As this is the first edition to the series, it only makes sense to start with what exactly these things are. A KPI (key performance indicator) is a measure reflecting how a company is doing in a specific aspect of its performance. A KPI is one representation of a critical success factor (CSF)—a key activity needed to achieve a given strategic objective. Organizations that measure performance identify the handful of critical success factors that comprise every strategic objective.

For example, depending on a company’s strategy, the organization might have a KPI for the percentage of income the organization derives from international markets. Another KPI might be the number of customer complaints about orders filled incorrectly. Some organizations use many KPIs, for all their different areas of operation. Other enterprises’ KPIs may focus on a specific area. For instance, a social service nonprofit may focus all its KPIs on the amount of aid that is granted to different entities.

Typically, each unit within a company also has a set of KPIs that support the company’s goals. Performance data for a unit’s KPIs can be rolled up into the company’s KPIs to reflect total organizational performance in any given area being measured.

You probably won’t participate in developing KPIs at the corporate level. However, you may be involved in creating KPIs at your unit’s level—especially if your unit was recently acquired or has been associated with a new product, process, department, or line of reporting. Regardless of your situation, you should be aware of the KPIs that are in place in your organization. With this awareness, you can measure your and your group’s progress towards corporate and unit goals.

The idea behind such fascination is the same theory that has guided advertising and marketing for close to sixty years: go where your target audience is and connect with them in an effective way. Therefore, your goals and audience should be the key factors you should consider before engaging in social media. They will determine what platform to use and how to use it.

The 3 most popular social media platforms for business-to-business commerce are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Each of these can be effective for fulfillment companies. Why? Because your customers are sharing their experiences there. People trust people. You’re much more likely to do business with a company that your friend recommended, than you would if you saw an advertisement. It’s word of mouth marketing at its finest. You need to be there to monitor those conversations – to make sure inaccuracies are addressed and leads are converted into new clients. Not only that, but Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are excellent platforms to disseminate information about your company – new hires, clients, press, etc.

It’s also important to consider SEM (search engine marketing). Millions of potential consumers search Google, Yahoo or Bing every day. A well-executed SEM campaign can help ensure you attract the right clientele at the precise moment they’re ready to buy. Consistently monitoring and improving SEM tactics can help you get the most from your investment of time and money.

Here are a few of the most common ways you can bind your collateral:

Three Ring Binders

These binders can be custom vinyl or paper turned edge and are great for training manuals, equipment specifications and presentations.. They require large margins since they take up a lot of room at the bind edge, but can be a good option for some types of manuals where page revisions may need to be inserted.

Wire-O and Spiral Binding

Wire-O is a series of parallel wire loops attached along a wire, while spiral binding is a metal or plastic continuous loop passing through the punched holes in a spiral from the top to the bottom of the book. Writing notebooks, notepads, steno pads, cookbooks, booklets, manuals, reference materials, workbooks, and calendars often utilize comb, coil, or double loop wire binding methods.

Saddle stitching

Securing pages by wire staples through the centre fold. In saddle-stitched work the printed sections are inserted one inside the other. Saddle stitching is common for small booklets, calendars, pocket-size address books, and some magazines.

Perfect Binding

Paperback novels are one example of perfect bound books. Booklets, telephone directories, and some magazines use perfect binding.

Case Binding

Case or edition binding is the most common type of binding for hardcover books.

Ultimately the type of binding you use depends on  the purpose of the document, your distribution methods and your budget. Make sure to discuss which method is right for you with your printer before you start.

Obviously this isn’t good news for direct mail. Accordingly, the Direct Marketing Association released the following response to the rate increase:

Washington, DC, July 26, 2010 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the DMA Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) today asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to dismiss the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) request to increase postal rates by ten times the rate permissible by law. The petition was filed by the Affordable Mail Alliance, of which the Direct Marketing Association, DMA Nonprofit Federation, and MFSA are supporting members. The Affordable Mail Alliance’s members are commercial and nonprofit organizations. Commercial mail accounts for 85 percent of the Postal Service’s revenues.

