Print management companies will do as much or as little as you want them to. Typically they will help and advise you about print, source competitive pricing for your print, buy said print on your behalf and then manage the entire print project from start to finish.
Independent Ideas and Advice
At Cliffe Enterprise we don’t own a sheet-fed printing press, we don’t own a digital press, we don’t own any finishing kit and we certainly don’t own any Web offset presses. However, we spend over £4million per year on print and paper on behalf of our clients, using a carefully selected and managed supply chain that meet our strict quality and cost effective solution requirements. So, we can truly say that we are an independent business owned by our shareholders, not owned by a printer and certainly not controlled by the need to ‘fill’ a hungry printing press on our shop floor.
The Buying Print Bit
90% of the conversations between our account managers at Cliffe Enterprise are about ensuring the very best manufacturing fit for your print project. We not only look at the finished dimensions of the project, but also the finishing requirements as well as the final objective for the project. These are just a few variables that we consider when we match a project to a prospective supplier.
Using our experience and skills we are able to put the right specification into the right printer. The benefits to the client are:
- Can reducing printing spend
- Reduce the likelihood of errors
- Ensures the best quality job delivered to schedule.
There is also the benefit of spend consolidation. Due to the sheer volume of work we place within our supply chain, the prices we obtain from our suppliers are often far better than you can secure if buying print for just your own business.
Print Management = Print Variety
A major benefit for using a print management company is the vast array of printing options available to you. One company could print a high volume catalogue and a glossy magazine, both of which would require different printing processes. A print management company could deal with both requirements and save the client time and effort in trying to find 2 different printers for their jobs. A print management company can also arrange promotional printing, signage and short run digital printing. So, the time spent establishing which printer is able handle each of these projects could be saved by using a single print management company.
Experienced Account Management
Print is far more than an ‘off the shelf’ product. It is a bespoke manufactured item, sometimes considered ‘an art’, normally with a limited shelf life and more often than not, required to a tight schedule. Every print job is different – style, paper, process, timings, and as such, this makes for a myriad of opportunities for the ‘wheels to fall off’ for any print project. Utilising a print management company such as ourselves means that our dedicated production/account management team can often intercept problems before they occur. In most cases, issues are often managed without the client being involved and the project is delivered on time, to quality and budget. The client can sleep at night because we are managing all steps in the process. On the very rare occasions when an element of the printing process goes encounters an error then it is our responsibility to resolve the issue on behalf of the client by agreeing a course of action with the printer and the customer.
Accreditations
A credible print management business must have the right accreditation’s –ISO9001 (quality) and FSC (paper audit trail) as a minimum, they should also insist that their supply chain holds current and up to date accreditation’s too. Our accreditation’s are independently assessed on an annual basis to ensure that we remain up to date and current with best practices and legislation.
Relationships
At Cliffe Enterprise Print Management we build long term relationships with our quality supply chain. We have worked with many of our suppliers for over 10 years. This means that we are not afraid of having difficult conversations with our suppliers and they are not afraid of having them with us. This is especially important when it comes to dispute resolution. At Cliffe Enterprise we operate an open book policy on dispute resolution so that all parties can see the communications from all sides. In our experience this not only speeds up the resolution process, it greatly enhances the trust relationship between all three parties in the longer term.
So, the main benefits for using a print management company are:
- Economies of Scale can mean better prices than if going direct
- The entire process will be managed on your behalf
- You have an experienced print expert on hand to offer the best advice the industry will offer
- Long existing relationships between the print management company and printer will mean a more fluid print process and fewer issues to deal with
If you would like to use Cliffe Enterprise for your next print project, then please do not hesitate in contacting us on 01323 419701 or email [email protected]