Building Mass
Customization Manufacturing
Commercial printing is continually described as a commodity-based business, with the primary dif- ferentiation of a typical printer coming down to
how they price the job and how quickly they can turn
it around. To avoid the commodity trap, technology
vendors to the graphic arts preach about the printer’s
need to become a “marketing services provider” or a
“communications specialist.”
To become a marketing services supplier, however,
could result in a printer more directly competing with
their existing customer base, while continuing to fight
against competitors based on turnaround time and
with, in most cases, profit margins slimmer than the
interest banks provide on savings accounts.
There is precious little production room to differentiate just based on a new moniker like marketing
services provider, but there are alternative ways for a
printshop to differentiate. And it is worth exploring
some of these means of differentiation, when in fact
you can continue proudly calling yourself a printer, at
the end of the day. To uncover these opportunities,
however, a printing company must first challenge
some long-held truths of the industry, particularly
from a manufacturing and sales point of view. Two of
the most popular industry truths to be challenged are:
1. Print buyers buy print and 2. Printers sell print.
First, companies must accept that print buyers see
print as being nothing more than a vehicle to fill a
communications need, which for a particular project
is the most effective form relative to other mediums.
These other mediums – typically represented by Internet-based on-screen communications – are usually
less expensive and often easier to implement, so print
buyers are turning to a printer for a unique value that
can only be delivered through ink on paper.
And because print buyers are after a unique value,
print priorities and expectations will always be different from one buyer to the next and from one project
to the next. Today, pleasing colour for a flier. Tomorrow, hi-fidelity for an Annual Report. Press operators
must be able to efficiently move from job to job, producing everything from 1-colour bus schedules to
full-gamut fine art or from 6-colour annual reports
to 2-colour rock posters.
In turn, successful printers do not simply sell print.
Instead, they work to develop buyer relationships to
be seen as a print solutions provider, regardless of
whether the work is high- or low-end output.
Print buyers are also looking for peace of mind, because their reputation and the integrity of their projects are on the line when selecting a printshop.
Reliability and consistency of service are critical components put toward satisfying their confidence. After
all, print, at its heart, is a service industry satisfied by a
manufacturing component. By producing individually
tailored products and services for customers, printers
have the best opportunity of being considered whenever print is chosen for a communications project. The
printer is no longer a commodity, but a valued and
trusted partner in solving the communicator’s needs.
However, customizing a manufacturing process to
meet every unique print buyer’s expectation can
quickly send a printer into bankruptcy. In terms of the
manufacturing process, print is only able to reach
maximum efficiency when the process is standardized
and automated. Of course, standardization reinforces
the notion of print being a commodity and it seems
natural that standardization would in some way lessen
a printer’s ability to meet unique customer require-
ments. While most commercial printers have been
trying to implement a traditional, standardized, mass-
production manufacturing model, it simply may not
be appropriate for an industry that produces custom
products.
Customization by standardization
Instead of simply stamping out the same widget every
day, traditional manufacturing companies across all
industries are revamping their production lines to be
flexible enough to create dozens or hundreds of variations on a single product. Parents can buy dolls that
look like their own children, for example, while even
Barbie dolls can don the cheerleading uniform of the
nearest university.
The manufacturing model that enables this flexibility is awkwardly referred to as mass customization,
merging the best of two seemingly opposite manufacturing models – mass production and custom production – under a single process. Mass customization
is designed to support both low-cost production
through standardization and high competitive differentiation.
Volkswagen, Motorola, Dell Computers and Levi
Strauss are just four examples of traditional companies
that have embraced mass-customization principles. In
fact, most printers have naturally embraced mass-customization as a manufacturing model for years, but few
companies have taken the critical step to clearly express
or describe their manufacturing model in a way that
enables all employees to buy in. Without such clarity
