How are you transforming  your company to keep up with technology? Do you have an online store rather than just brick and morter? Are you advertising your business using modern outlets such as Twitter and Facebook instead of just newspapers or flyers? Did you register your company with Internet search engines rather than just the Yellow Pages? Keeping up with the times is key to a business’s success. Don’t let lack of technology retire your business.

Phillip Grandsard  is a Software Developer at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Today’s post is a guest post from Jack Perry. Jack is Vice President of Product Management at Onpoint On Demand. Jack’s role is to help commercial print companies become POD profit leaders through practical application of JDF-enabled technology.

Value stream mapping is a great way to find the waste in any manufacturing process. It provides an illustration of your current workflow along with important data about customer value-added steps, business value-added steps, and customer non value-added steps. Let’s define each of these categories. The best way to categorize the steps in your process is to ask a series of questions for each category. We’ll start with customer non value-added steps because that is typically where most of the waste is.

Customer non value-added steps (CNVA):
Does our process include any of the following: wait time, re-keying of job information, temporary storage, unnecessary movement, redundant inspections or rework, counting or inventory analysis, rushes due to poor planning?
By removing some of these steps, how much lead time (total time to deliver finished goods) could we eliminate from our process?
If we reduce our lead times, how much increased capacity do we yield from existing equipment and personnel?

Ask yourself why you take the non value-added steps you currently take in your workflow. Then ask yourself if each step is really required. Does it contribute to reduced risk? Does it make your company more competitive? Or, is it likely that these superfluous steps simply make you feel better? A common theme I see at commercial print facilities is redundant steps in an effort to quality control the process. Rather than add more steps to the QC effort, error-proof it by applying lean manufacturing disciplines.

Business value-added steps (BVA):
Does this process include any of the following: steps required by regulation, certification or program compliance, steps that reduce business risk, steps that include management visibility into the process, steps that keep the process flowing?

Recognize that these steps are really non-value added, but may be necessary. Do your best to reduce the costs associated with these steps.

Customer value-added steps (CVA):
Does this process include any of the following: steps that add features or functions to the product, steps that contribute directly to manufacturing and delivery, steps that reduce price?

Ask yourself if your customer expects to pay for this step. Often in a manufacturing environment we tend to over produce. In other words, we try to deliver more than the customer expects or will pay for in an effort to please the customer. This is nothing more than waste. Ask yourself is your customer willing to pay extra for the steps you take to over deliver. If the answer is no, stop doing it. Good quality is what the customer expects and nothing more. Having a good understanding of what the client expects is an easy way for your company to be more competitive. By asking simple questions up front, you can eliminate over production and unnecessary cost which will make your pricing and margins better than the printer down the street who hasn’t asked the questions.

How to build a value stream map:
There are different methods of doing this. I like to start with a simple list of steps in the process. It is also standard practice to start building your map from delivery to customer working backwards through the process. But because our industry is so reactive – we jump into action when an order shows up – I like to start from the beginning of the process. Build a simple list of the foundational steps of the process. Here is an example of a list for workflow associated with a web2print production process:

1. receive order notification via email
2. retrieve job ticket and production file
3. re-key job ticket into MIS system
4. schedule job
5. send job ticket and production file into production
6. impose production file.
7. print job
8. finish job
9. ship job
10. update systems
11. invoice

These are just the high level steps in the process. Each step has a number of customer value-added steps, business value-added steps, and customer non-value added steps that must still be identified and documented.

Convert your list to a basic diagram:

Begin to add workflow details to each step:
Example 1: Receive Order Step

1. view email notification
2. click link to job ticket and asset

How long does each step take? Which category does each step belong in? CNVA, BVA, CVA? Is it task time (time it takes to add value to the job) or is it lead time (time it takes to deliver the job but no add value to it)?

