An important position at any organization is managing inventories of printed materials. In some cases, if you don’t have the right printed items in inventory, everything stops. Print inventory management is critical to keep your business running smoothly and provide the right materials at the right time.
Printed product use directions? Printed legal documents? Printed promotional materials? They’re all critical to the operations of many businesses.
Print Inventory Management
So what’s the best way to keep your printed materials at the ready, while keeping your costs down. Here are some ideas:
- Think six months in advance. While prep work for printing is much faster nowadays, it still takes some time to get paper through the press. If you are looking at what you need in printed materials over the next half of the year, chances are good that you’ll always be alerted to short supplies and place orders for replacements before it becomes critical. Six months is typically a good time frame even for businesses with seasonal cycles (where you need more inventory at certain times of the year).
- Do yearly inventory audits. An audit helps you determine if you still need every SKU, or if you can discontinue some and save money. An audit can also clue you in if you have extra expenses for printing or shipping that can be reduced.
- Involve your printing supplier during these reviews. Most printers are delighted to help, and can provide you with details on how often you should order, quantities, and potential savings you might earn by increasing quantities, changing designs, or using different paper. Your printer can also show you how to enhance the quality of your printed materials so your brand can make a better impression with your customers.
Want to know more? Our professionals at King Printing Solutions would welcome your questions and can provide you with quotes on all your printing, so you can see if there are ways to save. Call, email, text, or fax us.