PrintNZ is the peak body for the printing industry and has three key strategic goals:

1. Promoting the benefits of print as a sustainable and effective means of communication to a much larger audience – we still see too many references to anything and everything print/paper ‘killing trees’.

There is amazing collateral available from the Two Sides and Value of Paper and Print campaigns and it is fantastic to work collaboratively with the campaign on both sides of the Tasman.  PrintNZ Members have access to all of the collateral through their membership and should make the most of it.  It is up to everyone to get it out into the market place however you can – whether that be by use of graphics on your website, including information in your customer mailings, preparing presentations for customers that include facts and figures, sharing Facebook stories/tweets etc.  We have these resources available and the more companies that participate, the further the word will spread.

2. Supporting our core membership and assisting their businesses to be the best they can be, while at the same time expanding the membership of PrintNZ to ensure that it is inclusive of the broad spectrum of businesses that are involved in print in one form or another.

Over the past 12 months PrintNZ has broadened our service offering and increased our engagement activity so make the most of what is on offer.  These services are all either free or at heavily discounted prices and have been put in place to help members.  Our core areas of business assistance are:

• Employment Relations – personalized employment advice including hiring, disciplinary procedures, redundancy and restructuring.  We have a broad range of templates and also prepare bespoke documentation.
• Health and Safety – detailed programmes, audits, documentation and training that will ensure you are complying with your H&S obligations under the new legislation.
• Member savings – group buying schemes that provide a discount to our members including St Johns, Mobil petrol, insurance, Enviromark accreditation, office products.
• Lobbying – acting as the voice of the industry in matters that have the ability to affect our industry both positively and negatively.
• Benchmarking – collecting data that will provide both high level and low level statistics for use by the industry itself and for supporting presentations to other organizations.  The benchmarking information we put out is only as good as the data that goes in.  We have a new survey questionnaire due out shortly so please make sure you fill it out and send it in so that you can get a copy of the results back.

3. Encouraging the industry to recognise the potential of their employees by providing them with training opportunities, both in the core print/packaging skills and the peripheral areas of sales, business, leadership, health and safety, customer services and competitive manufacturing.

Training is vital to the ongoing health of our industry and PrintNZ continues to work with Competenz to ensure that the training needs of the industry are met, and that businesses take advantage of all the formal training options that are available.

But there are also many informal options for learning – the Industry Forum, PrintNZ seminars, trade shows such as Pacprint, vendor training.  Don’t miss an opportunity to upskill or cross-skill your staff – improving their capabilities can only be good for your business.

Achieving these goals requires not only the dedication of the Board and staff of PrintNZ, but they also require the commitment of our members and the industry to ensure that everyone takes responsibility for spreading the good story of print as far as possible, having skilled staff to produce the work and strong businesses that represent the industry.

We all have a common goal – to see our industry and the businesses in it be successful and have print recognised for the important role it plays.  To do this we need everyone to participate.  If there are businesses in the industry you work with that should be part of this make sure you let us know.  We want everyone to play their part – we will all reap the rewards.

 

For further information on any events or to get involved, please email ruth.cobb@printnz.co.nz

We kick off the year with the good news that PrintNZ saw an increase in membership numbers in 2017 for the first time in a number of years.  This is pleasing recognition of the work that we do in the industry and the broad range of services we offer to members.  The PrintNZ team look forward to continuing that work in 2018 by assisting member businesses, promoting the industry, recognizing the talent in our industry and keeping our ear to the ground with the new Government to make sure our voice is heard and we don’t miss anything.

We have continued to expand the service offering and increase our engagement activity, and as it is the start of a new year it is an opportune time to remind everyone of the work we do and exactly what is available to help your business.  Our six core areas of work are:

• Compliance advice – employment, health and safety, hazardous goods – interpreting legislation, providing templates, reviewing case law,
• Promoting the industry – telling the good story of print and providing resources to our members to tell the good story of print.
• Training – trade training, health and safety, lean manufacturing, sales, business etc
• Member savings – group buying schemes that provide a discount to our members including St Johns, Mobil petrol, insurance, Enviromark accreditation, OfficeMax stationery, Contact Energy electricity
• Lobbying – acting as the voice of the industry in matters that have the ability to affect our industry both positively and negatively.
• Benchmarking – collecting data that will provide statistics for use by the industry itself and for supporting presentations to other organizations – including wages, charge-out rates, financial benchmarks.

PrintNZ’s work with members in the area of employment and industrial relations remains one of our core activities.Employment law is a moving target and decisions made in the Employment Authority today can change the way you need to apply this to your business tomorrow.  It is our job to keep abreast of those changes and make sure they are communicated.  In this one area alone members can save thousands of dollars in legal fees by seeking advice before working through an issue, or by using our services to work through a problem that has developed.

