The World Bank's Printing & Multimedia Services Shows In-plants A Glimpse Of The Future

By Jimmy Vainstein

Video Conferencing

Sharing feedback between our teams was another challenge we faced at The World Bank’s Printing & Multimedia Services operation. To make sure all jobs kept moving on the production stream, we started to rely heavily on video conferencing between both locations. We added Web cameras on all desktop computers relevant to our operation. Cameras were installed on stations on our production floor, in our prepress area and in all appropriate office environments.

Skype has become second nature for our operators when they need to check print quality issues with CSRs or get a second opinion on daily bindery questions. We also inaugurated a state-of-the-art conference room powered by an HD video conferencing interface. We use that room every morning for our production meetings where we are not only able to see each other, like in the old days, but we can also bring up a shared screen to show any technical details about a print run.

The World Bank's Printing & Multimedia Services operation went through a roller coaster of changes last year when we moved our main printing facility 11 miles away from downtown Washington, D.C., to Landover, Md. The move was part of our institution's space realignment project, which affected a section of our facilities downtown. Our operation was split, with our production staff relocating to Maryland and our customer service reps (CSRs), designers and others remaining in downtown Washington.

With a divided operation we had a long list of questions that demanded immediate answers if we were to offer continuity of our services and a seamless transition during our move. It was clear that we needed to re-think our operation and make a good number of workflow adjustments.

As in-plant managers, we tend to pursue changes only when absolutely necessary. Big workflow shifts are typically driven by equipment or systems acquisitions that require our operations to change to allow the new pieces to fit. Unless there is a radical reason for change, the meaning of the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" takes special significance in our line of work; we try not to mess with a good thing unless we absolutely must. Workflow revisions tend to be a matter of adapting instead of evolving.

At the World Bank, we certainly needed to do some major adapting if we were to continue successfully serving our customers. Our main concern was the large distance between our operational groups. CSRs could no longer print a job ticket and walk to the print shop to drop an order in the press area. Press operators were no longer able to walk to the office to physically show a press proof in order to explain a print problem. Above all else, we were faced with having a disconnection between the staff at our two locations after interacting together under the same roof for years.

To address this new reality, we decided to embrace the challenge of overhauling our workflow. As a result, we have implemented a good number of systems and technological tools that will help us take our operation into the future.

Virtual Job Tickets and Proofs

Since job tickets could no longer be hand delivered to our production area, we used our Avanti Print Shop MIS to send e-mail alerts when a job was ready for production. The message contained a direct link to a PDF ticket and a link to the job folder with all files related to the print run. The PDF ticket included a digital color flag indicating the job priority level; prior to this, we were using hand-applied color stickers.

Incorporating a simple e-mail workflow brought important efficiency gains. We were able to backtrack all of our jobs to summarize the complete trail of interaction related to one particular order. Any person working on a certain job could go back on the e-mail trail and check for the succession of file changes, managers could track time stamps when jobs were submitted for production, and press operators could rely on e-mails to confirm approval notices. On the latter we found that a simple e-mail workflow could go a long way.

New Proofing Procedures

Job approvals were certainly a challenge, especially since our clients were used to seeing physical proofs fresh off the press (sometimes even waiting at the print shop door). Given the new obstacles, we worked on implementing a few different ways for our clients to interact with proofs.

The first option (and my personal favorite) was to encourage printing without client proofing. We tried to rely on "content proofs" either by sending a PDF of the final file or by printing proofs on conventional local printers in order to focus exclusively on proofing content and not color or quality.

We also implemented Web proofing using Agfa :Apogee WebApproval. The system provides clients with a Web interface where they can see their print files and virtually provide any annotations, or approve if needed.

When actual physical proofs were required, we implemented a mix between proofs coming out of our digital presses and using a dual proofing system. The proofing system relied on two high-definition inkjet proofers installed at our two locations. Both were color calibrated to match the same color profiles and to target a digital offset press. The system allowed a client to see a proof at our downtown location that matched exactly the one we printed in our Maryland site.

As we worked through these changes, we learned that getting away from physical proofing was not an easy task. Clients like to get samples of print jobs in their hands, as it fuels the perception that a print job is moving forward.

Keeping Track of Jobs

For job tracking we started to monitor a job shipping report that shows all orders that are done on a given day. That same data gets married with The World Bank's mail and shipping service, showing a useful tracking number for all packages we send.

Not so long ago we were dropping our boxes in a mailroom and had no certainty if they would reach clients on time. With the current system, our clients and CSRs also get an e-mail so they can track a job shipment as needed.

We are now focusing on a second stage of our operation revamp. The goal is to have a comprehensive system that would allow us to have full live tracking of everything going on in our shop. Our Avanti system gives us useful reports and databases, and its scheduling system can be leveraged for this.

Digital Signage System

This year we installed flat screens in different areas of our print shop with the objective of showing live data personalized for every stage of our chain. The idea is for screens to show a list of all jobs ready for production depending on where you are standing in our shop. The digital signage system is also intended to show priorities managed from a central location and a mix of relevant stats from our daily operation reports.

Most importantly, the screens are able to provide operators with instant messages coming from our downtown office (or vice versa). This quickly alerts them to urgent news about jobs so they can take immediate action.

Looking back, we have accomplished a lot, but technology is just technology. The most rewarding achievement has been to see our staff working together and being part of workflow discussions that converted simple changes into valuable efficiency gains.

Before we started this ride, our operation was fairly lean, and we had happy clients. It is hard to imagine that we would have an incentive to implement radical changes if we hadn't been required to move. Still, we truly learned that we shouldn't wait for the next big structural change to hit us before we sit down with our staff to analyze our workflow and find better ways to do business.

As in-plant managers we should have our critical thinking caps on at all times, and create opportunities for our staffs to have regular discussions and brainstorm. This is especially true in a printing industry that is constantly changing and reinventing itself.

You know what they say: If it ain't broke…kick it harder!