Digital Printing Services: Print Just Enough, Just in Time by Jeff Walker

Virtually everyone in the business world is familiar with the concept of just-in-time (JIT) production and inventory management, whose principles first gained widespread traction in the early 1970s. Yet, more than four decades later, a surprising number of large manufacturers and retailers still don't fully utilize digital printing services to produce their print materials on a just-in-time basis.

If your company is among them, you might want to think about what that's costing you.

According to an Iron Mountain/Infotrends research study conducted earlier this year:

Companies in the manufacturing, consumer packaged goods and retailing industries spend an average of $3.3 million a year just to print their business communications.

They spend an additional $3.1 million annually on the fulfillment services required to warehouse, package and ship their print materials.

Yet an average of 16 percent of those expenditures for print and fulfillment are wasted due to overprinting and obsolescence.

Digital Print vs. Offset Print

At its core, the just-in-time concept is a system designed to eliminate waste - wasted time, materials, storage space, product and, thus, money - by printing only as demand requires.

Before the development of digital printing technology, it was extremely difficult to apply JIT principles to production of print materials. Almost all commercial printing was done using offset presses and required time, labor-intensive pre-press preparation, frequent press checks and adjustments - costs which are amortized across the entire print run. The larger the order, the lower the price per piece. Thus, offset orders typically involve large quantities of a static piece, which means some quantity of materials must be warehoused until needed.

Now that digital printing has truly come of age, a growing percentage of print materials are created, stored and printed digitally, on demand. Today's digital quality rivals that of offset presses. And, by eliminating the costs of materials storage and insurance and the waste associated with unused inventory, the cost-per-piece of digital production also compares quite favorably with that of offset. All of which makes just-in-time printing very attractive.

Personalization + JIT = Increased Profits

In addition to reducing overall print spend, digital printing offers opportunities to increase customer engagement through personalization. Studies show that customizing materials to make them more relevant to recipients can increase response rates by 400 to 500 percent.

The key to gaining the best response rates, of course, is good data. The more you know about your customer or prospect, the more you can tailor content and images. Using digital printing services, it's increasingly economically feasible to produce marketing collateral designed for a very narrow market segment, as well as for true one-to-one marketing pieces.

Getting Started

Of course, not every document is a good candidate for print on demand. In general, digital printing services are ideal for:

Short press runs.

Pieces that require frequent changes or updates (including personalized materials).

Seasonal items or those used infrequently.

Preventing out-of-stock situations by switching to print on demand when offset inventory gets low.

Prototype documents still in testing and development.

Your fulfillment partner can help you identify which materials are appropriate for digital print based on historical and projected usage, as well as other considerations.

So what's holding you back? If you would like to discuss how digital printing can help make your business communications less costly and more effective, contact Iron Mountain Fulfillment Services. You'll be connected with a knowledgeable specialist who can address your specific needs and challenges.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/marketing-production-...
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