Printing Press Management Mistakes and a Weekly Checklist

Most printing presses do not fail because of bad printing. They struggle because of small management leaks: a quote nobody wrote down, paper that ran out, an invoice that was never raised. The same mistakes repeat in presses of every size. Here are the seven we see most often and a weekly checklist to catch them.

Mistake 1: Quoting from memory

When the quote lives in the owner's head, staff either guess or call him. Paper rates, plate cost and finishing change, so the quote for last month's job may be wrong today. Keep a current rate list and generate every quote from it. Save the quote with the date.

Mistake 2: Starting without written approval

A phone call is not approval. When the customer later says the colour or size was different, you have nothing to show. Get a confirmation by WhatsApp or signature, and attach it to the job. For large jobs insist on an advance.

Mistake 3: Letting proofs go unchecked

Spelling mistakes in names, phone numbers and addresses are the most expensive errors, because they are discovered after thousands of copies are printed. Ask customers to read the proof line by line and record their approval. Be particularly careful with Nepali text, where a missing matra changes the word.

Mistake 4: Not tracking paper

Paper is usually the largest material cost, yet many presses only know stock by looking at the shelf. The result is emergency purchases at a higher rate and half used reams that nobody counts. Record purchases and consumption by size and GSM, and review the wastage on each job.

Mistake 5: Delivering without a record

Goods leave the press with a helper, a courier or the customer's own vehicle, and nobody notes quantity or receiver. Later, a short delivery is claimed. Use a challan, and record who received the goods and when. For partial deliveries, note the balance.

Mistake 6: Letting credit grow silently

Credit is normal in the trade, but it needs a limit and a reminder routine. A customer who is allowed to keep ordering with unpaid bills becomes a large risk. Track dues by customer, review old balances weekly and stop new work above an agreed limit, which you decide yourself.

Mistake 7: Never looking at job profit

A busy press is not necessarily a profitable press. Without comparing cost to price, low margin jobs keep coming back because they feel productive. Record material, outsourced work and labour for each job, and review the least profitable customers every quarter.

Mistake 8: Treating every customer the same

A walk-in who orders fifty visiting cards and a business that orders every month are different relationships. Many presses give the same service and payment terms to both. Keep a simple note of each customer type, their usual orders and their payment behaviour. Offer repeat customers faster reorders from saved jobs, and ask first-time customers for a larger advance. This protects cash without damaging goodwill.

Mistake 9: Depending on one person

If only one senior person knows the rates, the machine settings or which customer is fussy, the press is fragile. When that person falls ill or leaves, knowledge walks out of the door. Writing rates, specifications and customer preferences into a shared system makes the press less dependent on any individual, and makes training a new person much faster.

The weekly checklist

Take half an hour at the end of each week, ideally on a quiet day.

• Review all open jobs and update their status.
• List jobs delivered but not invoiced and invoice them.
• List unpaid invoices by age and send reminders.
• Check paper and ink against reorder levels.
• Look at jobs that had reprints and note the cause.
• Check outsourced work that has not returned.
• Review the week's cash, bank and QR receipts against invoices.
• Back up your records.

A short walkthrough of one job done well

Consider a generic example of a school ordering 500 admission forms. The counter records the enquiry, selects the paper, quotes from the rate list and sends the estimate on WhatsApp. The school approves and pays an advance. The designer attaches the draft, the school approves the proof and the press prints. Paper used is deducted, the job moves to cutting and packing, and a challan is signed on delivery. The invoice adjusts the advance, shows the balance and reaches the school the same day. Nothing is remembered; everything is recorded.

Making the checklist automatic

A checklist depends on discipline, and busy weeks break discipline. Software turns many of these checks into screens that show themselves: unbilled deliveries, overdue invoices, low stock, late jobs. Our printing press software is designed around these views, and our CRM software may help if you want to follow up with business customers more systematically.

Message WebsNP on WhatsApp at +977 9846280400 and we will show you the checklist as live screens for your own press.

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