Automation: The Key to Your Survival

In today’s high-demand business environment, production printing service providers are challenged to ensure that they operate efficiently without compromising on quality. With fixed budgets, limited physical plant space, demands for faster turnaround times and often decentralized ordering procedures, in-plants can find this challenge particularly amplified.

Moreover, with ongoing competition from commercial printers and efforts to reduce internal cost, in-plants are coming under greater scrutiny by administrators and may face budget cuts or even shutdown unless they can prove their value to their organizations.

While today’s challenges may seem daunting, in-plants are certainly not out of options. By becoming more efficient, reducing operating costs and placing the focus on the customer, in-plants can not only compete with the threat of outsourcing, but dismiss the common misperception that they are “cost centers.” With this in mind, the question is no longer whether survival is possible, but rather what’s the secret?

The answer: Automation.

Improving the Customer Experience

Automation can unlock major benefits for in-plants. Ultimately, simplifying the job submission process can result in improved productivity, more efficient workflows, managed costs and greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. Chief among these benefits is making it convenient for customers to do business with the in-plant, which will drive orders.

For example, even something as simple as implementing automated email communications to give customers real-time feedback on job status will make a significant difference in customer satisfaction.

An automated process can further validate the in-plant’s importance by incorporating business intelligence that not only provides financial controls for more accurate accounting, but captures customer data on their ordering history.

Boosting Value and Reducing Labor

Beyond the benefits automation offers the customer, in-plants will also gain remarkable benefits internally, particularly by reducing costs and waste. With perceived high costs being a common reason for administrators to shut down an in-plant, automation processes can help secure an in-plant’s future.

Most jobs still arrive at a typical in-plant in a variety of ways: email, CD/DVD, USB thumb drive or most commonly by hand. In-plants must not forget that their biggest threat is outsourced business to commercial printers, mostly due to the seamless job submission process they offer their customers.

The days of needing to physically walk a job down to the site are no longer an option; in-plants need to mimic the high-quality service provided by commercial printers, including a user-friendly storefront and automated workflow, which combined will have an inherent cost savings resulting in long term viability.

The benefits from implementing an automated workflow are undeniable; it can help minimize manual intervention, such as logging each job in and queuing them for preflighting and production — an exceedingly slow process that can waste time and money.

For example, a busy print manager must correctly capture every detailed instruction via email and convert that data into a functional job ticket, which requires multiple steps and people. The email may contain several attachments, missing files or unclear requirements. The result can have unforeseen errors, delays and loss of customer loyalty.

As print shops know, the devil is in the details, and automated solutions can streamline the submission process, keeping the customer updated on the job status along the way. It will provide valuable metrics that can be used to engage with customers to reduce cost.

Automated Workflow is Key

While hardware may be the most visible part of the printing process, the software behind the scenes is critical. These software investments are often overlooked or cut in the final purchase requisitions. The combination of workflow and software enables the high level of automation that in-plants need to demand in order to successfully compete with commercial printers.

In-plants need to implement automated processes — from job submission to customer communication and billing processes to workflow — in order to improve their operations and demonstrate their value proposition. By selecting a solution, such as PRISMAdirect from Canon — which not only helps in-plants to meet customer demands, but also simplifies processes, reduces costs and expedites turnaround time — in-plants can better compete with the competition and save their operation from being shut down.

In today’s market, automation is more than just a means of survival, but also a necessary step to transforming your in-plant into a successful business model for years to come.