A print manager is a committed and capable specialist who safely navigates your project from development through completion of the printing process. Our staff represents you, our client, they are not employed by the print companies they represent and receive no compensation from them. A print manager has specialized knowledge of manufacturing, materials, processes, workflow management, judgment on timing, and understanding printing plant capabilities, bindery operations, and shipping procedures. In addition, each print manager fully understands the digital alternative available and knows when it is appropriate to swap between more traditional sheet fed and web production to a digital production process.

Our account managers are at the center of our operations. These people are specialists in print, design, editorial, and web processes. One-on-one they work with you to develop a brief that can explain what is required to everybody who will work on your project. This step is important, whether it’s a simple layout or a complex catalog linked to web -- Sharp Print Management is your one source for the project. Once you agree with the brief, your account manager will oversee the process. Different customers have different needs when it comes to the creative process. Some prefer the account manager to do everything after the brief has been clearly delivered. Other clients need to be closer to their project and want to talk to the people involved and observe the stages of the process more closely. Either way is fine with us; tell your account manager how you would like to work and we will work that way. Think of an account manager as a specialist member of your staff, like your personal air traffic controller bringing the plane in for a landing!

The ideal situation is a company who needs to reduce its printing costs. In these situations, we take a holistic approach and look at the big picture. This may include an audit on the entire process, from image and text creation through page layout and artwork preparation, on to printing, bindery, finishing, and shipping. We can also work on a specific project that requires a production manager. No project is too big or small.

When you have difficulty putting together specifications and defining your exact printing requirements, you would be wise to rely on our services.

A team of experts is here to support you every step of the way. The team will work with you to map out your current process ensuring that we fully understand your dataflow. We then analyze your business needs to identify how the system can best support you and help your business to grow. The database is then structured to ensure it will help you to fulfill those specific needs. Your existing product data may be held in a number of places and formats. You can coordinate this data or alternatively we can carry out data inputting on your behalf. We then work together to categorize the data to create your own unique product hierarchy for the database.

No, not when we work together. We have the ability to plan, develop, manage, and update your e-commerce site, letting you get on with other tasks. Our system provides sophisticated data synchronization input and output capabilities in order to populate your website with rich product information. The same process and program that we use to build catalog pages also populates your site -- at the push of a button. That data can be fed on a scheduled basis or automatically as your workflow dictates.

Most likely. By working with many suppliers and watching your print jobs with a critical eye, our print managers can foresee bottlenecks and move a component of the job to another supplier, ensuring deadlines and quality standards are met. In fact, timely delivery of a project is one of the advantages of using our services. Often we can move your job up the line at the manufacturers. A good manager is a logistics expert who knows how to schedule the movement of a print job from design through pre-press onto printing and binding and finally on to its intended destination.

Commodity printing is not the main focus of a print manager -- although we will work to find you the best price, we will generally not compromise the project’s quality just to save money. We can quickly establish which suppliers will deliver the required results without compromising.

Quality, price, and timing play a big role in every decision. Once we understand your goals and requirements we will manage those expectations and provide the services you need.

If you choose to work exclusively with us we will develop a core group of suppliers who meet the needs of your account. Dependent on the scope of your business requirements, these suppliers could be based in many places across the country or around the world. Part of our mission is to gain a fixed rate for your work with each of these suppliers. The reductions in cost are passed immediately on to you. Once this core group is established, we build-in production paths for each and every project. This allows solid relationships to be established by printing suppliers, and ensures brand guidelines are maintained.

Our print service can tightly coordinate resources to reduce waste and provide efficient workflow planning. The print industry is made up of thousands of highly specialized companies with industry skills and unique machinery capabilities. A complex job can move between a pre-press division, print manufacturer, die cutter, bindery house, and specialized folding and packaging plant. Our staff liaises with the suppliers to ensure that each one delivers the highest quality standards.

Yes, many of them are. If this is important to you then the complete job can be put through ISO and FSC shops. ISO is a strong family of standards for quality management systems. We support the efforts of the Forest Stewardship Council and those who strive to improve the practice of managing forests around the world and protecting our environment.

If you are like most print buyers and marketers, your purchasing mix is diverse and complex. If you have multiple in-house clients and their needs are changing (now more than ever), then tracking actual performance against targets is the only way to know if things are getting better. This means that you need a partner who will supply you with information you need to make recommendations for improvement, while still getting the job done. This is a fundamental part of our service.

Your print manager can be available to press check the project on site, as your representative or along with you as an advisor. With the extra eyes of a professional who can directly communicate with trades’ people, situations can be spotted and corrected before costly errors occur.

Proximity to your location is less important in these days of efficient phone service, e-mail, digital transfer, and remote proofing. Having a company that can manage the process and have you feel that you fully understand what is happening is just as important. Wherever you are, we can be there as required to get the job done.

We have been preparing work for print since 1987. Many larger publishing projects can be produced at overseas locations in Canada, Asia, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. It always depends on the project, its budget, and time.

Communication and processes are the keys to success in any international project. We do volume business with international companies and as a result they look after our clients. We handle shipping, airfreight and final customs processing on your behalf. This is especially valuable when working with international companies and the requirements of the shipping and customs documentation process. Communication with freight forwarders and shipping personnel on a regular basis forms a relationship which improves the accuracy of documentation and timely delivery. There are many players on the global print production stage. We have a core group that provides excellent quality, while offering the economy that is associated with international print production.

The 80/20 rule applies in most businesses. We have found that on average 80% of marketing and sales print orders fit eight to ten basic and consistent layouts and manufacturing processes. The remaining 20% tends to be more complicated layouts, unique in some way and needing more concentrated attention. When this is the case for your business, we work with your entire organization to better manage assets and to develop simple, often digital, production paths that will decrease overall costs. We also isolate the high profile parts of your business that require extra attention like an annual report, a catalog, or positioning document that may also be tied to an online presence. In these areas, we work with your key staff to make sure that the process is seamlessly managed behind the scenes so you get what you need on time and on budget.

We will evaluate your project or process and come back with recommendations at no cost to you. Part of that process will identify how much time we feel is needed to do that job and what level of specialty work will be required. Once this is established, we will present you with an outline of how we may work together, your expected cost savings, and a project timeline.

We tend to work in one of two ways:

1) Invoicing the time and materials required for the job to your company by direct invoicing from the printer and other suppliers. (Clients often prefer this method since it maintains transparency and keeps them in the driver’s seat.)

2) For a totally outsourced solution, with one invoice, we will agree on terms and conditions and invoice accordingly.

Visit our Cases studies page for examples of different jobs staff have produced