Searching for Content Related to "Howie Fenton"

• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 10 September 2024

Printing Measurements and KPIs: A Path to Performance Improvement

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are crucial yet challenging metrics to define and measure within the printing industry. Over the years, the graphic arts sector has struggled with consistent measurements, reporting, and process improvement strategies. In this blog, we'll delve into the importance of measurements and KPIs, strategies to gather the data, and offer insights into how they can be used effectively to enhance performance.

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• IPMA Conference 2024
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• 19 July 2024

The Current Trends Impacting Your In-plant

Join industry experts Howie Fenton and Joanne Gore as they explore the trends currently shaping the in-plant industry. Recorded during the IPMA 2024 Educational Conference, this series of videos takes a deep dive into the realities of in-plants today.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 04 June 2024

11 Innovative Strategies to Overcome In-Plant Staffing Issues: Part 2

To attract new employees and build out their staffing needs, in-plants today need to rethink their hiring strategies. Younger generations, especially, are looking for different things in the workplace, wanting an employer that lives up to their ideals and prioritizes the values and programs they do. Building a workplace that measures up is the first step to appealing to younger workers today — but recruiting and retaining staff may mean thinking outside of the box at every stage. 

In the second of a two-part series, Howie Fenton gives his final five of 11 recommendations on how to overcome in-plant staffing issues.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 07 May 2024

11 Innovative Strategies to Overcome In-Plant Staffing Issues: Part 1

Hiring employees has become increasingly challenging for in-plants. As older employees retire, younger generations — including Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Y — are becoming more and more difficult to draw in. But with a clearer idea of what these generations are looking for, and by introducing new programs and tactics that align with those needs, in-plants can begin to make their businesses more appealing for young hires.  

The first in a two-part series, this blog post looks at six of 11 recommendations on how to do that. 

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 09 April 2024

Growth Markets and New Applications for Variable Data Printing

New print, finish, and mail technologies are constantly evolving – yet for many in-plants, the growth opportunities for Variable Data Printing (VDP) may have long seemed unchanged. But there’s plenty of opportunity in VDP, and a growing market for the right VDP applications. This blog explores some of the new applications and strategies in-plants can take – demystifying VDP and highlighting its possible growth trajectory.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 05 March 2024

How Your Web to Print User Interface Impacts Customer Satisfaction and Adoption

An excellent user experience isn’t just a “nice to have” in today’s Web to Print software. Rather, it’s the difference between solutions that get used and those that don’t. So what goes into a good Web to Print user experience? And what can you do if you feel like your Web to Print environment isn’t meeting user expectations? This blog post explores those questions and more. 

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 06 February 2024

Are You Meeting Customer Expectations with Your Web to Print System?

Explore the "Amazon Effect" impact on customer expectations and learn how personalized interfaces and digital printing services are essential for growth. Plus, uncover 13 must-have features for your Web to Print system to enhance in-plant customer satisfaction.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 09 January 2024

Preparing for the Opportunities Created by a Soft Landing

With the US economy on course for a “soft landing,” in-plants can get ready for the potential benefits that could result. By gathering customer feedback and analyzing market trends, you can determine whether to look for new growth opportunities or find ways to boost productivity and save on costs instead.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 07 November 2023

The 9 Print Industry Trends That Will Impact Your Business in 2024

The printing industry is always evolving, and printers and in-plants today have a list of new challenges to deal with. But 2024 promises to bring new solutions and strategies to deal with them. In this blog post, we predict the top nine trends for 2024 – and what they mean for the printing industry.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 10 October 2023

How AI Is Changing Mail Production Services

The next step in the future of printing starts with artificial intelligence. Explore how AI is making inroads into mailing automation and what it means for the future of the printing lifecycle. And with barcoding an integral part of those future capabilities, discover how the newest barcoding features in RSA’s QDirect output management solution can take you one step closer to these future possibilities?

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 12 September 2023

How to Use ChatGPT to Support Your Business

ChatGPT opens up new opportunities for businesses—but only if it’s leveraged effectively. This blog explores how in-plant printers can make the most out of artificial intelligence while avoiding common pitfalls like plagiarism and inaccuracies. Through trial and error and some established best practices, printers can use ChatGPT to enhance its customer service efforts, by building out answers to frequently asked questions and creating templated responses to common requests—while escalating more high-level requests to the humans.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 08 August 2023

On In-plant's Minds- How to Demonstrate Value

Watch this 4-minute video interview to see what is on the minds of in-plant print center leaders. In this video interview with consultant Howie Fenton and RSA's Director of Sales, Ben Parker, hear how in-plants are saying that they want to demonstrate value and Fenton's examples and insights.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 11 July 2023

On In-plant's Minds- Doing More with Less

Watch this 5-minute video interview to see what is on the minds of in-plant print center leaders. In this video interview with consultant Howie Fenton and RSA's Director of Sales, Ben Parker, hear what in-plants are thinking about and Fenton's three potential solutions and suggestions.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 13 June 2023

Updated Predictions of 11 Print Industry Trends Impacting Your Business in 2023

In this blog we revisit and update our predictions of 11 print industry trends impacting your business in 2023 and evaluate the accuracy of our previous predictions.  

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 09 May 2023

10 Due Diligence Steps to Overcome Investment Objections

Take these 10 due diligence steps to overcome investment objections for new technology that enhances productivity to reduce time, cost, and pricing. The importance of investing in new technology is taking on a new imperative. Being prepared with due diligence will help ensure your project's approval.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 11 April 2023

9 Trust Building and Collaboration Steps to Overcome Investment Objections

A recent NAPCO study talks about today's competitive challenges and the importance of re-aligning strategies. One aspect is increasing productivity through capital investments. While many understand the due diligence calculations such as ROI and payback, not everyone realizes the importance of garnering support from other team members and departments. In this blog, we discuss 9 steps to increase trust and enhance collaboration to overcome investment objections.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 07 March 2023

5 Steps to Overcome the Fear of the Unknown

While a variety of factors can cause decision making hesitation, with the faster pace of change no one can afford to make poor or delayed decisions. Indecision or hesitation can negatively impact your ability to respond to new challenges, slow the growth of new products or services, and impact key business areas. In this blog, we describe the signs of decision hesitation and the 5 steps to overcome the fear of the unknown.

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• eBook

Accelerate Your In-plant's Future eBook

In this free eBook find out how you can accelerate your in-plant’s future and proactively respond to change. With many parts of the printing and in-plant industry changing, it may result in a resurgence of the in-plant outsourcing trend. Download the eBook and learn how to prepare your production print operation for the future, and create a plan to minimize threats and maximize your future opportunities.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 07 February 2023

The Four STEPS to Increase Productivity

A common productivity killer for printing operations is bottlenecks. With a recession potentially looming, industry experts are advising print providers to increase their productivity to help address a business slowdown and other current trends. In this post, industry consultant Howie Fenton offers his four STEP process (staff, training, equipment, and procedures) as part of an approach to resolve bottlenecks to increase productivity.

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• Blog Post
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• Howie Fenton
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• 10 January 2023

11 Predictions of How Print Industry Trends Will Impact Your Business in 2023

Our 11 predictions about how print industry trends will impact print centers and how to respond to reduce the challenges these trends create. While most in-plant print centers have been struggling with challenges ranging from demand to supply chain to staffing in the last few years, the trends and pace of change have accelerated. The issues from the trends alone would be challenging, but the combination will create “perfect storms.”

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