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November 2019

Buying Print: The Secret Is Knowing How to Choose (Part 2)

Part 2: Make Informed Decisions

Asking the right questions and having the right answers can make decisions around how to choose a print supplier streamlined and easy. Buying print can be hard because you are not just buying a final product. You are buying an entire process. From layout to delivery, you must decide how you will manage each job. This means the challenge of deciding what type of print supplier you will use.

Weather you are looking for guidance on your first print job or reassessing your process after years of work, it’s a really good idea to make sure you know your options. In Buying Print: The Secret it Knowing How to Choose (part 1), I explained the basics of different supplier types—working directly with a printer, web-2-print platforms, brokers and agencies. I also offered a table to help you start making decisions around what supplier is right for your job.

Printing is a complex process, so the table in Part 1 got complicated right away. Even if you are clear on the constraints guiding your choices—things like budget or time—figuring out if a supplier is right for you can depend on more specific details. Never fear. You are not alone. Here is an explanation of some of those complexities. I’ve pulled the more convoluted questions that guide print supplier decisions and done a deeper dive into how your reality should impact your decisions.

So, here we go: 

 

Is production time critical to the project? 

If you are short on time and really need the job done quickly, caution is advised. No matter who produces it, unforeseen events often occur in print production, and choosing the option that has the most flexible solutions available can make a difference.

Working directly with a printer can be a safe option—if you have confidence in your pre-press work, the printer specializes in the type of product you need and you can work with their production lead time. If you are ok with all those ifs, the main problem with going direct to a printer has to do with solution restriction. If something serious goes wrong, print shops are usually stuck with internal solutions which can not always prevent delivery delays.

The option of buying online through web-2-print is, in my opinion, the most risky since you probably won’t find problems until the job is shipped and delivered. Minimal customer service availability means there may not be enough time to repeat the work if problems arise. 

Both agencies and brokers should be able to deliver good production lead times and ensure compliance. Overseeing deadlines is one of their main functions in the process. Also, they usually have several printers to turn to and this can not only shorten initial delivery time estimates, but, also, increase the range of solutions for any last minute problems.

If you don’t have to keep to a tight schedule and there is time for unforeseen events, you can relax and worry about other factors. But if time is of the essence, making sure your print management option can deliver on time and respond to unforeseen problems is critical. 

 

Does the job have a variety of product types?

If your needs are very diverse in terms of product type (for example, if you need business cards, flyers, rollups, catalogs and printed boxes) and you don’t have the knowledge or the in-house support of an expert, efficient management of graphic production may present some complex challenges. At minimum, getting everything done will require more follow-up. It will also be more difficult to secure competitive pricing and manage production.

Working directly with a single printer to make a variety of products will be an impossible or, at least, a less-advisable option because, when working outside their area of ​​expertise, printers often cannot provide good service. You may end up with problems of timing, pricing or quality—or perhaps all three. If you want to go direct to a printer as your supplier, the solution is to look for at least one good printer for each type of product you need. Then work to build and maintain relationships with each of them.

Working directly with a single printer to make a variety of products will be an impossible or, at least, a less-advisable option because, when working outside their area of ​​expertise, printers often cannot provide good service.

My opinion about web-2-print production in these situations varies a lot depending on the particular products you need. Often, if you try to produce product types or features that don’t align with a platform’s standard offerings, then using this option will be much more expensive or even impossible. However, if you can find platforms that specialize in what you need printed and have the time and ability to manage production through several different platforms, web-2-print can be an option. 

Depending on your experience and contacts, a broker may be a good possibility. However, because, from what I have seen, they usually end up specializing in specific products you run the risk that they do not have an ideal solution for all situations. It will be important to ask about their specializations.

Production agencies are responsible for managing a diversity of graphic solutions and having the know-how to find printers, paper and other materials tailored to each situation. For this reason, it seems to me that working with a production agency tends to be the best choice for jobs with a variety of products. 

 

Is price a critical factor? 

Price may not be the most important element in all situations, but the truth is that no one likes to pay more than fair for a product or service. In printing, because of all the different options that might be available for products and all the different production solutions that printers might have—machines, workflows, paper suppliers, etc.—you can end up with a wide range of prices when you ask for quotes. If price is a major concern, the rule is obviously to have several bids to compare. However, it is important that these bids are from printers that are technically prepared and very competitive for your specific product needs. It’s also very important to make sure you’re comparing the same characteristics across all suppliers, which can be as challenging as comparing multiple brands on a supermarket shelf.

Requesting a quote from multiple printers is a common practice when looking for a more economical way to print a job. Prices fluctuate widely between companies in a way that is not always logical, making it difficult to anticipate which printers will be the most inexpensive. There are several reasons for this, but the main ones are the differences in the manufacturing costs, the price of paper and other raw materials, and the commercial interest that suppliers have for this particular job or customer. Working directly with printers, the biggest difficulties you encounter may be in identifying the best fit for your product types. These days, to achieve this sometimes means looking far from your location. Also, if you are managing the process on your own, it is important to make sure you compare the same product features with different printers, as I previously mentioned, and that you have time to manage the process of soliciting and comparing quotes.

