The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, Heidelberg. Let’s view the print process as a car manufacturing production line. It’s designed, tested, and highly monitored to achieve the highest level of efficiency at the lowest unit cost and at a set quality level. Print is a manufacturing process and should be viewed in exactly the same way. Automation and color monitoring (importantly it must be spectrophotometry!) has led to print being a honed process, not an art. Equipment investment should therefore be judged on its ultimate output cost per sheet. Productivity of your investment far outweighs any initial premium you may pay for that piece of equipment. If you are hanging onto older, paid-off equipment, I can almost guarantee that the latest equipment used by competitors has a lower cost per sheet, including the fact that their cost rate includes paying back that new investment. Let’s look at an example in the finishing department, which tends to be the area using most of the older technology, i.e. lacking regular replacement investments to keep pace with technology. How Can I Save? Let’s take a look at the average cost to produce a 16-page signature on a two-shift operation: With an older folder, manufacturing at just 5,800 sheets per hour, you’re spending an average of .00763 cents per folded signature. With a new folder, such as a Stahlfolder KH 82, manufacturing at 11,000 sheets per hour, you will cut the cost down to an average of .00433 cents per folded signature. This means if you are running 2.8 million sheets per month, you have the potential to save over $9,000 a month with the newer machine. That’s an annual savings of $108,000. The same analysis needs to be carried out across every cost center, plus the combined capacity of linked processes also needs to match. The most efficient printers load the business from back to front (finishing to prepress), therefore maximizing billings, reducing work in progress, and even adjusting cost rates daily to fill the capacity of each cost center. It’s a waste of investment funds, time, and cash flow if one process is highly productive—only to hit a significantly lower capacity wall downstream. If you ran a car manufacturing line, would you produce 8 wheels for each...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, Heidelberg. Let’s view the print process as a car manufacturing production line. It’s designed, tested, and highly monitored to achieve the highest level of efficiency at the lowest unit cost and at a set quality level. Print is a manufacturing process and should be viewed in exactly the same way. Automation and color monitoring (importantly it must be spectrophotometry!) has led to print being a honed process, not an art. Equipment investment should therefore be judged on its ultimate output cost per sheet. Productivity of your investment far outweighs any initial premium you may pay for that piece of equipment. If you are hanging onto older, paid-off equipment, I can almost guarantee that the latest equipment used by competitors has a lower cost per sheet, including the fact that their cost rate includes paying back that new investment. Let’s look at an example in the finishing department, which tends to be the area using most of the older technology, i.e. lacking regular replacement investments to keep pace with technology. How Can I Save? Let’s take a look at the average cost to produce a 16-page signature on a two-shift operation: With an older folder, manufacturing at just 5,800 sheets per hour, you’re spending an average of .00763 cents per folded signature. With a new folder, such as a Stahlfolder KH 82, manufacturing at 11,000 sheets per hour, you will cut the cost down to an average of .00433 cents per folded signature. This means if you are running 2.8 million sheets per month, you have the potential to save over $9,000 a month with the newer machine. That’s an annual savings of $108,000. The same analysis needs to be carried out across every cost center, plus the combined capacity of linked processes also needs to match. The most efficient printers load the business from back to front (finishing to prepress), therefore maximizing billings, reducing work in progress, and even adjusting cost rates daily to fill the capacity of each cost center. It’s a waste of investment funds, time, and cash flow if one process is highly productive—only to hit a significantly lower capacity wall downstream. If you ran a car manufacturing line, would you produce 8 wheels for each...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, FASTSIGNS International.   In 2003, Richard Helmey transitioned from being a senior executive in the Coca-Cola Companies juice division to the owner of a local printing business in Houston area college campuses. With a finger on the pulse of industry advancements and the changing needs of his customers, Helmey parlayed his background into quick revenue growth. He changed his company’s name to truecolor GRAPHICS and began offering marketing communications services as well as more comprehensive printing offerings. “My penchant for big growth led me to enter the wide-format market,” Helmey explained. “While we were in the wide-format business for some time, we felt there was a greater opportunity that we were missing out on. We evaluated expanding the product line internally, but knew we would need help to be effective in both production and marketing.” Helmey looked at various franchise offerings within the print space, but given his desire to also keep his existing business in operation, he found that some were inflexible on how an arrangement could work. He turned to the signage industry expecting to find the same feedback, but was excited when he came across FASTSIGNS®. The FASTSIGNS Co-Brand program helps independent business operators with print-related services add the FASTSIGNS brand and full-suite of solutions, while retaining control of their existing business. This allows Co-Brand franchise owners to maximize their businesses’ true potential by expanding their service offerings and effectively marketing and selling the new services with ongoing guidance from FASTSIGNS. “FASTSIGNS was really the perfect solution,” he added. “The Co-Brand program made it possible to separate the businesses for royalty purposes, meanwhile providing access to the resources and tools we needed to effectively build out our wide-format offerings. This made it a natural decision to add the powerful branding of FASTSIGNS to drive incremental gross profit.” He continued, “We added the FASTSIGNS franchise to our current printing location and the cost of entry was very affordable. We spent about $85,000 to purchase the franchise, necessary equipment, and complete the build-out at our existing location.” Co-Brand franchisees  can join FASTSIGNS for a down payment of $10,000. The company also offers the leading brand name in the sign and graphics industry, as well as product and printer reviews and negotiated discounts on equipment and supplies among several other benefits. “After becoming a FASTSIGNS Co-Brand franchisee, things really took off—it meshed well with my existing business, gave us the capability to provide a full range of wide-format projects, and injected a new level of sophistication to my company,” Helmey said. “Most importantly, wide-format sales are 20 percent of total revenues and are on track to double in the...