Article prepared by C. Clint Bolte, C. Clint Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. For additional information please call 717-263-5768, fax 717-263-8945, or e-mail to clint@clintbolte.com.

PIA/GATF.NAPL Sheetfed Conference 2004

Move Cautiously, but Don't Wait to Move Ahead!

This 14th annual conference jointly sponsored by the industry's national trade associations, the Printing Industry of America/Graphic Arts Technical Association and the National Association for Printing Leadership, met June 13-15, 2004 in Chicago. Forty-eight suppliers, many of whom just returned from one of their most exciting and lucrative DRUPA trade shows in Düsseldorf, Germany, were sponsors to this growing North American conclave. The 330 attendees, slightly ahead of last year, heard several peer "how to" panel discussions, insightful projections of personnel skills needed in the future, and got to network with the leading practitioners on the continent.

Panelists discussed staffing the printing plant of the future. With digital workflows invariably originating well before the printing plant and manufacturing cycles being compressed to hours rather than days, essential production decisions are needed to be made as close to the client as possible. Hence, the evolving skills and responsibilities of the CSR become critical. Gerald Walsh, EFI Representative, surmised that tomorrow's CSR should be assigned a series of five responsibilities. (1) Job launch - reviewing specifications, preflighting, material acquisition, timeline review, key schedule, and release to production. (2) Remote communications - with client, sales person, and vendor via Internet, wireless, or cell phone. (3) Revenue enhancement - invoice review, alteration forewarning & tracking, additional services needed, reorder tracking for inventory line item. (4) Internal communications - production management, accounting, and purchasing. (5) Progress monitoring - remote proofing and early warning signals on value-add impact.

Tim Daisy, Creo's NGP Market Segment Manager, further suggested that the estimator, production planning, and scheduling function should also reside in the customer service arena. Today these are often three distinct positions existing in a static staff mode. The future dictates that these responsibilities be shared, perhaps in a customer service team mode, in order to be as flexible and dynamic as possible. This entire team must have access to the most current data in order to make both timely as well as profitable decisions. For example, if a client's urgent request to resequence work creates more complex wash-ups due to loss of economies of common ink sequences or multiple make-readies (pulling another job before completion) the CSR must have the information to tell the client so additional charges can be anticipated and agreed to.

Doug Schardt, Komori America's Product Manager, suggested that second pressmen will be expected to have more knowledge and assume more responsibilities in the effective running of the latest generation of sheetfed presses. Debate from the audience raised the point that the latest half size presses comprised of six or fewer units are designed to be run with a single operator, i.e., there won't be a second pressmen. Larger presses or half size presses with 8 or 10 units will have a second pressman. However, the higher skills required of both these operators might suggest that they both may be number one pressmen. This implies that there are few future jobs for the conventional number two pressman and therefore makes graduated training up to the future number one pressmen extremely difficult. The near term answer might be in the fact that a new sheetfed press will replace at least two if not three pre-1995 presses that do not have the current level of automation. If that many older presses are being retired, a whole series of number one pressmen will be available for the new machine, though perhaps not on the shift they might prefer.

Several panelists alluded to the increasing importance of computer skills for pressmen. Therefore, it takes little imagination to consider that future pressmen may come out of electronic prepress (EPP) ranks. Similarly, with the EPP journeymen becoming more knowledgeable of ink fountain presets and post press imposition requirements via JDF and CIP4 data there is little doubt that tomorrow's Production Managers and Vice Presidents of Manufacturing will most probably come out of the EPP ranks.

Keynoter Dr. Jeff Salz has made a life of adventure as a cultural anthropologist, explorer, and journalist. While sharing colorful slides from his worldwide expeditions, Dr. Salz examines adventure as a strategy for increasing personal effectiveness and turning each day into a "peak performance." His "six steps to the top" reminded the audience that adventure is a matter of attitude, not altitude. When change is chosen, life becomes an adventure.

In his afternoon small group session Dr. Salz had the participants going through a series of personal and two-person exercises that highlighted exciting experiences suggesting underlying personal values and priorities. For example in creating a personal vision each participant listed twelve end results that they would hope to have within two years. The first was then compared with the second and each subsequent item for choosing the most important. The second was then compared with the third item and so on until each wish was compared one on one with every other. A basic, clear vision of priorities evolves for each participant. These priorities should be followed in initiating both personal and professional change in the future.

