Images Magazine Digital Edition May 2018

www.images-magazine.com MAY 2018 images 37 TIPS & TECHNIQUES The Owner Then there is Tom, the owner. Despite having a full plate running the company, Tom likes to come out on the production floor and print. He knows he should be working on sales or marketing, but ‘slinging ink’ keeps him grounded to the business. He shows up early in the morning or stays late after the crew goes home. What makes him feel good is that he clears three to six orders a week off the schedule personally. Sixty or seventy hour weeks make him feel like he’s intensely working ‘in’ his business. Nobody has ever questioned if he should be working ‘on’ his business instead. Tom makes it known that ‘he’s the boss’. Nobody would dare question him. Tom cherry-picks the orders that he wants to work on. For the most part, they are either easier jobs or ones that he has sold. He likes the way that Steve has organised the production floor, with jobs staged today that have to print tomorrow. But Tom sneaks in and grabs an order or two and gets to work. On several occasions, What makes him feel good is that he clears three to six orders a week off the schedule personally Tom has forgotten to mark the jobs produced in the system. Once he misprinted a few Bella tri- blend T-shirts and grabbed three dozen from another order that wasn’t due to ship until next week. He finished the job he was printing but failed to purchase the replacement T-shirts. The day simply got away from him. Steve and the shipping/receiving manager Laurie spent hours trying to find the 36 T-shirts as they were checked in properly. They decided that someone on their team had stolen them. It wasn’t until Tom noticed them reviewing the security camera footage that he linked what he did with the problem. With a shrug of his shoulders, Tom dismissed their effort. “Sorry…” He still feels that the few jobs he prints a week makes a difference. Just don’t ask Steve his opinion. Your shop In your shop, what stories could be told about who is printing the T-shirts? The ‘who’ in that equation can have an impact that may or may not be visible. Are you asking the right questions? The T-shirts don’t care who prints them, but your customer might. Marshall Atkinson is a leading production and efficiency expert for the decorated apparel industry, and the owner of Atkinson Consulting, LLC. Marshall focuses on operational efficiency, continuous improvement and workflow strategy, business planning, employee motivation, management and sustainability. He is a frequent trade show speaker, article and blog author, and is the host of InkSoft’s The Big Idea podcast. atkinsontshirt.com