Digital print standards to transform your bottom line

Money and margins are much on the minds of most digital print companies, so any technology that promises to improve them is welcome. But production enhancements come in many shapes and sizes beyond hardware and software. Management tools, such as ISO standards, can help improve production processes, but too often, they are overlooked in the graphic communications industry.

Compliance has a direct and positive effect on your bottom line. Everyone’s heard of ISO 9001 for quality management systems. This ISO best-seller is used in virtually every industry, from plumbing to hairdressing, to successfully improve business management processes. For years, it’s had a wide uptake in the graphics industry, even though it is not specific to graphics production.

Boost those margins with certifiable digital print standards

ISO 12647-2 is a strong candidate for solving the money and margins conundrum. For graphics and digital print professionals, this standard has proved to be a valuable means of tightening business performance and ensuring consistent output quality in digital and traditional offset processes. Companies which have gone through the formal certification process to ISO 12647-2 cite improved margins as one of the biggest benefits.

But it’s not only margins that contribute to a return on investment in certification. Certification can be a laborious process, involving management and operator time, training, and lost opportunities if it becomes too much of a distraction for the business. However, because of these factors, companies that have undergone certification find that their improved process control and management yield additional benefits. Every company we have audited for ISO 12647-2 certification said it improved cost control and profits comfortably paid for their investments. They cite reduced waste, improved customer relations, increased capacity utilisation, and improved bottom lines.

Get certified for fewer delays.

Certification to ISO 12647-2 improves your bottom line because it requires proof that you control your business and production processes. Producing said proof requires management control, often in areas of the business that had been overlooked, such as inventory control for substrates and inks. Following a certification project, margins on jobs are likely to be higher because jobs are produced more efficiently, with fewer delays and errors in production. The proofing cycle is streamlined, and unit costs are lower because of reduced start-up waste. Production halts, such as failed PDFs, are minimised or even disappear completely.

Create time to focus on high-value work.

Operators in an ISO 12647-2-compliant facility can focus on exception handling, working with customers on jobs that need special attention while the rest of production ticks over producing less demanding work and raising your digital print standards. Business owners can increase revenues through additional services supporting customers or helping them with new projects because they know that the print will be produced without errors, remakes or delays.

Efficient process control means the improved return on the capital you’ve invested in expensive machines and keeping them running to maximum capacity. In a digital production environment, this means more job throughput and a competitive edge, especially against competitors printing on offset presses.