Health and Safety has seen an increased focus since the introduction of the new Act in April 2016.  No business can afford to ignore it’s responsibilities in this area.  Prosecutions made under the new legislation have seen fines increase ten-fold.   PrintNZ has an extensive knowledge and resource base to assist businesses to comply with the new legislation, from implementation programmes through to high level detailed documentation.  Directors have strict liabilities under the new legislation and an annual audit by PrintNZ staff can provide an independent verification of processes and procedures, and identify any gaps in compliance.  Worksafe respect the work we do with member businesses in this space and will recommend the audit process as part of an annual check-up.

During 2018 PrintNZ will continue its work towards raising the profile of print. Making use of the valuable collateral provided by the Two Sides and Value of Paper and Print campaigns we participate in, it is our role to see that information spread as widely as possible to promote the positive message about print, and the effective job it does in communicating.  We will NEVER live in a world without print and we let’s make sure everyone knows it.  In 2017 we participated in a global survey of consumer attitudes towards paper and print and the findings from that survey will focus some of the messaging we use in 2018 as consumers confirm that print still plays a vital role in their lives.

Training is vital to the ongoing health of our industry and PrintNZ continues to work with Competenz to ensure that the training needs of the industry are met, and that businesses take advantage of the myriad training options that are available.  In April we are hosting training graduations to recognise all those that completed a training programme during 2017 and encouraging businesses to continue taking on trainees in 2018.  We will also announce those that have excelled in their apprenticeship programmes with the announcement of the Top 5 apprentices, along with the Top Trainer, Top Training Company and Top Diploma of Print Management student.  These are capped off with the announcement of the Apprentice of the Year at the 25^th Pride In Print Awards on 11 May in Auckland.

And last but not least – part of our work as the print industry association involves building relationships and working with Government to have the industry’s voice heard. This work includes monitoring proposed policy/legislative changes and lobbying Government on the issues that will impact the industry.  PrintNZ are the go-to organisation for statistics, feedback and positioning for our industry and the contact we have with our members contributes greatly to the work we do in this area.  We need to know what the industry wants and put that position forward, so please continue to provide feedback on issues that affect your business.  With a new Government in place there will likely be some game-changing legislation introduced/amended and it is our job to minimise the effect on member businesses where possible.

Our overarching goal is to work towards having a strong, well represented industry made up of successful businesses.  Be part of the organisation that is here to help you and help our industry.

For more information on issues raised in this article please email ruth.cobb@printnz.co.nz or contact me on 027 2489404

Everybody loves a bargain and wants to spend as little money as possible to get the best results but in business we need to be wary of this – both when purchasing products for our businesses and when selling them.

Purchasing – cutting corners isn’t always cost effective

Over recent weeks I have seen a number of examples of companies cutting corners when it comes to spending on their business systems and in every one of these cases the few hundred dollars they saved has cost them thousands in the long run – in time, and literally in money.

The first was a case of a company that used a free on-line Employment Agreement builder.  They relied on this to give them the protection they needed if they had an employment issue.  The agreement included a poorly worded 90 day trial period and when they were challenged on a dismissal they made relying on the 90 day trial period clause, they lost because the clause was ambiguous and found by the Employment Authority to be insufficient.  The outcome for the company was a payment of over $15,000 to the employee.

The second example relates to the first prosecution under the new Health and Safety at Work Act that came into play in 2016 with its much higher penalties..  The company was found guilty of failing to ensure the health of its workers so far as was reasonably practicable. Worksafe asked for a starting point of $900,000 previously around $90,000 for high/medium culpability). The court looked at a penalty range of between $400,000 and $600,000, reduced to $275,000 because the company pleaded guilty.  Ultimately the company was ordered to pay $138,500 based on its ability to pay.  Even at this rate it is still a figure well in excess of the time and money that would have been spent to have suitable health and safety systems and processes in place.

The third instance relates to a company that did not have Terms of Trade in place.  They were caught up in a claim for defective goods with the company threatening to sue for losses.  They didn’t have any terms and conditions that would have relieved them of any third party responsibility for losses, and ended up having to make a payment in excess of $10,000 to settle the matter out of court.

Each of these problems could have been solved by paying for sound advice.  PrintNZ has documentation for each of these matters and the cost of membership, or a small fee to buy the correct documentation is nothing compared to what it will cost you if you get it wrong.  We come across businesses that will copy someone else’s documentation, or download something off the net for free, but you get what you pay for – and if you pay nothing, sometimes that is exactly what you get.  That can be an expensive mistake – and I have seen instances of this also.

 

Selling – value the work you produce, price intelligently and pass on cost increases

The printing industry has always been competitive and pressure is put on businesses to cut their prices to win work, but there is a point where this is not good for the business and not good for the industry.  It is vital that as a business you know the costs of producing a job and ensure that you are charging enough to recover those costs.

And if your costs increase then it is important that you look closely at the impact of price increases on your business and that you make any necessary adjustments to your own pricing to recover those costs.  There are many MIS systems available now that provide this information at the touch of a button and as a business you should use the wealth of information that they provide.

 

Warren Buffet said “Price is what you pay – value is what you get.”  Make sure you don’t cut corners when either buying and selling.