Industry Advice Know when the time is right to downsize
There is plenty of advice out there how to grow and enhance your business, but how to you know when the time is right to downsize? Richard Stretton, managing director of Manchester Print & Press, provides some insight.
A few photos of the equipment that Richard now runs in his down-sized warehouse I
f you are reading this article on a smart phone or a tablet then you are probably thinking the below are the ramblings of an old fool.
If you are reading this article in the magazine while taking 10 minutes to throw a sandwich down your neck before you start printing again yourself because either one or more of your print staff have not turned up for work for whatever reason, then this article probably applies to you.
I have been in the print and promotion business for over 30 years and the hardest thing I have ever had to do is realise that the previous business model I had was not working. Yes, it worked for 20 years and was very successful, however if the last few years have taught us anything it is that life can throw up challenges and issues that no matter how a good business man or woman you are, you cannot overcome them no matter how hard you try or however many hours you put in to the business. Realising you have a problem is one thing, spending hours and sleepless nights worrying is another thing all together.
The first thing
The first thing you need to get your head around is that downsizing your business is not failing, it is a strategic business decision that if made at the right time can save not only the business itself but your own personal sanity, health and in some cases your family life. A good friend of mine runs an insolvency company, yes one of them, above his desk in his nice plush office is a sign which reads and I quote ‘It is not the biggest or even the most strongest companies that survive, it is those that are the most flexible and able to change’.
So, if this article is even published and if you are sat there with tomato sauce dripping on to the page, while having your 10-minute lunch break and wondering if there is a point to this article, then here it is. After many months of consideration as to if I was doing the right thing in downsizing and several lectures from our accountant about not making any money, I decided to do it. Hard as it was to let some of my staff go, several of whom who were proven loyal and hardworking, many of whom were not.
What’s profitable?
I looked at what parts of the business were profitable and those that were not.
How much space was being used to store customer product that was awaiting print, taking up valuable space that I was not charging for albeit costing me money? How much time was
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
being wasted loading and unloading customers’ product, again time not invoiced for? How many jobs was I taking in for very little return, if only to keep people employed that really did not want to be there and for price driven customers who did not pay for over 60 days? How much expensive space was being taken up by the countless unused wooden screens I was storing and the old machines that I cut my teeth printing on and had sentimental value only in the thought that one day they might become useful again? The answer to these questions was to downsize from a 5,000sq ft warehouse to half the size at 2,500sq ft. The old machines, the unused screens, the unsold stock, was skipped!
Another big question
Another big question in downsizing, who will do the work I do want to keep? The answer, you and if possible a small group of your best staff or family members prepared to spare you a few hours, hopefully for love not money. Let’s face it, if you have been in the print business for as long as you can remember, take 10 minute lunch breaks and still read magazines with tomato sauce dripping off your chin, then perhaps you are and always were the best printer in your shop, you have just forgotten the fact.
So, not to digress, what did I do with my big machines, the three- phase ones, autos and large power consuming dryers, the answer, sell them, good second-hand printing machines always hold their value. Ok, I’ve downsized to a smaller unit with no three-phase electrical supply, how do I still produce the orders I do want to undertake and still keep producing good quality work? Again, the answer, printed transfers. Producing good quality digital and screen printed transfers can be done on single-phase machines and in a fraction of the space previously required to store and work on all the afore mentioned door stop printing machines etc, etc. For single-colour work which is the majority of our workload, I use a basic vacuum bed table and store the transfers on drying racks until the time comes to cure them at the end of the day. Hint, I am not running a tunnel dryer all day for no reason and at extortionate cost. For multi-colour work I use I use a combination of transfers output from a full colour Oki laser printer combined with screen printed white or solid colours.
The combination of digital and screen transfer printing allows for the bulk production or small quantity runs of top quality transfer prints enabling us to satisfy the needs of the customers we do want to work with, that understand the necessity of paying us on time and that generally understand the world is changing. I hope you enjoyed the ramblings of an old fool.
May 2022 | 63 |
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