The Postal Service seeks to raise prices by an average of 5.6 percent — more than ten times the current rate of inflation — claiming as “exigent” circumstances the recession of 2008-2009 and electronic diversion of First-class mail.

“Businesses across the country have had to make difficult decisions due to the recent recession – tightening their belts, increasing productivity and in some cases, cutting their workforces as their revenue fell by 20 percent or more,” said Jerry Cerasale, DMA’s senior vice president of government affairs. “Because of this highly efficient management, many of those same businesses – including UPS and FedEx – have managed to return to profitability within a quarter or two. The Postal Service has not taken the same difficult steps. Instead, its unit costs rose by six percent in 2009 as prices fell across the economy. The Service has a lot more work to do to bring their costs under control before turning to its customers for yet another rate increase.”

For more information about the proposed rate hike and planning for your 2011 budgets speak with a representative from JLH, a Division of Complemar.

To overcome these challenges, the world needs to develop sources of clean renewable energy and to reduce the amount of energy we use to support the way we live.  The term clean energy describes a range of technologies, not just renewable energy, but also energy efficiency, smart utility grids, clean water technologies, and energy efficient transportation systems.

Clean energy alternatives are emerging from natural sources such as wind, sun and water, and from innovative new processes such as waste-to-energy conversion, biomass conversion and fuel cells.

Environmental Benefits

• No emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), mercury, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) or particulate matter into the air, water or soil.  Commonly cited effects of these harmful            pollutants include climate change, mercury poisoning, acid rain and smog

• Doesn’t require fossil-fuel extraction that seriously damages the land

• Made from unlimited renewable sources that will never run out, unlike limited and polluting fossil fuel sources

• Helps preserve and protect the environment for future generations

Economic Benefits

• Creates employment opportunities in the green job sector in the U.S.

• Helps secure America’s energy future by investing in domestic sources of energy

• Brings development to rural areas, where renewable facilities are often sited to take advantage of ample space and resource potential

In addition to developing our own clean energy products here at Complemar, we’re constantly looking for ways to reduce the impact on the environment in our operations.   We designed and developed a bar-coded warehouse management system specifically to manage multiple inventories that improved equipment efficiencies and reduced paper usage by 50%. Our team continues to strive for sustainable processes through our 5S Team and training.

Many web-to-print suppliers set up templates for item such as business cards through window envelopes to foil brochures, allowing you to upload, change or customize content, edit, proof and approve for printing – all online. However, it is possible for clients to upload their own unique content for automated print production.

One of the main differences between web-to-print and traditional printing are the printing templates. In the digital process, final templates are transformed into PDF files that serve as the “master plate” for the digital press. Whereas in the traditional printing process, the template is used to create plates, which are used to create the final product.

Just about everything from business cards to brochures to stationary can be printed online. Many web-to-print systems can also handle personalization and distribution other marketing collateral, such as presentations, logos and even email.

Benefits of web-to-print:
• Brand Consistency – Set and control amendments to your branding rules and make any changes in one place. Disperse the collateral throughout the organization quickly.
• Customized Content – Allow remote locations, field representatives, or franchisees to personalize the marketing collateral to match their specific audience or location information.
• Digital Asset Management – Keep all of your marketing collateral and digital assets in one place, making it easy to manage your brand.
• Control of Time – Save time by streamlining and centralizing your ordering process via your custom branded web-to-print portal.
• Save Money and Add to Bottom Line – Reap the benefits of “print on demand” by printing only what you need when you need it and still receive “bulk” savings by sourcing it from the same printer.
• Budget Control – Set up specific budgets for each office or department to ensure budget constraints are kept.
• Inventory Control – Keep track of stored materials and reprint as needed.
• Approval Process – When concerns about your marketing messages arise, a web-to-print solution can create peace of mind by having an approval process in place.