Example 2: Retrieve Job Step

1. log into dashboard
2. open job
3. download job ticket
4. download production file[s]
5. log out of dashboard
6. close browser

How long does each step take? Again, which category does each step belong in? And so on…

Begin to add workflow data to your value stream map:

view email: (task time: 15 seconds) CNVA
click link to job ticket and asset: (task time: 3 seconds) CNVA

log into dashboard: (task time: 8 seconds) CNVA
open job: (task time: 15 seconds) CNVA
download job ticket: (task time: 30 seconds) CNVA
download production file: (task time: 1.25 minutes) CNVA
log out of dashboard: (task time: 3 seconds) CNVA
close browser: (task time: 2 seconds) CNVA

For each step, document the wait time, waste, unnecessary movement and effort, rework, counting of inventory, etc. All these items contribute to the total lead time it takes to get the job from receipt to delivery.

You begin to get a visceral understanding of the waste in your workflow. Just in two steps of a very basic process we have found 2.5 minutes of task time and perhaps hours of lead time depending on when the order came in. And none of the time spent contributes to value-added time the customer expects to pay for. Value stream mapping is a great tool for illustrating waste in the process. It also provides wonderful data that can be used to measure costs.  Assume that you process 2,300 web2print orders for 8.5X11 sell sheets each year. In your current process you identify 11 minutes of waste. That’s 421 hours. And at $30 per fully-burdened hour it adds up to $12,630 per year. Ouch! Remove the waste and put the money into your pocket.

How to Improve:
Begin to build a new value stream map that reflects your future state goals. Follow the same steps. Begin with a list of the new steps in the process. Map them at a high level. Fill in the details. Now compare the data for the two maps and you have what you need to begin your process improvement initiative.

Great questions to ask yourself while building a future state map:
Does our customer expect to pay for this step?
Are we overproducing?
Do we really need this quality control step or is it redundant?
How can we error-proof this step so we don’t have to check it again downstream?
Can we use technology to automate what humans do over and over again?

Use value stream mapping often in your lean initiative. You’ll be glad you did.

That was the income in 1969 when John S. Barry took over operations. He immediately decided to eliminate all but one company product, WD-40, and he renamed the company after it.

Soon after, he introduced the trademarked blue and yellow aerosol can. For the next 25 years, the company’s single product, packaging, and sales strategy remained virtually unchanged, according to the editors of INC. magazine.

Others in the company wanted to advertise WD-40 as an industrial, automotive or hardware product. But Barry wanted to keep the product in the public domain so both individuals and companies would buy it, use it and keep it on hand.

It must have been a good idea, because by 2008, sales of WD-40 hit $317 million. The product was sold through almost 70 different channels.

Barry would find out what worked and keep on doing it. And though he retired from the board in 1999, his formula still works.

When WD-40 was rolled out in China, it was with essentially the program that was introduced in 1972.

In Leigh Buchanan’s story for Inc on Barry, she notes that John Barry was a simple and humble man. If anyone asked him what he did, he would say he worked in a warehouse.

And he saved money. When he had meetings outside of the office, they were often held at Denny’s. He believed in his product and wanted everyone who worked for the company to believe in it too. When he visited the home of a man from his ad agency, he noticed a squeaky gate.

He was not happy and wondered how, if his ad people weren’t convinced they should stop squeaks, how could they know how to convince America?

The man who stopped the squeaks died in July at the age of 84.

What is your advertising strategy?

Users can post to questions to organized forums, search solutions or just interact with their peers as well as the PagePath team. Here are some of the added benefits the New IdeaExchange offers.

* Organized Forums
* Searchable Content
* Training Videos
* Ability to Post and Read Blog Articles
* Constant Updates from PagePath Technologies
* Customizable Profiles to Better Know Your Peers
* Ability for All Your Employees to Join (not just Admins)
* Subscribe to email or RSS Updates (Really Simple Syndication)
* Post and Rate Ideas for MyOrderDesk Product Improvement
* Access to Training Calendar
* Designed as a Social Network Specific to Printers

To join the New IdeaExchange go to http://IdeaExchange.MyOrderDesk.com.

PagePath Technologies announced today the first in a series of Social Media Marketing Classes for Printers. Classes are designed to train print companies and individuals how to connect and drive business using the latest in social networking techniques. Classes are one-on-one with a personal coach. The first class to be offered in the series is Twitter for Printers 101.

