10 Tips for  Streamlining Production

Doing more with less has become standard operating procedure for most production departments. Many production and manufacturing executives are regularly tasked with reviewing their processes to find even more ways to trim time and costs from the production cycle. Here, industry professionals offer 10 tips for streamlining production. Tips From … Theresa Skrapits, Production Director, MediZine1. Review commonly used documents and templates, and update, as necessary. "If a document is a hard copy or a Word document, it can probably be improved," says Skrapits. "Excel documents allow you to isolate costs, link to summary sheets [and] eliminate … hand work. … Our printer invoices … link to the current price list, by make- ready, running per-thousand cost or one-time costs. [Our] summary sheets mirror [financial] spreadsheets, so actual costs and forecasting are simplified. Manufacturing instructions are linked to the print order, so … version counts are always correct. Setting up a document once, correctly, will save you lots of time, and give you a snapshot of where you are spending and … saving." 2. Document everything —problems, solutions and cost savings. "Keep track of what worked [and] what didn't," she says. "… Documenting savings for our quarterly issues really added up. In five years, I've 'found' over $1 million worth of savings simply by doing things better!" Tip From … Barb Van Sickle, Production Director, Active Interest Media3. Utilize staff members with transferable skills. "Everyone is pitching in, learning new responsibilities …," says Van Sickle. Tips From … Sally Kingsley, Director of Manufacturing, Smithsonian Publishing4. If your volume supports it, hire a full-time, in-house color expert. The Smithsonian's expert goes on press checks, says Kingsley. "While having a color guy on press for … every press approval … is a luxury, we feel that it is important. We have invested a lot of time into every image, and we want them to reproduce as well as they can." 5. Negotiate printing and paper contracts. "There's usually the possibility of extending print or paper contracts for concessions [from the printer]," Kingsley says. "In this economy, … both printers and paper companies are motivated to secure business into the future." 6. When negotiating contracts, leverage your strengths. For example, says Kingsley, if your company has financial strength, leverage a better discount for quick pay terms. For smaller contracts, the publisher may be able to put money on account from which the vendor will draw. "All of this has a value to the vendor; it is up to the publisher to determine what that value is and then monetize it." 7. For special jobs or inserts, ask the printer to quote the job two ways: with publisher-supplied and printer-supplied paper. Obtain the exact specification of the paper and the consumption, Kingsley advises. "Even if you are not inclined to buy the paper, you can shop it to see what the actual price is and, therefore, see what kind of markup the printer is putting on supplying the paper," she says. "Call a paper merchant and see what [it would cost]." 8. Investigate software to automate manual tasks. Kingsley's department adopted software to process its finishing instructions, which use to be handled by a staff member using an Excel spreadsheet. "Look for automations not just in your processes, but with your vendors, too, such as your fulfillment house and printer," she says. "Get everyone to think about playing in the same sandbox." 9. Weigh a shorter production cycle versus the additional cost. "Is there a cost benefit of taking 10 days out of a production cycle? ... Learning where you can take time out … involves getting down into the [details] of the manufacturing process," says Kingsley. "What is the lead time from when you ship your files to the printer to when you are on press? … How many presses are you printing across? How long are you in finishing? … What is your mailing time? Spend time at your printer [during production]. … There may be extra time built in that you can compress and give back to ad sales or edit." 10. Consider volume printing. "Most magazines and catalogs insert BRCs. Look into … printing a three- to six-month supply at one time," says Kingsley. "There may be additional storage charges … but … printing the larger volume … may offset other costs. … Negotiate the storage fee." PE

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10 Tips for  Streamlining Production

Janet Spavlik

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Janet Spavlik