WORK SMARTER - NOT HARDER

Work smarter—not harder!
Why reinvent when we should be duplicating successful prints hassle-free?  It   is not everyday an owner, man­ager or engineer of a screen printing operation can sit back and truthfully claim they do not require out-side help to improve productivity, print quality, re­duce waste and re­jects or need operators’ training to enhance­ growth and profitability.  In truth, help is given freely by vendors with their products and equipment—whether it is capital­ized upon or not.  But there lies the problem!  To transform the benefits of those products and equipment used, and to develop the essential skills required for a viable integrat­ed printing process, who is in the best posi­­tion to put it together and make it work operational-wise?  A key employee without the necessary previous ex­peri­­­ence­ or someone who success­fully does this job on a global base every­ day as a profession?  In reality, perhaps there has never been a better time to under­stand what is hap­pening within the workplace—as it af­fects the challenges facing the screen printing com­munity as a whole.  Consider a few but commonly asked ques­tions and crucial issues below; which are troubling many printing operations and the very rea­son why technical consulting and expert outsourcing for a few days are being demanded more than ever before. 

• Why do “successful” screen printing operations (as all Fortune 500 companies do) use technical consultants?
• How do you address customers’ in­creasing critical demands while existing production equipment integrity and efficiency decreases with age, use & abuse?
• Why does productivity get harder to obtain and quality increasingly more difficult to consistently maintain when ‘things’ seemingly haven’t changed?
• How/who/what actually replaces the special kind/type of knowl­­­edge & important skills that are lost when key personnel leave the company?
• How do you obtain reliable ideas, trends and criti­cal­ up-to-date techniques that are vital for survival in a competitive marketplace?
• What other ways can you obtain ex­pert knowledge, to im­port­ difficult-to-come-by techniques without the burden of hiring a full-time expensive technical expert or specialist?
• How do you address product, equipment, personnel & pro­cess­ evaluation objectively and expertly, includ­ing­ competitive unbiased analy­sis, reporting and recommendations?
• Many companies are downsizing—even during busy times, reengineering to achieve a much higher competitive rev­enue-per-employee ratios, to remain profitable and sustain growth
• Small and start-up operations typically do not have the depth or wealth of resources widely available to those of larger or more established business/printing operations
• Consulting can develop and give specialized ‘one-off’ train­ing­ specific to an operation’s needs and style, according to specialty, as well as conduct customized in-house technical training & print manage­ment­ seminars
• Production personnel openly accepts outsourced crucial in­put and ideas more readily and enthusias­tically­ than those from internal sources and also retain a larger amount of information too
• Outsourcing adds extra value to a business by de­veloping­ skills and knowledge through a higher lev­el of concentrated analysis expertise
• Specialized technical consulting can best over­see/conduct special or complex projects that requires unique knowledge­able resources that are professionally available only from external means
• Outsourcing provides unlimited troubleshooting exper­tise & problem-solving solutions, with complete ease, to enhance overall performance
• Obtain expert “no-cost” recommendations of specific actions to make the operation dramatically work smarter—not harder—based on objectives
• Periodic/routine “how are we doing-type” audit-reviews, process fine-tuning and meaningful operational/productivity enhancements

In the final analysis, specialized but focused technical consulting is rapidly becoming a necessity for many new start-up, reengineered or small-to-medium opera­tions—for the fast-track ‘learning curve’ to compete beyond equaling the competi­tion.  Also, larger and more established screening operations need to rid old ways, bad habits, improve upon harmonizing their ability and update interpersonal skills, in order to retain and expand customer-base and to excel in operation profitability.

Imagetek Consulting International
Mike@imagetekconsulting.com