Twitter for Printers is designed to introduce the printing company to the marketing benefits of using Twitter. This class includes but is not limited to the following:

> Setting up a Twitter Account
> Learning the basic Twitter Web Interface
> Learning how and who to follow
> Generating Followers
> Tweeting with a Purpose
> The Power of Retweets
> Using Productive Twitter Tools

Registration Bonus:

Free SIGNED copy of the book World Wide Rave by renowned marketer David Meerman Scott

To register for this class click on the link below, or you can call Joe Kern with questions at 630-689-4119.

I want to Register!

PagePath Technologies, Inc. today announced the release of TwitterPrint.net

TwitterPrint.net is a website that was created for the Print Industry to research and view live trending topics on Twitter. “Industries need to embrace Social Media if they want to be competitive.” stated Joe Kern, Marketing Coordinator for PagePath. “We recognize that, and we want to help. PagePath built TwitterPrint.net to introduce our industry to Social Media.”

TwitterPrint.net captures all “tweets” that contain the words #TwitterPrint. The site streams the live discussions and allows visitors to navigate to any links or conversations they are interested in. Topics range from simple questions, to industry news and general information. To post to TwitterPrint.net simply put the word #TwitterPrint in your print related posts on Twitter.

If you are like me, these days are filled with a weird mixture of frustration and excitement.  Frustration because everywhere I look there is another report about the difficulties our industry is facing.  Even the so-called industry experts have nothing but bad to say – so much so, in fact, that one is tempted to believe them.  Excitement because personal experience is showing that opportunity is everywhere – so much so, in fact, that I am not sure which is the very best way to turn, because they all seem so filled with potential!

Allow me to take a step back to tell you a little not-so-secret tidbit about me:  I LOVE printing.  I have loved it since the first week I entered this wonderful biz.  Have you ever seen that YouTube video from Pizzazz Printing?  I AM that guy in every way…except I’m a girl, and I’m an American, and I don’t swear as much, and…well you get the idea.

Really…I want to yell it from the rooftops:  I LOVE printing!  In my passion for it, I choose to basically ignore the “cup-is-half-empty” folks.  Sure, I skim the articles to make sure I am up on trends and whatnot and to make sure there is nothing earth-shattering coming my way.  But after that I look for the influence of forward thinkers (including my rockin’ staff), combine that with what I already know…and then blaze my own trail.

Just yesterday I was excitedly talking to our bookkeeper, Becky, about all of the opportunity that is out there.  In an effort to help me get direction (what, me…scattered?), she asked me for a quick list of where I saw that opportunity.  Then she asked me, in her bookkeeper-y, sensible way, to quantify them – to put them in order of priority of which will make the most impact the quickest.  Dang!  She’s holding me back with all the sensible-ness!  I just wanted to be passionate and yell from the rooftops!

OK, ok…I get it – I see the value in what she wants me to do, but it still is like pulling teeth to get me to do it, partially because I don’t have the priority part figured out for myself.  (There’s something else you don’t know – Karen Hall, the editor from Quick Printing magazine, after hearing about our lofty growth goals this year, has asked me to write an article every other month for the on-line version of Quick Printing Magazine tracking my progress…so I guess it would be smart of me to do what Becky the bookkeeper has asked – at least I won’t appear quite so scattered.)

So here’s my blurted out list to Becky the bookkeeper…in no particular order…remember, I don’t have that pesky priority part figured out yet:

Direct sales

• Direct Mail
• Trade shows
• Customer Events
• Community Service
• On-line marketing and communications
• On-line networking
• In person networking
• PR

OK – so that’s a list of all of the getting-in-front-of-people opportunities.  But what if we work our tail off on all of these things and nobody is buying printing?  (Yikes!  Say it ain’t so!)  OK…It ain’s so!  I am here as personal testimony that they ARE still buying printing.  I will say it again, even in these crummy economic times in which we live, businesses still need a reliable, quality conscious printer they can develop a great relationship with.  (I can also give you arguments about why printing is a BETTER marketing and communications vehicle and why I see it perhaps becoming the premier form of marketing communications, but that will have to be for another blog.)

