“Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.” – June 1735
The print and mail industry is an era of innovative technologies that are transforming the largest and the smallest operations. The rise of cloud-based systems and software-as-a-service remove the obstacles to improved address management, document enhancements, and workflow. Inkjet printing, wide-format equipment, and better finishing hardware continue to drive down costs. In-plant operations and service bureaus have more options to exceed their customers’ expectations.
An option that always needs to considered is changing your operating and customer service hours. Too often, managers accept the status quo about schedules. For in-plants, operating hours are often tied to company policies or availability of files. Too many service providers rely on schedules that were established before technology changes were implemented.
Making changes begins with the singular question – why are people working when they are working? Don’t accept the first response as the sole reason. Rather, it should be the start of the “five whys” method used to find the root cause of a problem. And your current schedule may be the root cause of not achieving greater success.
For example, for a finishing/inserter unit:
- Why does the shift start at 8:00am? That is when the print is ready.
- Why? Because the printers take 5 hours to print the overnight work.
- Why? Because our printers can only produce 90 pages per minute.
- Why? Because our printers are 5 years old.
- Why? Because we haven’t budgeted for upgrades.
Or, it may lead in another direction:
- Why does the shift start at 8:00am? That is when the print is ready.
- Why? Because the printers start work at 6:00am
- Why? Because the operators wait until all the overnight files are ready.
- Why? Because that was what they were directed to do by management.
- Why? Because that’s the way we’ve operated for 20 years.
Unfortunately, for many organizations, the answer to the last “why” is the most common reason for the current hours. Reconsidering the new tools and technologies deployed may reveal opportunities for changing the times when tasks are performed. Faster printers could mean work is completed earlier – or can be started later. Both options should be explored.
Customer service is important for every operation – in-plants and vendors. With production software that shares job status supported by AI-driven chatbots, customers expect immediate access. Integrating human agents isn’t always straightforward. Staggered shifts and remote workers can enhance the customer experience.
With all of these changes, enhanced communication within the team is a critical element of success. Daily huddles are a standard that must be integrated into the culture. The huddles are supplemented with shift turnover meetings. These brief meetings communicate job status, equipment status, and any ongoing issues.
As technology increases productivity, leaders need to assess their shop and customer service hours. Customers expect faster turnarounds and improved access to information. What worked in the past may not meet your needs today. Take advantage of the new tools and create new schedules that improve effectiveness and efficiencies. As the original Postmaster General instructed, “Since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.”
