It is not an exaggeration to say the print industry is very fractured at the moment. By “fractured”, we mean some print companies handle all tasks via full service printing while other professional printers offer highly specialized services in one specific area of printing. There are even some print service providers who perform a handful of services but they are not able to handle all of the tasks you might need to get the final printed results you desire.
This leads us to the question… Does it sound like a good idea to consolidate your print vendors? You might also be asking exactly how to consolidate printing companies. Take a look below as we share the answers to why you would want to consolidate as well as how to perform this task with relative ease.
What Is Print Vendor Consolidation?
In general, “print vendor consolidation” means exactly what the name implies. Your company makes the decision to consolidate printing services which means you are reducing the number of print vendors you work with in order to get the necessary work done with as few print partners as possible. In the case of total vendor consolidation, you will end up working with a single print vendor so make sure that vendor offers full service printing services.
The Benefits of Consolidating Print Vendors & Working with a Full Service Print Company
There are benefits and drawbacks to the consolidation process but we want to focus on the pros of consolidating your print vendor partners. Plus, we want to share the actual benefits by describing them in greater detail below:
- Overall Increase in Efficiency
To put it simply, it is just easier to get things done if you use a smaller number of vendors. You will have a single point of contact to manage everything which means that person is also accountable for any issues as opposed to having to track and manage projects across multiple vendors. - Save Time and Money
Increased efficiency means you will spend less time managing your print projects. This will free up extra time that allows you to focus on other aspects of your job. Plus, you can enjoy better rates on your print work because all of your printing is now under one roof which means you are using a single source. - Consistency
Using a single source print vendor should give you a consistent amount of quality since it is the same company creating your printed materials. The quality of your materials can vary from vendor to vendor but consolidation is able to eliminate that issue. - Reliability
Consolidating vendors gives you only one person to work with which should ensure you get everything done according to your schedule.
Three Steps to Consolidate Your Print Vendors
If you’ve decided that print vendor consolidation is ideal for your business, you will need to take action to make that plan a reality.
- Identify the vendors you currently use & define the services they provide
By listing what each vendor does for your business, you gain a full understanding of everything you will need performed by a single print provider. - Ask your other vendors if they do the work provided by other companies
Talk with each print service provider to see if they are able to perform any of the tasks they currently do not do for you. This step allows you to determine how much of a vendor reduction is possible. - Assess if one of your current vendors can handle all tasks
When you work on reducing your print vendors, the ultimate goal is to get to only one print solution provider. It is up to you to determine if any of your current vendors can accomplish everything you need after you assess their services .- If they can provide the full slate of services you need, use that vendor!
- If they cannot provide everything you need, you might need to find a new print vendor who can provide all work in-house or act as your single point of contact for getting everything done even if they need to use outside vendors.
Reducing your print vendors to one provider, or as few as possible, will make your life much easier because the job will get done faster, your overall costs will be lower and the final results will be consistent in appearance and quality.
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