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, FASTSIGNS International.   In 2003, Richard Helmey transitioned from being a senior executive in the Coca-Cola Companies juice division to the owner of a local printing business in Houston area college campuses. With a finger on the pulse of industry advancements and the changing needs of his customers, Helmey parlayed his background into quick revenue growth. He changed his company’s name to truecolor GRAPHICS and began offering marketing communications services as well as more comprehensive printing offerings. “My penchant for big growth led me to enter the wide-format market,” Helmey explained. “While we were in the wide-format business for some time, we felt there was a greater opportunity that we were missing out on. We evaluated expanding the product line internally, but knew we would need help to be effective in both production and marketing.” Helmey looked at various franchise offerings within the print space, but given his desire to also keep his existing business in operation, he found that some were inflexible on how an arrangement could work. He turned to the signage industry expecting to find the same feedback, but was excited when he came across FASTSIGNS®. The FASTSIGNS Co-Brand program helps independent business operators with print-related services add the FASTSIGNS brand and full-suite of solutions, while retaining control of their existing business. This allows Co-Brand franchise owners to maximize their businesses’ true potential by expanding their service offerings and effectively marketing and selling the new services with ongoing guidance from FASTSIGNS. “FASTSIGNS was really the perfect solution,” he added. “The Co-Brand program made it possible to separate the businesses for royalty purposes, meanwhile providing access to the resources and tools we needed to effectively build out our wide-format offerings. This made it a natural decision to add the powerful branding of FASTSIGNS to drive incremental gross profit.” He continued, “We added the FASTSIGNS franchise to our current printing location and the cost of entry was very affordable. We spent about $85,000 to purchase the franchise, necessary equipment, and complete the build-out at our existing location.” Co-Brand franchisees  can join FASTSIGNS for a down payment of $10,000. The company also offers the leading brand name in the sign and graphics industry, as well as product and printer reviews and negotiated discounts on equipment and supplies among several other benefits. “After becoming a FASTSIGNS Co-Brand franchisee, things really took off—it meshed well with my existing business, gave us the capability to provide a full range of wide-format projects, and injected a new level of sophistication to my company,” Helmey said. “Most importantly, wide-format sales are 20 percent of total revenues and are on track to double in the...

The following post was submitted by 2016 President’s Conference sponsor, FASTSIGNS International.   In 2003, Richard Helmey transitioned from being a senior executive in the Coca-Cola Companies juice division to the owner of a local printing business in Houston area college campuses. With a finger on the pulse of industry advancements and the changing needs of his customers, Helmey parlayed his background into quick revenue growth. He changed his company’s name to truecolor GRAPHICS and began offering marketing communications services as well as more comprehensive printing offerings. “My penchant for big growth led me to enter the wide-format market,” Helmey explained. “While we were in the wide-format business for some time, we felt there was a greater opportunity that we were missing out on. We evaluated expanding the product line internally, but knew we would need help to be effective in both production and marketing.” Helmey looked at various franchise offerings within the print space, but given his desire to also keep his existing business in operation, he found that some were inflexible on how an arrangement could work. He turned to the signage industry expecting to find the same feedback, but was excited when he came across FASTSIGNS®. The FASTSIGNS Co-Brand program helps independent business operators with print-related services add the FASTSIGNS brand and full-suite of solutions, while retaining control of their existing business. This allows Co-Brand franchise owners to maximize their businesses’ true potential by expanding their service offerings and effectively marketing and selling the new services with ongoing guidance from FASTSIGNS. “FASTSIGNS was really the perfect solution,” he added. “The Co-Brand program made it possible to separate the businesses for royalty purposes, meanwhile providing access to the resources and tools we needed to effectively build out our wide-format offerings. This made it a natural decision to add the powerful branding of FASTSIGNS to drive incremental gross profit.” He continued, “We added the FASTSIGNS franchise to our current printing location and the cost of entry was very affordable. We spent about $85,000 to purchase the franchise, necessary equipment, and complete the build-out at our existing location.” Co-Brand franchisees  can join FASTSIGNS for a down payment of $10,000. The company also offers the leading brand name in the sign and graphics industry, as well as product and printer reviews and negotiated discounts on equipment and supplies among several other benefits. “After becoming a FASTSIGNS Co-Brand franchisee, things really took off—it meshed well with my existing business, gave us the capability to provide a full range of wide-format projects, and injected a new level of sophistication to my company,” Helmey said. “Most importantly, wide-format sales are 20 percent of total revenues and are on track to double in the...