Process Graphic Services — Need for Speed

Why not simply go out and hire more skilled employees to ease the burden? According to Robertson, low unemployment rates have slammed that door—for now.

"Within the last year, demand for fast-turnaround finishing has been very strong, putting great pressure on our work force. Ordinarily, we would deal with that by hiring more skilled workers. But, here in Texas, there's a skilled-labor scarcity due to the full-employment (situation). We've established in-house training programs to deal with our longer-term needs. But our near-term challenge is finding immediate ways to gain more working time within the constraints of current work schedules and to improve productivity."