Using efficiency to gain an edge - Business First of Louisville:

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President C. Michael Stewart is aware of the "I know it sounds funny," he said. "We'rse a printer, and we don't even prinr our own employee handbook anymore." But losing business to the Web is not According to executives atseveral Louisville-area printin g firms, business in generall has been in a slump for the past two In part, the economy has been but printers also have been losingy work because more and more materiaol is available online instead of on To grow their businesses, the executives say they have been lookin g to increase efficiency and productivity through variousz means, including developing innovative internal production processes as well as using new equipmen and software applications.
Many printerd also are increasing efficiency by usintg theInternet themselves. One company increasing efficiencyh by enhancing a production process is BeechmongtPress Inc., a Louisville firm that annually handlex about 5,000 jobs and has sales of about $15 When the company receives computer-generated projects from Beechmont now focuses on an intensivd "preflight" of the page layout files that make up the job. preflight involves a cursoryg inventory of the files to see if allsuppor items, such as fonts and are present.
Now the processa at Beechmont also includes verifying the page countand size, the numbefr of colors, and other detailes to compare the job received to the quote the companyy gave the client. During the past few years, "thix process has migrated from a task done after jobs entefr production to a rolefurther upstream," said Jim Beechmont's prepress manager. "This increases our efficiency in a numberof ways," he said. "Customersx can be notified sooner of problems that may affecty the cost or timelg delivery oftheir job. All elementsd of the electronic art are guaranteed to be therd whenproduction begins.
" With the job he said, employees have "an accurate portrayalo of the steps necessary to produc e the job. "The correct paper, ink and plates can be Production steps are less likely to be he said. "And, finally, we can let our productiom personnel concentrate onmanufacturing details." Productiohn personnel at AdPlex-Rhodes, formerly Rhodes Printingf Group, are taught to concentrate on efficiency throughh an extensive classroom-based training program. The Souther Indiana company had morethan $118 milliobn in sales in 2001. In the company merged with a Houston retailpromotions company, to becomee AdPlex-Rhodes.
According to Steve Spies, who is vice president of operationaat AdPlex-Rhodes in Charlestown, although most printingb companies provide training, few provide extensive classroom-basede instruction in the way AdPlex-Rhodesw does. Spies said he believes this is the best methox for cutting down on errors andincreasinfg productivity. "We train by position," Spies said. "So if say, a first-press we have a checklistt of all the areas you need to be trainexdin — roller settings, starting up a hanging plates. It migh t be 100 different things. We have a full-time persob putting together training packages, and employeez who are already expertsa in their areas leadthe classes.
We also have outside vendore come in." Some printing companieds are creating efficiencies by bundling servicesfor clients. For Vivid Impact Corp., a Louisville firm with about $12 million in annua l sales, has bundled several printing andrelated "Progressive printing companies are adopting a philosophy of becoming a graphixc arts service provider, adopting several graphicsz services under one roof so the processs of purchasing printing services and products is more efficient," said Earl president of Vivid Impact.