With online platforms, because they usually have real-time budgeting systems, you should be able to get instant quotes, which helps a lot in the selection process. As for the most competitive products to print using web-2-print, this tends to vary from platform to platform. Generally, each has a set of standard products with features optimized for economical pricing. For non-standard products and higher quantities, the web-2-print costs may be more expensive than other solutions.

When working with brokers or production agencies, I think it is safe to assume that their knowledge and experience can be a help in finding the most suitable suppliers based on client constraints. Part of their business strategy is to make good value propositions for clients. Thus, when the budget is tight, reaching out to a broker or production agency can be a good choice. 

 

How important is the quality?

While quality standards of a graphic product are similar to any other product, there are many moments in the production of a job that can go wrong and create serious problems and unmet expectations. This is an industry focused on specifications, with all products differing from each other, (which greatly increases the possibility of production errors.) Print is an industry where explaining what you want achieved at the end of the production process is not exactly easy. The endless possibilities of finishing, printing and raw materials is challenging to manage. All this leads to frequent mistakes. For this reason, the best way to try to avoid problems is to get proofs and prototypes of the work you want to produce, though you cannot always do this without associated costs. Also, the support of someone with experience in the field may be crucial to avoiding unwanted surprises during or at the end of the production process.

By working directly with a printer, you will be better able to closely monitor the production process and detect any deviations from expected quality. Another major advantage of this option is that there will probably be some job approval before it goes into production mode. The only limitation of this option is the fact that the maximum quality level of the product will be directly related to the production possibilities of the printer. If you have a high standard for the quality of finish you want, depending on the equipment, production schedule and staff, the printer you choose to work with may not be able to achieve your desired results. 

Working with web-2-print platforms usually means dealing with high-volume, production-ready services. These automated processes usually have very efficient systems to identify products with quality problems. However, I have seen deviations between customer expectations and the services the platforms offer. For example, the color that a client is expecting might be far from the result because the platforms’s fully standardized color management systems are blind to the specifics of an individual image. This also happens because, usually, there are a lot of different jobs bring printed on the same sheet and the color calibration will be set to best serve the group and not a single job. Some platforms provide (or sell) samples to try to alleviate such problems, but, generally, it is not possible to obtain proof of the work prior to production.

A major pillar of commitment from brokers and agencies is, of course, product quality. To be successful they must make sure that the customer receives a product with the quality they expect. To meet such expectations requires an understanding of both the customer’s needs and a printer’s capabilities and limitations.

It is the job of production agencies and brokers to manage projects with a focus on adding value to the service. This means aligning customer expectations and the technical skills of printers to ensure quality.  

Questions of time, product types, budget and quality tend to be the most important for determining the best ways to manage a print job. However, you may have other questions come up as well. Take a look back at Buying Print: The Secret Is Knowing How to Choose (Part 1), for a chart to help you think about all the conditions and constraints that might impact your job, and what vendors will have the best outcomes for your specific needs.

Looking at these questions and information about suppliers can help you make a choice for your next job. Remember, thought, you don’t have to make a long-term decision. Instead, you can create a fast and efficient system for considering all vendor options every time you start a project and try to build relationships with more than one type of print supplier. Especially for new projects, you may also want to seek help from someone who specializes in the print industry and can help explain the advantages and disadvantages of different options in relation to your specific job. When you’re not sure you can invest the time to monitor the production process, and don’t have another way to do that work, opt for a graphic production agency. 

I would be doing something else if I didn’t honestly believe that, most of the time, managing the print process is best done by an experienced print producer. Printing is a process where anticipating many of the problems that ocurre down the line is difficult. Selecting the best supplier for a product depends on so many factors—what you are printing, quantity, printing type, materials, etc. Even if you decide to manage everything directly with a printer, before you launch into your next print job, take a moment to assess your needs and constraints to make sure you get the best print management vendor from the start. When the boxes or rolls or crates of materials arrive perfect, on time and on budget you will thank yourself. 

Fernando Costa | COO
fernandocosta@finepaper.pt

Copy editor: Katheryn Kruise
Design & DTP: Spice. Creative Seasoning

  • Fernando Costa
  • November, 20
  • Print Production
  • graphic production, impressão, Print menagement, Printer, printing, Web-2-print
  • More

Buying Print: The Secret Is Knowing How to Choose (Part 1)

Part 1: Understand Your Options

Usually buying something does not present major problems.
Choose the product. Select the vender. Pay. Take the product home.
This works with most products, but printing is different. You are not really buying a product. You are buying the manufacture of a product, that is, a whole production process. If it goes as expected, the process ends with the delivery of a custom product made just for you that meets all your requests. If things do not go as planned, if the process does not work, you can end up with a product that does not meet your expectations for quality, price or turn around. In the worst case scenario, you might end up with a product that you can’t even use.

