7 Critical Flaws in Print Procurement That Drive Up Costs
Each year, U.S. companies spend an estimated $100 billion on annual reports, brochures, mailings and a wide array of other marketing, recruiting and business documents which are externally-procured from traditional offset printers, high-end digital printers and specialty printers. Gaining control of that print spending is no small challenge, particularly for large, multi-faceted corporations. Here are just a few of the critical flaws in the print procurement process that can drive up costs:
Unleveraged sourcing power When print buying is spread across a large supplier base, there’s little opportunity to take advantage of economies of scale. Print suppliers often price based on department spending levels, rarely aggregating a company’s print, paper, freight and warehousing spending.
- Fragmented print purchases With many people involved in procuring print – from marketing, human resources and corporate communications to various business units and sales offices to materials management and IT -- there is no consolidated view, no means to track and control total costs. Decisions are made based on departmental needs with little regard for enterprise costs. Maverick spending abounds.
- Focus on per-unit cost of printing and finishing When buying decisions are based strictly on per-unit costs, you lose opportunities for further savings. This approach ignores expenses associated with design, distribution, storage or archiving, and document obsolescence. Only by examining the entire lifecycle of a document do you uncover the true cost of a document.
- Spot-market buying Manual requisition processes are expensive. Reliance on trusted suppliers leads to sole-sourcing and increased costs. On the other hand, multi-bidding leverages substantial industry overcapacity, while a consistent technology-enabled process drives down embedded process costs.
- Critical production decisions are left to the print provider With no internal print expertise, many purchasers rely on their printers to make production decisions. Though knowledgeable, printers seldom offer alternatives outside their own capabilities, and offered choices aren’t always focused on the customer’s best interests.
- Excessive change orders. The best quoted price is quickly undermined by change orders. Statistics show that 80 percent of all print jobs incur change charges, significantly driving up the final invoiced price.
- Just-in-case printing Printing large quantities of documents just in case you might need them is costly. Approximately 35 percent of documents become obsolete prior to use. Moreover, the cost of managing and storing those documents adds to the expense.