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When outsourcing work, nothing is more important than great communication. Here’s a checklist for a smooth sailing outsourcing experience.
1. Contact your vendor as soon as you know that your job will be outsourced. Tell them when you expect it will be in their hands. (Don’t worry - you still have schedule flexibility. This information helps your vendor reserve equipment and production time slots for you.)
2. Provide a PO (purchase order) as soon as you have vital job information so plans can be solidified and your vendor properly prepared. Describe the nature of the work and your expectations in good detail.
3. Provide a clearly marked pre-production binding sample (dummy) or a sample from a previous run. Also, send a ruled up sheet when cutting is required.
4. State your needs regarding billable overs and unders. (“No unders” causes a lot of headaches and costs extra money. For more information, please click HERE.
5. Who are the primary and backup contacts in case we have questions?
6. Clearly mark your sample stock and tell us how many samples you need.
7. Communicate any special packaging needs (i.e., quantity per bundle, package, carton, pallet, etc.) and/or labeling instructions.
8. We need a lot of shipping information. Where does the job ship? Who should arrange for shipping? How should the transportation be billed? When does the job need to ship? If partial shipments are requested, what are the quantities and rollout dates?
9. The only dumb question is the one that’s left unasked. When in doubt, call the service experts at Rickard Bindery.
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