Day in and day out I produce magazines. As with any production operation it has its ups and downs and if you’re not very careful the intricate relationship between the edit, art, advertising, prepress, paper purchasing, and printer can get away from you. Since beginning my career in print I have always taken a common sense approach to production methods and workflows. I had to. This is my second career (really my third if you count 8 years in the USMC) and I had to hit the ground running, not to mention swallow a whole heap-o pride by starting out at the bottom of the hill. Being at the bottom of the hill I had to either formulate ways to be better, faster, and more efficient than others around me, or I risked having the, you know, roll down that production hill right on my head. I listened, studied, asked questions, and flew by the seat of my pants until I gradually got more and more seasoned.

Today, 13 years later, I still listen to my colleagues, I study our industry each day, and I still ask questions. I also use a common sense approach to production. I feel that my early roots in our industry as a prepress operator and CSR at a commercial printer have enabled me to grasp "the big picture". In my group we use that insight into the relationships I mentioned above to have a workflow with enough flexibility to work well with a wide variety of projects, be they magazines, collaterals or digital advertising. Here are a few suggestions that might be helpful when assessing your current workflow and philosophy for production.

Start with a good nucleus

The system you use for production is only as good as the team. Really good people are hard to find and unless you are employee conscious, harder to keep. Look at hiring people who not only have a great resume, but those who can pass an interview full of enough technical and process related questions to show what they really know and how they interface with vendors (we’ll get to vendor relations in a bit). Once you have a good person do whatever it takes (within reason) to keep them. Ensure that you as their supervisor assist them in meeting their professional goals. I have also found that empowering employees to make positive changes to the system they work under goes a long way. If one is empowered, one has a sense of self, and in turn, has a sense of professional responsibility and obligation. There is nothing like loyalty. Form these good people into a team using the concept of operational alignment. Let them know that each team member is responsible for their piece of the production pie and make them aware of how their professional interaction (and personal) in the shop effects their team mates and the eventual success of your company’s production and project goals. Never let anyone impose on others by not keeping their professional obligations- meeting deadlines, etc. Nip that one in the bud immediately. There is nothing like discord to poison a team and make its members loose faith in management. Loyalty once lost is hard to regain.

Develop a flexible workflow

I have said for years that the three "Ws" of production are "workflow, workflow, workflow." It’s the river that leads us from our beginning in concept, to the port that is our final product. Workflows should be as consistent as possible between projects, taking into account copywriting, art needs, design, layout, proofing, prepress and final shipping to the printer or, if you are an advertiser, your media contact(s) at the publication you are advertising with. Again, our workflow is based on common sense. It has a logical beginning with a startup meeting where deadlines are provided and questions answered. All advance planning takes place at the startup meeting with all key team members present. Once the schedule for production is set stick to it - as they say, "plan your work and work your plan." Anyone could set a schedule and then set back and watch is go south, but a good production coordinator, manager or director will be able to see impending pitfalls and troubleshoot potential issues that could get you off schedule before they actually happen. I personally become "the human post it note". I remind the staff each day of our deadlines using what I call "The Daily Project Status.” It’s an email that shows where we currently are at on all projects, what the next step is, its due date and a comments line for additional needed information. This simple little email keeps everyone on the same sheet of music and has been a great help in directing the process even if I’m out of town on business or on vacation. So we stick to schedules- Where is the flexibility? you may ask. I inform our team up front regarding what dates are soft (these can have some fudge room) and which dates are engraved in stone. We have three (3) internal production dates that should always met-the date final edit is due to the Art Director, the date we hand off final files to prepress and the date we ship to the printer. To enforce these sorts of dates you’ll need the buy-in of upper management. I justify everything with dollar signs-we miss our ship date, then we may miss our newsstand date, and in that case, we might as well not even print the issue. Now, of course, you can get some time at the printer, but I don’t let all my secrets out of the bag. Also, build some time into your schedule so that if the inevitable flub-up happens, your have time to breath instead of having an anxiety attack!

