Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

Hope you were able to read our last blog: "Scoreboarding: Planning to Win! (Part 1 - Benchmarking Lean Manufacturing)...and that you also watched the video linked to that blog. If not, after you read this blog, I dare say, you’ll want to go back and catch Part 1.

Can you imagine attending a sports event that doesn’t have a scoreboard? You wouldn’t know what inning, quarter or round the game was in, or how much time was left in the game. You wouldn't know who was winning or losing! You simply wouldn’t know the SCORE! With a Scoreboard System, everyone in the organization can see in real time and at-a-glance, the progress of assigned task or projects.

I’ve heard the following seven words a time or two when visiting our franchise members: "We have never done it that way." It’s human nature to continue doing the things we believe will work rather than something that requires taking a risk...or something suggested by a staff member, a fellow shop owner or business advisor.

“On-demand” books offer the prospect of growing sales, revenues, and profits for both publishers and print service providers.

“People who are content with what they don’t know; happy to remain ignorant about what they don’t understand; complacent about what they haven’t analyzed; and comfortable living with problems they haven’t solved...such people cannot lead!”

When you have implemented a complete, written operations manual—you are more than 90 percent of the way to conquering the problem and consequences of forgetting.

So, take the entertainment industry—PLEASE! But, seriously—let's look at some TRUTHS and also some of the FICTION or MYTHS about business. Before I begin, let me assure you, the point of this blog is not to off-handedly criticize the entertainment industry, but to make what I think you'll agree is a valid point.

I have said often that I think there is more fun and opportunity in this industry now than when I started in 1985; it’s just different. You have a big advantage in owning your own business and understanding this market. It simply takes action, hard work and the willingness to get some help and to think differently than in the past.

Misplaced something? It has always puzzled me that the Airlines, for example, will spend millions on systems to get lost luggage back to passengers—no matter where they are—yet, their rate of lost luggage is often so high, they seem to lack systems to address the problem of losing it in the FIRST place!

How printers are using digital print technology to enhance their clients’ communications with quick turnaround times.