The print industry has an intimate relationship with paper. Obviously, it is the key raw material we use to produce the communication products required by our customers. It is not surprising that we have an attachment to paper. I like the attachment in the form of appreciating the grain of a high-quality paper stock or understanding the craft of choosing the perfect paper stock for the application. Where the “attachment” works against us is when we continue to insist on converting digital information to paper (analog) in order to run our business.

The most distressing example I ever saw of this was when I was consulting with a printer and I just sat with their sales team for a day and followed along with their “process.” They submitted a paper estimate request form, the estimator created the estimate, printed it out, and then the sales person reviewed it and scanned it back in, attached it to an email and sent it to the customer. This all happened in about 200 square feet, the desktop printer that printed out of their MIS was also the scanner that took it back into a PDF for attachment to the email. It was mind-blowing to think about how many times per day this was happening. I’m not saying it didn’t work. Estimates got out to customers, but clearly not in anything close to an optimized way. This shows a serious attachment to paper which slows us down, makes us less competitive, and introduces all kinds of potential errors. 

The other place I want to go is the “job jacket,” the folder stuffed full of paper (analog) that we continue to insist rides along with every job in the shop. I know I’m treading on some sensitive territory here. There will be comments: “The paperless office was a joke,” “We can’t run our business without paper,” and on and on and on. Recently, I helped a printer move to a very digital, very automated, and very customer-friendly way of doing artwork approvals. The customer loves it. The customer service representatives love it. And then there is the pressman who rejects it because they are not getting a print out of the approved artwork with the PMS colors and plate information on it. Let’s just pause here to understand what’s happening.