Gordon Pritchard, Kodak's Value in Print marketing manager offers an analogy to explain some of the printing industry's idiosyncrasies to newly hired Kodak engineers:
"So, what is print manufacturing all about? Well, imagine the printer as a lumber mill- a very special lumber mill. This is a lumber mill that doesn't govern what logs are acceptable for processing. Imagine that the logs were sometimes solicited by sales people and at other times by artists and other creative types. You'd receive anything vaguely shaped like a tree - dead wood, rotten wood, green twisted wood, phone poles, and non-wood poles painted to look like trees. Before you were allowed to process the "logs" you would have to win a competitive bid based on your ability to deliver the finished wood products. And you'll submit your bid without actually knowing what your customer understands by the term "finished wood products" or which of the possible variations on a log you will be receiving. To help communicate with your customer, you would use a "proof" - a simulation of the finished wood product that you will deliver. Of course, the proof simulation of your products actually uses another lumber mill's equipment, but at least it consumes the "log" that your customer has supplied to you. Unless, that is, the customer-supplied log breaks the equipment and doesn't actually get processed. In which case you either return the log to the customer to be rendered more log-like, or you take on the task yourself without actually being able to charge for the log transformation service.
Does this analogy work for you? Do you have your own analogy? How about a holiday season elevator pitch given to relatives trying to understand what you do.
Discussion
By duck on Aug 16, 2007
For printing, that's pretty good, as a prepress grunt, I like the following: We're much like the home building industry with the exception that our clients are ambitious enough to pre-build their homes in advance. Occasionally they'll hire a sub-contractor to pre-build for them. Once the home is pre-built, they tow it in to prepress to prepare the home for finishing and lot placement. Usually the foundation is no good and must be replaced, consequently requiring a complete rebuild of the home (at no cost to the home owner). At the very least, most of the framing and cabinetry will need to be redone to bring it up to industry standards. Once the home is to code, the owner will have one last look at it before final production. At this stage, they will usually request a few doors and windows be moved around, flooring and countertops changed, and walls painted with different color scheme. Often plumbing and electrical work will be redone as well. Sometimes this stage is repeated many times. Once final approval is reached, it is up to prepress to move the home to the lot and put everything together exactly as shown to the home owner in the proofing stage, only this time with slightly different building materials, less than stable footings, and with a completely unrealistic time frame. After close of escrow, many home buyers then decide that some portion of the home was not built correctly and will request a complete rebuild. The builder will eat the cost and prepress will take the full portion of blame.
Discussion
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