by Milt Vine
I hope you had a chance to read Gerry Michael's article on partnering which appeared in the July issue of the Trader. In it, he asked us to consider the advantages of strategic partnering. I'd like to expand upon the ideas he laid out so well, adding t he binder's perspective.
Getting started. First, what do we mean by a strategic partnership? Is it a loose understanding based on a commitment to a certain number of shared projects? Is it a deeper relationship, cemented by contract, that details obligations and responsibilities? Or is it a verbal agreement between production partners on a project-by-project basis?
While I've heard the term used in all of the above circumstances, there are only a handful I would describe as successful. Let's explore what makes those partnerships work.
Certainly, strategic alliances hold many advantages, both for manufacturing partners as well as clients. The bottom-line benefit is that it expedites and, thus, shortens production cycles. This is a win-win situation: we can move more jobs through our plants and our clients get to market quicker.
But streamlining workflow involves work; it doesn't just happen with a handshake. Not only does each production phase in our individual plants need to perform like clockwork, our interfacing systems need to be seamless. The first step to ensure this is to establish an appropriate total quality management (TQM) program-of which there are many variations-from the internationally recognized ISO 9000 series to home-hatched quality control procedures.
Prospective partners should tour each others' facilities and learn as much as possible about each others' operations. This shared understanding will provide the foundation for more elaborate, contractual partnering arrangements where responsibilities are defined in detail.
Communication-early and often-is another feature of successful partnering. All parties involved in the manufacturing process should be drawn into client discussions at the earliest opportunity, preferably at the design stage. Not only is this effective in troubleshooting potential production problems, it's also valuable in positioning the manufacturing partners as extensions of the client's business. The client begins to view us as resources, rather than just vendors.
Today, with high-powered digital lines and World Wide Web access, instant communication between remote partners is a reality. An e-mail function on your Web site, for example, can allow clients to send a Request for Estimate anytime day or night. Art and text files can be attached to an e-mail and immediately transmitted into your electronic prepress department. Your partner should be up to speed with these new technologies.
Let's go back to estimates. We all provide them, but how and how fast we provide them is increasingly an issue. To address the speed issue, I know of several printers who have devised pricing modules for common products, like a 2-color, 3-panel brochur e, enabling sales reps to provide on-the-spot estimates in the field. Some estimating programs provide for laptop creation of estimates at a remote site. Others post price ranges on their Web sites, giving clients immediate access to numbers for budgeting purposes. We use computer-to-fax technology on all our quotes. It goes without saying that voice mail and faxing, now standard communication tools, are also effective vehicles for delivering timely estimates.
Thinking outside the box. Last but not least, the truly successful strategic partnership is, indeed, strategic. In these relationships, each partner knows the other's business as well her own. At a recent seminar, I was asked to name the major business issues currently confronting my customers. To my horror, I was able to only list a few.
This was a real wake-up call because I realized I had lost touch with many of my customers on that strategic level. I immediately set up interviews with five of my key team members and one each of their top accounts. Printing executives were asked about their businesses, not about production issues. I plan to make these strategic interviews a routine part of customer service.
Partnering with your finishing house makes good sense . . . if done right. It can eliminate miscommunication and production foul ups, cut production time and give us all higher margins, if clients perceive us as providing a higher level of service. You might want to suggest partnering to your finisher.
Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a post-production house specializing in
index tabbing in addition to providing folding, stitching, perfect binding, scoring ,
perforating and trimming services for the trade. You can reach Milt at 206/682-2558.
© 1996, Seattle Bindery. Reprinted from Northwest Trader September 1996.