Business Management - Operations

Insisting that certain people adopt a "new and better way" of doing something can actually make a situation worse. To cure your business, heed advice from a first century physician named Luke, about the consequences of pouring NEW wine into OLD wineskins.

In the business world, some people have more of a cat-like personality, while others operate more like dogs. When hiring, our tendency might be to look for dog-like attitudes when in reality we need some cats.

Tech-ni-Fold has prevented a third U.S. company from continuing to sell a device that Tech-ni-Fold believes infringes upon its Tri-Creaser patents. As a result, Rosback Co. of St. Joseph, MI, will be discontinuing the current design of its TrueScore-Pro and TrueScore-Pro Quad products.

Folks, there is a way to do the THAT's in life and business, which owners and managers should do. However, I'm a witness to THIS fact—you will never get to all the THAT's unless you do THIS! Got it? Good!

NewPage signed an agreement with Omya, a producer of minerals and pigments, to build a precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) plant at the Escanaba, MI mill site.

NewPage says the new on-site PCC plant has yet another benefit; it will use carbon dioxide generated at the paper mill in the process of making PCC, which reduces the environmental impact and carbon waste of the paper mill.

On top of all that good news, the plant will create seven local jobs.

If you’re a print provider that only prints and sells locally, think again about the potential growth that projects from outside your geographic area might bring to your business.

In today’s competitive environment, owners need to spend the lion’s share of their time building customer relationships and “chasing business.” You can hire the talent to do the other work, and landing new business is what will dictate success.

Most of the buzz involving Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 is the "pay or play" stipulation. Employers with more than 50 full-time workers must decide if they will offer health insurance or pay the penalty and have their employees use the state insurance exchanges.

Müller Martini is not the only finishing manufacturer facing tough times. As the printing industry consolidates, there is a small flood of very recent vintage saddle-stitchers, folders, perfect binders, collators, diecutters, and other bindery machinery on the market as the result of closed shops.

There needs to be standardized processes for every area of your operation, not just vague assignments that leave a new employee to figure out some kind of procedure that may or may not fit with your organization. Give your new employee an established procedure for performing important tasks in your operation, and the new hire will be empowered to hit the ground running.