FAQ
So are you a ‘Print Farmer’?
No. printsmart is at the very centre of the print industry. We have a combined 100+ years of print experience and the world’s best print sourcing and supplier quality monitoring software, which we bring to bear on finding you the best suppliers at the best price.
I already do what you offer, why should I use you? Surely I would incur extra cost by involving a 3rd party?
We really can’t blame you for thinking that. But involving printsmart means:
Your job is being printed by the right sort of printer. Choosing the right printer for the right job is imperative if you want to reduce costs.
We buy €4m worth of print a year. Buy through us and you benefit from our buying power.
We monitor the price of print in the Ireland. We know how much you should be paying.
You also save money by having your print managed by us – by reducing the chances of costly mistakes.
I prefer to deal direct with my printer.
printsmart should be considered very much as your printer. The only difference is that buying through us, you’re more likely to make savings, find capacity when there’s a shortage, have a single place for all your printing needs (most printers aren’t good for everything) and have simply outstanding customer service and quality control. But if you go it alone, we wish you well.
Where are you based?
We have two offices. Our HQ is in Ballymount, Dublin and we also have an office in Nenagh, Co.Tipperary.
What – so you don’t have any presses in-house?
Nope. And we never will do. There are hundreds of printers in Ireland – what we do is find the best and work with them to produce quality jobs, time after time. If your job requires we have access to printers across the UK and Europe. That allows us to focus on all the non-manufacturing tasks that are needed to make sure your project is successfully completed. We advise and consult, project manage, arrange logistics, create software tools to increase productivity and quality and reduce costs and continually monitor our own and our supplier’s performance. The end result is, we believe, consistently higher quality and lower costs for our customers.
Tell me about the quality of your suppliers. What checks do they have to go through to be a supplier?
Out of around 12,000 printers in Ireland and the UK, we have selected 100 to work with regularly. 100 sounds a lot, but that covers everything from gravure to t-shirts, from building wraps to promotional items. Many of these we have worked with on several hundred separate jobs for printsmart. After each project, we analyse our own performance and that of our supplier. printsmart and our clients both rank the supplier’s performance on several key measurements. That way we know who are consistently the best performers and who to steer clear of. Our clients benefit from this accumulated experience of many thousands of projects. Hurray!
What’s the turnaround time for a job? How long does it take from providing artwork to delivery?
That depends on when it’s needed for, the specification of the work, and the time of year (in the run up to Christmas, capacity can become really scarce!). Because we have over 100 quality-managed suppliers to choose from (most of whom operate 24/7), we can usually work to any schedule. Time from artwork to delivery can be as little as 24hours, but again, this depends on the complexity or size of the job.
Where is my job being printed?
Geographically, we buy the vast majority of our print from Ireland. And if you want to know exactly which printer we’ve chosen for your project, that’s absolutely fine (we work very transparently). Once we have identified the most suitable supplier, we are happy to discuss the options with you and arrange factory visits if it puts your mind at rest. But don’t worry, whichever printer we select, you have the assurance that printsmart monitors the quality and performance of each printer we use, so your project is in safe hands.
Don’t you just farm out to the lowest priced printer?
Absolutely not! We continually assess each printer for the quality of their print, and their reliability, timeliness and communication. Once we’ve established who the best printers are, only then do we look at price. printsmart does understand the price of print like no other organisation in Ireland so know what the right price is for each job, so make sure you don’t waste money on any project.
How do you make your money?
Because we buy print so effectively (we know the price of print and shop around from over100 approved suppliers), we can add a small margin to each project and still offer print at very competitive rates – usually at better prices than going direct.
Why would I use a management company?
Wow, lots of reasons. We compare the prices of hundreds of companies to make sure we get you a great price. We have considerable buying power in the market – combine that with unparalleled market intelligence, and our customers can be sure of great value print time after time. Not only that, but unlike conventional printers, we can print anything and everything, getting you a great price whatever the project type. And finally, our expert consultants and project managers can provide advice and cost-savings, from inception of the project through to delivery.
How do you ensure that the production will run smoothly and I will get a quality product?
We independently monitor all our suppliers for the quality of their print, their reliability, timeliness and the quality of their communications. That way, we can ensure we use only the best suppliers for your project – ones who we can rely on to make sure the project runs smoothly and all goes to plan. If unexpected things do happen (either on the supply-side or on your side, like when your deadlines are brought forward or you change the specification) our project managers are experienced in handling change and know how to resolve problems, often before they arise.
How can I reduce the cost of my mailing pack?
By optimising your printing, by analysing your data for mailing (an early and incredibly important part of reducing mailing costs) then using the optimal route to the customer. Our print consultants have heaps of experience of reducing cost in this way and understand the most cost effective mailing options (mail can typically account for 70-80% of the pack!)
We’re interested in personalisation, fulfilment and postage. Can you help with that too?
We help a wide range of clients with cleaning and optimising their data, managing their personalised printing then ensuring they’re maximising the effectiveness (and savings) in fulfilment and postage. We love doing it and work with the best suppliers in the country to make sure you maximise the return on your campaign.
Moving away from A4 – what is the next most economical format for perfect bound catalogues?
Most Irish presses are constructed to handle A4 sizes as these are the most popular. After A4, the next most popular (& therefore economical) sizes are 195 x 210mm. Then it’s 210 x 148mm. Having said that, many presses in continental Europe are set up to handle a range of other sizes, but the economy of each is very much dependent on quantity and sizes.
When is the best time of year to place print at the best possible rates?
While the months running up to Christmas are an obvious time where capacity is short and prices can rise, times when prices fall are very much dependent on the type of print job. Our procurement team are experts in finding savings throughout the year and our consultants will advise you when you have an idea of the specification of the job.
