If you’re working in packagingprepress and your boss is an early adopter of all things automation, count your lucky stars! Then again, since you’re reading this, chances are your boss is a little less enthusiastic about automating the company’s packaging workflow than you had hoped. But don’t despair just yet. Next time, take these tips with you to the boardroom to change his perspective.
1. “Everyone’s doing it”
Your competitors are progressing by leaps and bounds thanks to automation, so why shouldn’t you? Leave the technology part out (at least for now), and instead bring other packaging company’s successes with automation to the attention by presenting the board of executives with a selection of solid business cases.
2. Tap into executive concerns
Executives in virtually any industry are increasingly concerned with e-commerce and mass customization, wondering how their business can use those trends to create added value without risking losses. Tell them all about the difficulties your team currently faces dealing with online orders and personalized packaging trends, and why you strongly believe automating the workflow will result in fewer client disapprovals and less material getting wasted.
3. Packaging workflow automation is a people issue
If your company has trouble filling job openings and retaining staff, that in itself is a tell-tale sign that there is indeed a need for automation. Nobody likes performing mind-numbing tasks in the year 2018 where automation is becoming the norm rather than the exception – especially not if they spent years studying for a creative job. Don’t hesitate to carry out an anonymous survey among your team to gauge how the lack of information influences their job satisfaction, and present the results to your supervisor(s).
4. Point out low-hanging fruit
Finally, present your boss with some lovely low-hanging fruit by calculating how much automating the packaging workflow would save the company. Tip: it’s easy-breezy if you use our online calculator!