Top tips for saving your print business money

In this month’s blog Sam explores ways in which your print business can save money whilst also having a positive impact on the environment.

Tip #2 | Saving money by monitoring and reducing your print wastage 

There is so much that we cannot control that affect the day-to-day running of your print business, but wastage is probably one area that you can control and finding ways to manage and track your print wastage will save your business money.

1. Identify the problem

During our time as printers, one way we looked to save money was by introducing a ‘Wastage Monitoring Procedure’ which allowed us to gain a better understanding of the level of wastage and the different reasons behind it.

2. The Process

The production team sat down and discussed all of the parts of the print process that caused waste and the list was surprisingly long, here are just a few examples of what we discovered:

• Dust on vinyl
• Staff Error
• Laminating Error
• Cutting Error
• Mounting Error
• Artwork Error

We then monitored the wastage over a 6-month period and the results were fascinating. The one area that I was surprised about, was the amount of wastage caused by dust.

3. The Solution

Armed with this information, we became dust detectives. We explored all the reasons as to why dust could be an issue and then looked at ways to solve it.

Examples of solutions that we used:

Using Covers – covering rolls of material with a bag when not in use

Better Housekeeping – we implemented a cleaning rota, ensuring the production area was cleaned and hoovered regularly

Machine Cleaning – deep cleaning the machines to avoid surface dust

4. The Results

From implementing the 3 new procedures we were able to save on ink, material and time as well as reducing the amount of bin collections we needed every month. It saved us money and was better for the environment. Great results all round!

We would love to hear from you about any tips you may have on saving money or reducing wastage in your print business. Drop us an email to share your tips and if you have any questions about how we can help your print business in the future give us a call on 01948 662669.