ImagesMagUK_March_2021

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT KB Professionals use professional tools Want your business to be the best? Then you need to stop using cheap tools and shortcuts and start working smarter instead, says Marshall Atkinson “P r ofessionals use professional tools.” There… I said it. Have you ever had a small pebble or a rock in your shoe? You know, something that really bothers you. It’s not the end of the world, but it keeps dinging you and hanging around. You have to do something about it to relieve yourself of the nuisance. Here is what I keep seeing in this industry that is a rock in my shoe. Businesses are constantly trying to make do with inferior equipment, consumables, processes, and sometimes, even people. Why is everyone so fascinated with either using a cheaper, less productive version of something, or a shortcut? Especially when you stop to think about the horror stories people tell about using them. ‘Professionals use professional tools’ is about the mindset of doing things correctly because you are supposed to be an expert at what you are doing. Not trying to half-arse it and ‘make do’. By the way, those shortcuts that some people take almost always cost more money and time than if they just sucked it up and invested in doing things correctly the first time. What is eating your time? Do yourself a favour. I want you to take a long, hard look at what is eating your time in your shop. Where it shows up a lot is when another department has to put in effort to correct the challenges that were created somewhere upstream from them in the workflow river. Or, it could show up by the lack of standards or processes in your craftsmanship in the work that you turn in every day. There is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between how the work is being performed in one area of your shop, and the consequences of that action in another. The tools we use for the work contribute to the quality of the work that is being performed. There is a 1:1 ratio in play here. Processing information Let’s start with your business system for processing information. Can people easily retrieve information and solve problems on their own? ■ Do they know what to do next? ■ How many times a day do you find yourself answering a simple question about an order? ■ Your shop software is a tool. Pick and use a better one. Train your staff on how to use it. ■ Have more than one expert on how the shop software works. Are you ‘just getting by’ in using software that isn’t made for this industry? Are you using a spreadsheet? A whiteboard? Or are you constantly hanging job sheets on a pegboard in your shop and moving them around to indicate workflow? When you know in your gut that you need to be doing something better, it is time to research shop platforms that are made for this industry. Communication How are you communicating with clients, suppliers, and your employees? What systems or processes make that easier? Even something as mundane as having walkie-talkies on the shop floor to communicate with the art department to come down for a press check can be a huge time-saver. What communication tools such as a better mobile phone, or maybe even software or an app like Slack, could make things easier for your team? Are you using video? Text messaging? Email? What standards and processes do you have in place with your team on how and when to communicate? Is everyone using these tools the same way? Nomenclature Proper language and nomenclature is a tool. For example, if you call a decoration location a ‘full front’, and everyone in the shop knows that this means that the design is 12 ”wide and is printed 3” down from the bottom of the collar, that speeds up an entire list of workflow items. What words are you and your team using in your shop vocabulary? Work faster Are you using the industry’s set-up tools to your fullest advantage? The HoopMaster for embroidery? Tri-Loc for M&R presses, MHM’s 4-point pin registration system, or the Roq PRU pre-registration system? Sure, these 66 images MARCH 2021 www.images-magazine.com