Promotional Printing Business

Client Background:

A promotional printing company that provides a variety of printing services, such as promotional merchandise, signage, promotional & branded safety clothing. The company had been experiencing challenges in meeting customer demands and keeping up with the competition due to outdated and inefficient printing processes.

Problem:

The company's management approached Sean Hyland & Associates to help them identify areas for improvement and implement solutions to streamline their promotional printing processes. We conducted an assessment and found that the printing process was not documented and therefore was not standardised for all workers. This resulted in inefficient work practices, leading to high waste and rework rates, long lead times, and frequent delays in delivery.

There were too many steps involved in delivering the various elements of the process. A lot of these steps were not interconnected which necessitated duplication of data entry.

Collaboration between the different functional elements of the business needed improvement and communication issues (both Internally & with Clients) were costing the company tens of thousands annually.

There was no management system to control and analysis operational workings of the business.

The Solution:

We proposed a comprehensive solution to address the promotional printing process's inefficiencies. The solution included the following:

Process Mapping and Analysis:

We conducted a detailed analysis of the promotional printing process from initial contact, qualification, quotation, scheduling and delivering the finished articles to the client. We identified the bottlenecks, and mapped out the process flow noting who was doing what?  Where things could be improved? The strengths and weaknesses of the team managing and those completing the various tasks? We studied internal and external communication, collaboration practices and examined the customer experience. We created a document for the client that mapped out all their operations, the people involved, technology used, the documentation created and the processes used to combine all of these elements.

The development of the process map helped us to understand how information flowed through the promotional printing process and identified areas where improvements could be made. We standardised the workflow so everybody in the company were completing tasks and communicating in the exact same way. This made the company more efficient, helped staff understanding the relevance of the process flows and helped to simplify the training of new hires. We introduced technology which was optimised for and based on the abilities of the staff using it. We integrated this new technology to seamlessly work with and improve existing systems. We conducted an audit which identified risk within  the process and helped mitigate risk .

Management System:

We designed, developed and helped implement a new bespoke operational system that manages all the data and workflows from the point of contact to the product delivery. All processes are simplified and standardised.  The new system has been seamlessly integrated with the existing marketing, finance and document creation software and now operates as one effective solution. We have added a number of automations that reduce duplication and enhance communication with the other departments involved in producing the products and the customer experience has been greatly improved. This innovation has reduced lead times, minimised waste, and improved the quality of the output.

We are now in the process of introducing  a new and comprehensive quality control system to the company. This will include regular inspections and audits of the promotional printing process. This will help the company identify and  fix issues before they cause delays or rework. The company also believe that this initiative will be greatly appreciated by their customers and give them an edge over their competitors.

Employee Training & Inclusion:

We provided training to the company's employees on the new integrated systems and the new quality control system under construction. This helped the employees understand the importance of these initiatives and how they could contribute to improving the company's overall efficiency.

We have also helped the employees introduce a continuous improvement policy, this involves monthly innovation meetings where employees are rewarded for the development of new ideas and improvements.

The Outcome:

The new systems has facilitated an increase in output by 27% in the first year alone. Margins have improved as inefficiency has been reduced.

Customer surveys we have conducted on behalf of the company indicates a much higher satisfaction rating and the companies employees feel more included and their productivity has increased to meet the new demand without the need to hire new staff.

Using the built in analysis tools, the printing company have been able to more accurately target areas of the business that exploit the strengths of the workforce. lead segments with the highest conversation rates have been identified and targeted. There were a number of long time clients paying outdated rates resulting in little or no profits. These clients were offered new terms and most took these up. Any freed up resources were allocated to the new high margin areas of the business under development.

The principles of the business confirmed the the investment they made in our services has was returned within 6 months of the handover date.