GATF Senior Consultant Ray Prince led a panel of experts brain storming slow press make ready issues. He concluded that there are ten 'killers' of fast make ready: (1) handwritten job tickets, (2) no proof/wrong proof, (3) PMS colors not specified, (4) no PMS proof, (5) looking for paper, (6) looking for ink, (7) looking for plates, (8) bad plates, (9) lack of plant humidity control, and (10) lack of maintenance.

In addressing critical trends, NAPL Senior Economist Joe Vincenzino reported that their printing business panel has reported paper prices spiking since January. Critical Trends panelist David Harding, CEO of Indianapolis' SPG Graphics, told of acquiring two companies out of bankruptcy during the past two years. These firms shared the following characteristics: (1) didn't know their true costs and were selling 15% too low, (2) paper inventory was too high, (3) ink inventory was too high and in some instances obsolete, and (4) top management was not in tune with key clients.

As his people analyzed their DI workflow they discovered "20% of the job tickets represented 5% of the volume." The DI turn around was intended to be much quicker than the offset workflow but the DI administrative burden was too cumbersome. To help unburden that workflow Harding suggested that for select clients on particular specialty products he would like to encourage his clients to do their own estimating from pricing module charts SGP provides.

Another Critical Trends Panelist Daniel Hanson, Vice President and General Manager of Fort Worth-based Branch-Smith Printing Ltd., reported that interviews with select new employee candidates revealed that many highly skilled people were carrying baggage where their former employer's may not have treated employees with the same set of values that Branch-Smith espoused. Overcoming this baggage was a real concern that in some cases may jeopardize a possible job offer from Branch-Smith for an otherwise highly qualified candidate. Harding added that SPG is extremely thorough in their background checks before offering a position. And in fact they may try to structure a part time position initially for a new person to verify fit.

Bruce Brown, Senior Print Operations Manager in charge of finishing and imprinting for the Chicago-based Allstate Print Communications Center, offered a thorough synopsis on his firm's policies for managing their temporary work force. Of their 360 total employees as many as 50-100 can be temporaries on any day depending upon workflow demands. Most of these people are assigned in finishing and fulfillment operations.

They have a contract with a large temporary agency that has an on-site representative. The multi-cultural nature of the workforce results in Allstate offering English as a Second Language for the temporary employees as well as utilizing bi-lingual leaders. Employment liability is minimized by assuring that the temporary agency performs all human resource functions of (1) handling employee complaints and administering discipline, (2) interviewing, testing, hiring, and (as necessary) terminating, (3) handling all issues relative to pay, and (4) communicating employee performance to the temp agency and allowing them to provide the this feedback to the employee.

Mark Cleveland, Senior Fulfillment Operations Manager for Allstate, offered a case study of their recent fulfillment and kit packing expansion. While they had the top management and IT infrastructure in place to absorb an additional $4 million of annual business, it turned out that they needed 15 FTEs for order processing, two people for data management (systems and inventory clerk), and seven FTE in customer contact. The interesting point is to reflect upon the importance of the nine people necessary to support the actual production operations or 36% of the total direct client specific workforce.

Mr. James E. Hammer, third generation owner and CEO of Rochester-based Hammer Lithograph Corporation, received the tenth annual Sheetfed Executive of the Year Award from the national trade associations. This author finds it interesting that the recipient of the first award, Frank B. Woods, continues to return year after year to this conference. While he willingly participates on any panel requested, he is primarily there to learn.

Having attended each of the past thirteen sheetfed conferences, I find it difficult to imagine how owners can invest the necessary millions of dollars in pertinent graphics technology to remain current; and yet they do not send representatives of their operations and management team to this gathering to assure that they hear the latest tricks of the trade. On the other hand there are several privately held firms and professionals, like Frank Woods, that can't seem to learn enough. If I were a typical printer who does not invest regularly in training, I would rather compete with the former than the later. Rest assured, the later will eat your lunch one day, if you can't stay out of their way.

Article prepared by C. Clint Bolte, C. Clint Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. For additional information please call 717-263-5768, fax 717-263-8945, or e-mail to clint@clintbolte.com.