Graphic Media Alliance

08/08/2023

Quoins2Pixels

Growing Contribution Dollars

Once you realize that contribution dollars are the key to profits, your obvious goal is to get more. The path is getting more jobs through your plant. The good news is that they are right under your nose—they’re the jobs you quoted but didn’t get. Obviously, you already know about these potential customers because you talked with them and quoted them but got nothing. However, what if your quote had been 5% or even 10% lower?

Do You Really Want Those Orders?

Given the above-mentioned strategy, many astute managers are concerned that reducing prices can put us on the highway to bankruptcy. That would be a valid assumption if we just indiscriminately started reducing pricing on our work without knowing our client, the type of work they purchased, our existing capacity, and their ability to meet obligations (pay us!).

Take Action -- PM

Preventive Maintenance is a crucial part of any manufacturing/production-oriented business. Sadly, it’s one function which is frequently overlooked in our industry due to the constant changing schedules to meet customer deadlines and requirements. Yet, the cost of not creating rigid procedures to ensure proper maintenance (including software updates) can cost us in unplanned delays... which in turn create more deadline issues as well as spoilage $$.

Read The Contract

You’re buying a piece of equipment or leasing a property. The seller or lessor gives you several pages of text along with their proposal. You can be sure that these pages of mouse type were drafted by their attorneys with a view to leaving you in the dust if there’s a problem.

Summertime 

It’s that time of the year when “the living is easy” to paraphrase George Gershwin. It’s also the time for the industry’s dreaded summer slow-down. While it can be a good time to become aggressive with pricing, it can also be an excellent time to review processes; conduct plant cleaning and organization; review employee performance; analyze accounts and conduct account reviews; and focus on training and cross-training.

Did You Know?

Although many of us in the industry know that Benjamin Franklin was a printer and publisher, most individuals in the industry don’t know who was the first printer in the United States. That honor goes to Stephen Daye who was considered by multiple sources to be the first printer in colonial America. Daye immigrated to the Colonies in 1639 and setup his press at Harvard College in Cambridge. He was a locksmith by trade but was contracted to setup the colony’s first printing press.

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quoins2pixels—the bi-weekly, nuts and bolts management newsletter

Graphic Media Alliance is proud to share this publication which is short, easy to read, but totally focused on the nuts and bolts of the actions that will increase your profits.  quoins2pixels is written by Bob Lindgren and Joe Polanco. Bob and Joe have spent decades in the printing industry, and throughout their careers, they have counseled hundreds of company owners on a variety of management topics. As a value-added service of Graphic Media Alliance, they are available to expand on these articles, or aid with projects.