Printing Tips
Most printed materials appear inexpensive when you look at the unit price.
A run of brochures. A batch of business cards. A run of promotional items. A set of signs for a new area. Packaging for a product line.
On paper, none of this looks significant. The real cost usually sits somewhere else.
It appears in the time spent sourcing suppliers, locating files, approving artwork, correcting small issues and replacing materials that do not perform as expected.
Individually, these moments seem minor, but across dozens or hundreds of orders each year, they begin to add up. When print is unmanaged, the organisation often pays more in time, rework and inconsistency than in the printed item itself.
A day in the life of an everyday print item
A team needs new brochures for an upcoming event, so they spend some time gathering quotes, and they spend a bit more time looking for the most up-to-date artwork.
They find a file, but it’s a version from two years ago, but it looks close enough.
They know that they might need to write on some of the pages to adjust the price when speaking to people, but they’re running out of time, so they go for it.
The order is placed with a supplier who handled a similar job previously.
The delivery arrives.
The colours look slightly different from the last version, they know some of the prices are wrong, they know that it isn’t ideal, but the team accepts them because the deadline is so close.
Later, the marketing team notices the design is outdated, and new brochures need to be produced again, so they rush to get a fresh delivery so they can still hit the deadline, and they may need to use a new supplier to hit the deadline.
This pattern doesn’t just happen with brochures.
It happens all over.
Business cards are ordered individually by different teams. Packaging formats vary slightly between product batches. Signs are produced at different times by different suppliers.
Each situation is small and the cost of each one is small, but the pattern repeats and the repetition is where the real cost lives.
Where to look for hidden waste
If you want to understand the true cost of your print, start by reviewing a few recent items.
For example:
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A brochure run
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Business card orders
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Packaging for a product
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Signage for a new space
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Promo items
Then consider the full journey behind them.
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Time spent locating or updating artwork
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Internal approvals and revisions
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Multiple suppliers are quoting similar work
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Reprints when designs or colours change
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Short-run emergency orders when stock runs out
When organisations add these elements together, the total cost is often far higher than the original print order.
The control levers
Print management helps bring structure to this process. Instead of individual items being produced independently, the organisation begins to manage its print ecosystem more deliberately.
This can include:
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Consolidating suppliers so materials and colours remain consistent
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Maintaining central files so the correct versions are always used
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Setting clear specifications for packaging, signage and materials
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Planning supply so items are replenished before they run out
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Tracking usage across teams or sites
These steps are not complicated. But they bring visibility to something that is often scattered across departments.
The effect of managed supply
When organisations begin to manage their print more intentionally, a few patterns quickly improve.
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Fewer emergency orders.
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Fewer outdated materials in circulation.
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Greater consistency across packaging, signage and customer materials.
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Easier management of files so the latest version is always used
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Less staff time spent chasing files, approvals and suppliers.
Over time, this usually reduces the total cost of print across the organisation, even if the unit price of individual items stays similar.
Top Tip
When reviewing print costs, include staff time as a simple internal estimate. Ten minutes spent chasing artwork or confirming details may seem minor. Repeated across dozens of print orders each year, it becomes a meaningful cost.
Ready to manage your print better?
If you want fewer suppliers, fewer repeated tasks and a clearer system behind your print, we can help consolidate production and supply across the materials your organisation uses every day.
Sometimes the biggest savings come from simply managing what already exists.