To see a working example of a web-to-print system, check out http://www.quickbizcards.com/demo.shtml

For printing services in Reno, please contact Complemar!

Cut Costs

Besides eliminating the need for elaborate, expensive data collection systems, bar coding saves money by reducing the costly errors that are common with human typists. Barcodes are effective tools that can be used to address specific, localized problems or integrated into organization-wide information systems. From an inventory control standpoint, bar coding can help an organization maintain more cost-effective levels.

Reduce Errors

Clerical errors can be a significant cost, therefore creating a big problem for companies. Barcode scanners are much more accurate; the error rate can be as good as 1 error in 36 trillion characters depending on the type of barcode used.

Save Time

Depending on the application, timesaving can be significant. Often the most dramatic examples involve the beloved chore of taking inventory.

How Bar Codes Work

If you take a look at a bar code, you’ll see a series of parallel lines. These lines make up the Universal Product Code. UPC bar codes were originally created to help grocery stores speed up the checkout process and keep better track of inventory, but the system quickly spread to all other retail products because it was so successful.

UPCs originate with a company called the Uniform Code Council (UCC). A manufacturer applies to the UCC for permission to enter the UPC system. The manufacturer pays an annual fee for the privilege. In return, the UCC issues the manufacturer a six-digit manufacturer identification number and provides guidelines on how to use it. You can see the manufacturer identification number in any standard 12-digit UPC code.

Proper reverse logistics begins in the design phase of a product. Keeping reusability and recyclability in mind from start to finish minimizes damage to our environment and helps recapture value.

Now more than ever, reverse logistics are needed as governments around the world institute “cradle to grave” recycling laws. The European Union’s new Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive seeks to minimize the incineration or dumping in landfill sites of household appliances.  Manufacturers of electronic equipment will be required to reclaim and recycle two thirds of the goods they produce.  As a result, a number of companies are voluntarily taking leadership positions in recycling the equipment they sell.  Dell, for instance, offers free recycling of its products to consumers anywhere in the world.

As technology improves and new replaces old, reverse logistics couldn’t be any more important. Smart meters, for example, are replacing old utility electric meters as we transition to a smart grid – the goal being to improve the reliability of our nations electric grid and to reduce dependence on dirty fossil fuels.  It is therefore imperative that old meters are handled properly to avoid becoming part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution.

There are roughly 200 million electric meters in the US.  Plans call for nearly all of them to be replaced by the end of this decade.  The immediate alternatives to dumping old meters are the re-use of components or parts of equipment that can be used in other products with less exigent requirements, as well as recycling constituent materials – mainly metals and plastics – thus enabling their return to the economic cycle as raw material.

Cradle to grave management of commercial and consumer goods is an important part of the move to a sustainable future, and it starts with a proper reverse logistic operation.

Ok, let’s try it again, this time a little differently. Your alarm clock fails to ring. You get up 20 minutes late and rush into the shower. The water doesn’t turn on. You run down stairs and grab that new, unopened box of cereal to eat in the car. You open it up. Not only is it just half full, but it’s not even the right cereal.

Now that’s definitely something to take notice of; it might just go down as the worst morning ever. My point here is that we rarely notice and sometimes take for granted when products or services meet our expectations. However, when they don’t, we shoot up a red flag. We all care when products turn out to be of poor quality, don’t fit, or are unreliable and dangerous.  In other words, when they lack standards.

When your alarm clock goes off at the right time or the shower works as it should, it is because they meet standards. The International Standards for Business, Government and Society (ISO) is the organization responsible for these standards and the thousands more that benefit the world.

Although it ‘s not required of any ISO management system standards, a business may become ISO certified. This means that a business’ management system has been audited and verified that it conforms to the standard’s requirements. In other words, certified businesses have provided proof that they operate to the highest standards, which increases their credibility in the consumers eyes.