by machine operators while CSRs work a customer loyalty / rewards program in your CRM. Not to mention quick training in customer / computer / quality / components from zoom-like presentations along with a custom internal technical and SOP Wiki?

These are excellent points!


I'm pretty sure you're the smartest person in the room, when you're in a room.