Always keep the bottom line in mind

What’s the bottom line? It’s EVERYTHING! We’re in this industry because of its artistic manufacturing appeal, but in reality we do this to make money! Manage your budget as if it was your own bank account, or better. If there is a function being done at a vendor, be that prepress or press, and it can be brought in-house, start a cost analysis and if it makes sense rein it in immediately! You’ll save money almost every time. An esteemed colleague of mine, Michael Weinglass of Easy Riders, has a saying - "If done by the vendor, return to sender." I’m of the same opinion. Evaluate, and reevaluate your production program to ensure that your company is getting the most bang from your buck. Also always ask for itemized invoices and compare them to proformas. You’ll be surprised how many errors in billing you catch. Continually squeeze as much as you can from your budget. Look at your current cost of goods and see where you might be bleeding money from your process. We are saving approximately $12,400 by simply changing file formats at our printer. Although that’s not a great deal of money, if I found it on the sidewalk I’d sure pick it up! Every little bit helps your balance at the end of the year.

Continually educate yourself and your staff

Professional education is many times completely overlooked by companies. I have no idea how such companies expect their people to have the skill sets necessary to do their jobs better, but it must be something they put in the coffee. Budget for seminars, professional organizations and industry sites on the internet (like this one), and subscribe to professional publications to ensure that your people have the skills they need to not only do their job today, but to do it better tomorrow. It’s also a great way to help your staff feel more a part of this wonderful printing community and it truly is an investment in both staff and your company. If you are a Production Manager, Director or VP have a personal knowledge of all aspects of your business from edit, to prepress, to functions at the printer. It will empower you to make the decisions needed to do your job and to assist your staff in doing theirs.

Always communicate effectively with all team members

Communication is probably the easiest aspect of what we do and is also probably the most overlooked at times. I always try to alter my communication based on the person I’m speaking with. If I’m talking to prepress it’s pretty safe to use tech talk. If I’m talking to the advertising guys, I should probably speak in layman’s terms. I also like to back important verbal communication up with an email. It gives me something for future reference. Although not specific to transfer of instructions or information, being polite to all parties you work with really goes a long way. People do more for people they like.

Truly direct your process

When in the Marines we had to learn the group of instructions called BAMCIS. This was a system to conduct an operation and lead a group of Marines. The "S" stood for "supervise". We were told that supervision to confirm that a task has been completed is the most important aspect of being a leader and I still find it’s true. Never ever assume that anyone has done anything. Always confirm it, but not through micro-managing. I keep tasks assigned to various folks on my Palm desktop and when due. I always ask that people follow-up with me to let me know when specific tasks have been taken competed. If they don’t in a timely manner, I shoot an email out or pop over to their area and casually ask if the task has been taken care of. I try not to sound like I’m checking up on them, but that I’m simply following through with my responsibility to confirm that the task has indeed been taken care of. And always say thank you! As part of directing the process I also try to live by my rule of communicating clear and effectively what a specific production need is, why we need it, and when it needs to be taken care of. If you have a good staff (and I’m sure most of us do) that’s all you’ll need to do. They’ll take it from there.

Develop and keep good relations with your vendors

I treat vendors like gold. Each of my vendors are heroes to me. They give me a great product, at a competitive rate, great customer service, and just as important, they are consistent. Ensure you show professional respect to your vendors. It will be an investment for when you need to ask a favor or negotiate. Although I know that as the client I’m helping pay the bills for the vendor, I always approach them with an attitude that they work with me, not for me. If one communicates professionally and completely, provides the vendor with the necessary time and tools to complete the job and works with them as a partner for the common good of the project, you can expect success throughout the process. I also never blame the vendor for something that we as a production group flubbed up on (yes flub ups do happen, but only once in a blue moon). I like to think it improves my Karma.

These are just a few of my personal; a philosophy for success and I have to say that my Group Publisher and VP are pretty happy with what my group does. We provide a product that is 100% on time, it looks great from a printing standpoint, no one is loosing their mind over stress and we save a great deal of money by monitoring our process and dollars. I wish you all an equal degree of success!!!!