So how do I pick and choose and juggle between all of the getting-in-front-of-people options listed above?  THAT is my next challenge – to put focus on my drive and desire.  When I finally perfect my technique of going completely without sleep while still not biting my kids’ heads off, THEN I’ll be able to do all of it at once!

As one of my very first sales managers used to tell me, “Success in selling is all luck…being at the right place at the right time.  Hard work is how you create that luck.”  I would say exactly the same thing is true these 20 some-odd-years later.  Yes, people are buying printing.  Yes, we work in a fun, active, satisfying, wonderful industry.  And yes, we have to work hard to make those sales.  Would we really want it any other way?

Yell it with me:  I LOVE Printing!

View Lisa’s Blog, Lisa’s Website, Lisa’s Twitter

Customer satisfaction is key in a slowing economy. But the question that is often asked, is how do I know if my customer is truly satisfied with the work I have produced? Often times customers are leary of giving us true feedback face-to-face, or over the phone. Gathering accurate data is the challenge that is faced in making sure our quality and service are up to the standards our customers demand.

The best way to gather this data is by using the web to your advantage. PollDaddy.com is a free service that allows you to create custom surveys that your clients can complete online. With the flexibility that MyOrderDesk offers you, there are several ways to integrate PollDaddy surveys into your workflow. PagePath has produced a short 5 minute video that instructs you how to add this functionality to your site.

1. Who played Eliza Doolittle in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady?

a-Mary Martin, b-Audrey Hepburn, c-Julie Andrews, d-Wendy Hiller.

2. Which composer’s last original Broadway production was Silk Stockings?

a-Cole Porter, b-George Gershwin, c-Eubie Blake, d-Irving Berlin.

3. In 1997, Cats became the longest-running show on Broadway, surpassing the previous record set by what show?

a-A Chorus Line, b-The Fantasticks, c-Oh Calcutta, d-Hair.

4. Which Broadway musical featured the songs “You Can’t Get A Man With A Gun,” “Anything You Can Do” and “Show Business”?

a-Kismet, b-Gypsy, c-Calamity Jane, d-Annie Get Your Gun

5. What Pulitzer-Prize winning play, satirizing big business and the U.S. government, ran for 837 performances on Broadway in the 1930s?

a-Annie, b-You Can’t Take It With You, c-The More the Merrier, d-Of Thee I Sing.

6.Which 1994 Broadway play was the first live stage production by Disney?

a-Aida, b-Aladdin, c-The Lion King, d-Beauty and the Beast.

7. Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs and Adam Pascal were among the original cast members of which Tony-winning Broadway musical?

a-The Producers, b-Rent, c-Gypsy, d-Chicago.

8. Which playwright’s first work to appear on Broadway was Come Blow Your Horn in 1961?

a-Christopher Durang, b-Cole Porter, c-Neil Simon, d-Sid Caesar.

9. Which actress starred on Broadway in the one-woman show I’m Still Here…Damn It!?

a-Lily Tomlin, b-Sandra Bernhard, c-Patti LuPone, d-Elaine Stritch.

10. Who played Willy Loman in the Broadway debut of Death of a Salesman?

a-Humphrey Bogart, b-Lee J. Cobb, c-Marlon Brando, d-E.G. Marshall.

Join us for a Webinar on February 20, 2009

Step up your marketing tactics by using the Internet to direct traffic to your business and website.

Learn how to harness the power of the social mediasphere – blogging, digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, and many others – to get found by more potential customers, develop meaningful relationships with others in your industry, and position yourself as an expert in your field.

This Webinar is intended for print professionals and business owners who wish to learn about leveraging social media marketing for their business. The Webinar will cover:

• Why use social media channels for marketing.
• What are inbound links and how do the affect my search engine rankings
• How to engage and market in social media sites, including digg, blogging, Twitter, and many others.

Title: Social Media Marketing for Printers
Date: Friday, February 20, 2009
Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM CST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/814439577

If you have any questions about PagePath Technologies, or the Webinar, please contact Joe Kern at JKern@PagePath.com.