Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

Does your company have a clearly defined pricing policy? Is it written down? If it is written, how do you monitor whether or not, and how well, it's being executed? Even if your policy isn't in writing, how do you control and measure it in operation? Experience indicates that 90 percent or more of printing companies don't have written policies for setting prices. Pricing at most printers is like the common law system of jurisprudence: We make it up as we go along, on a job-by-job basis. Then we try, as best we can, to make a decision based on precedent modified by circumstances. But we

"Productivity is simply the ratio of chargeable hours to available man hours." Thus spoke NAPL consultant Bill Herrott at the 1997 Web Offset Conference. So, when the national economists report that "productivity" of the United States is up or down for a recent quarter, are they saying that the national ratio of chargeable hours to available hours rose or fell? In a word: No. When economists say productivity is up, they mean that the value of the gross national product, factored by the resources applied, has risen. Nobody mentions "chargeability." So if Herrott didn't mean the same thing that national economists mean, what did he mean?

Judging by the e-mail response to the article I wrote about job costs as a "virtual" reality in the September issue of Printing Impressions, the relationship of cost and price is more confusing to printers than is technology! Trouble is, the bean counters, the high priests of accounting, who should know better, don't seem to have a clue. (Now watch my e-mail box fill up.) The double-entry system started in northern Italy about 700 years ago had limitations. It was "custodial" tracking of cargo contents and share ownership for sailing ships trading with the Indies. Cargoes were debits and owner ships were credits and they

The New York/New Jersey market is a territory where even the top companies must constantly battle to stay alive. In this area, printing is an industry where the competition is especially fierce. Plagued by small margins and countless competitors, printing companies have found it essential to have effective and reliable management systems. Carlstadt, NJ-based Pictorial Offset Corp. is a printer that epitomizes the gold standard for a customer-oriented approach to business. As one of the top 200 printers in the United States, Pictorial serves the metropolitan area by being the closest full-service web and sheetfed printer to Manhattan. How has Pictorial set itself apart in

"Lift" and "pull" are dirty words in the world of commercial printing. When you "lift" a form or job, you "pull" it off the press, binder or other process before it's completed. You do this because you must put some other job or form in its place, in order to meet a promised delivery time. The practice impairs productivity, compromises quality and zaps profits. "Well, if it's that bad," you say, "then why would anyone do it?" We do it because we've promised a delivery date we can't keep unless we interrupt the completion of forms or jobs already in process. Next question: "Why do we

Something has has been troubling some accountants and printing software suppliers whom I speak to from time to time: They note that printers often produce reports—information—from their computers at dazzling speeds, but then they don't use the data to make decisions and take action. "Why do companies pay big bucks for these data systems and then seem to ignore results that mandate remedial action?" is a question many ask. "We're giving them what they asked for, aren't we? So why don't they use it?" Yes, these systems are providing financial reports, balance sheets, income statements and cash flow analysis—all based on a system developed by

BY JERRY JANDA Phil Ruggles, a Cal Poly State University professor and consultant specializing in management information systems, estimates that this year there are approximately 70 vendors selling computer management systems to the graphic arts industry. As of yet, no vendors sell software that makes selecting, and integrating, a computer management system any easier. Ruggles notes that there is no easy way to determine which computer management system is best for a given company—there are simply too many variables to allow for a quick choice. Research and study by the printer are essential. And at the end of the research process, it is unlikely

Virtual reality is created by a computer using sights and sounds that the mind perceives as real as the desk, table or chair where you're reading these words. This reality exists in that computer gear you put over your eyes and ears to see and hear a simulated scene. We also have our own virtual reality in printing management. We call it "job cost accounting." We see these job costs, and we think they're as real as the chair that we occupy as we look at them. "An hour in platemaking costs me $57.43." We forget that these costs are a virtual reality we

During the 46th Annual PIA Web Offset Conference in Toronto, William L. Davis, chairman and CEO of R.R. Donnelley & Sons, gave a speech titled "Ground Truths." But I prefer to call the speech the "Davis Manifesto." I term the speech a manifesto because within it Davis speaks plain truths about our industry and describes intentions for his company. I've reread it several times. Each time, I find it as refreshing as a cool glass of lemonade on a hot Texas afternoon. I do hope it will be reprinted in full somewhere for all to read—including the United States Department of Commerce. Davis came to

Is it important to listen to customers? I have yet to meet the sales and marketing executive who does not think so. Why, then, do so few printing companies create effective venues for learning about their customers' concerns and expectations? Discussions that take place during the routine conduct of business provide essential information. But these exchanges are not what I have in mind. The often painful sessions that take place when a printing company has made a grievous mistake can be instructive, to say the least, but seldom offer much insight about a customer's organization. Sales managers intermittently accompany sales reps on visits to their