In order for the printing process to go well, it is generally important to have someone on board who knows how print production works. It’s a good idea to be prepared for the various stages that happen between concept generation and final delivery. There are a few different ways to dive into this process and they all begin with deciding how your print job will be managed. This means choosing a supplier option. There are a few different supplier types you can go with: Doing it alone and working directly with a printer; using a web-2-print service; working with an individual print broker or working through a larger graphic production agency. I’ll be honest here and say that I think, if you want to be sure to cover all your bases for each print job, working with a graphic production agency is the best option and, following, we will take a look at why that is. First, though, it’s useful to know what print supplier types are on the market and what their main features are.

“It’s useful to know what print supplier types are on the market and what their main features are.”

Having spent years working with printers, online platforms and brokers, I’m happy to share what I have learned and breakdown some of the mystery around how to get things printed. I am going to describe the various vendor options and, also, offer a tool so that you can do your own analysis and make the best print management choice based on your situation.

Option 1: Buying Direct from a Printer

First of all, it is important to clarify that individual printer companies usually specialize in providing a specific product type—such as books or plastic cards or gifts or large format materials. Their focus impacts the type of equipment they purchase and it often defines the type of products and the specific range of print run sizes for which they are most competitive in terms of price, quality and lead time. A printer that specializes in comic books might not be the best choice for printing large-format posters and, even if a printer specializes in books, they might not be the choice for both soft- and hard-cover books. Many printers also have a preferred customer profile that can include company size and type, such as direct customers or resellers, advertising agencies or publishers. Many print companies have sales representatives that exclusively serve the products and services (and interests) of the printing company. They work to find good client fit and, generally, are the main client contact within the company. 

Option 2: Online Platforms (Web-2-Print)

These are online stores that specialize in producing printed products. They are connected with one or more printers and, generally, use a business model aimed at reducing the technical product options. Their goal is to increase overall production volumes of each product type and, thereby, reduce costs. By running a lot of different jobs from different clients at the same time, they save money. Because they handle very large production volumes, customer support may be less personalized when working with web-2-print, and it is often difficult to talk to someone about orders once they are placed. 

 

Option 3: Print Brokers 

Print brokers are individuals that have stable and, usually, long-term business relationships with one or more printers and other service providers. Often brokers are also part of design, marketing and communication agencies, or are freelance designers or print producers. Because of experience and personal relationships with suppliers, print brokers can often identify the best product specs, manage the budgeting process and ensure a competitive, product-adjusted value. Print brokers work with clients to keep track of their jobs. 

Option 4: Graphic Production Agencies

These are companies, like Finepaper, with a business model very similar to that of print brokers. Usually, however, they are larger and have a wider range of services that may include prepress layout, product storage and even multimedia production. Having a more comprehensive structure often means more specialization in various parts of the print process, such as print file preparation, quoting, procurement, negotiation, product purchasing, substracts, production management and customer support. In addition, they may have a wider range of supplier networks. Clients will generally interface with the graphic production company to handle all aspects of a job, from verifying print files to defining terms of warranties and billing.

“Having a more comprehensive structure often means more specialization in various parts of the print process.”

Now that I have outlined the different options, how will you choose the best vendor type for managing your graphic production?

It is difficult to answer this question with a specific formula, but below I’ve put together a table to help identify a good solution. If we consider some of the common concerns around the graphic production processes, it will be easier for you to make decisions about your best options. 

Before we look at individual constraints that might affect different print jobs, I’d like to offer a general best practice: If it is not possible to talk with an expert, it’s a good idea to dedicate some time to learning a few graphic production basics as well as be prepared to follow the printing process itself.

As will become obvious, some constraints point you towards the possibility of using a few different supplier types. In these situations, the choice is easy: The best option is generally the one that involves the people you most trust.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the specific constraints that might affect your print job and how to respond to each situation. Here are the most important concerns to address and how to respond to those concerns in choosing a supplier type based on my experience as a graphic producer.

 

This table provides a way to dive into decision making around how to manage your print jobs. In Part 2 of this blog I’ll take a deeper look at these questions. I’ll explain why different supplier options will work, depending on your constraints, to help you make a more nuanced choice. Just like you, we want your books and cards and posters and beach balls and billboards and everything else to be printed with excellent quality and efficiency, as well as on budget.

Fernando Costa | COO
fernandocosta@finepaper.pt

Copy editor: Katheryn Kruise
Design & DTP: Spice. Creative Seasoning

  • Fernando Costa
  • November, 12
  • Print Production
  • graphic production, impressão, Print menagement, Printer, printing, Web-2-print
  • More

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