Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

Cohber Press in Rochester, NY, saw a boost in capacity and a 25 percent increase in sales after using Performance Plus from Heidelberg.

Gain strategic insight to the trends within the market and technology innovations you need to remain highly competitive.

Your current business may NOT be your "calling;" however, if you take the cards you’ve been dealt—even if you feel stuck in a business you think now you should never have started or taken over—there IS a way out.

Many of the budget-killing mistakes that risk customer loyalty can be dramatically reduced or eliminated by putting together simple checklists, and getting everyone to follow them. Ah, there's the rub, you say! How do you make systems work consistently? We found the way!

Podcasters have taken over my 40-plus-minute drive time most weekday mornings over the past few months. I especially enjoy listening to those who interview authors of business books. Last week, a certain guest author was speaking about his former boss who often shared his approach to marketing using the analogy of the habits of woodpeckers and peacocks.

My son Brandon, who had just finished a training session on our software with a new client, walked into my office the other day with a big grin on his face to relay what the client had just said during training. "Dad," he said, still grinning, "our new client told me his employees HATE the new systems."

Implementing proper systems for operating a business—and MEASURING incentive programs that are fair to the employee AND to the employer—is not for "mice," or the faint of heart.

The most successful printers don't refer to the weather forecast when assessing their next move; they plunge head-first into a scenario that has the potential to be parlayed into handsome profits. We've got three success examples for your consideration—firms that have enjoyed immense success even as the economy provides little to no optimism for the immediate future of print.

The parent company of Vistaprint and other Web-to-print brands has changed its name to Cimpress N.V. It plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years to develop proprietary software and production technology, in order to evolve its operational capabilities into a shared mass-customization platform (MCP).

If the 2014 campaign taught us anything, it's not to underestimate the value of a good education. And, from the book manufacturing point of view, the clamoring of presses could only mean one thing: Adoption cycles are back in full force. Most segments served by Chicago-based RR Donnelley enjoyed moderate to strong performances across the board in 2014.