subject: Should You Be Wary Of Printer Services That Outsource? [print this page] You may want to have something printed for your business or an event that you are organizing. Naturally, you would want the best printer service to work on your project. These days, you have the option to go for a company that can perform the whole procedure from start to finish right in your neighborhood or to settle for one that outsources.
To be more exact, companies that outsource are typically described as printers with offshore operations. This basically means, they maintain a local office but have all their client projects printed in a remote location outside of their country of origin. Hence, a client may place an order with an Australian based company that will pass the job to an offshore site in China for example.
There are a number of printer services that own their offshore operations. Others however may outsource tasks to foreign entities that they are partners with or that have short-term project agreements with.
Regardless of the nature of the operations, there are some people who advise against this arrangement. This is mainly because some believe that the set-up may be disadvantageous. There is no way that you can closely monitor the printing of materials done in another country. Also, there is a clear difficulty when it comes to delivery. Orders can easily get lost or damaged if they have to be sent across a great distance.
It is true that there are challenges to putting your trust on a printer service with offshore operations. This does not mean though that every single company of this type isn't worth considering. The truth of the matter is that more and more local printers are starting to operate according to this scheme. The main reason for adopting this arrangement is that they get to save on the costs of operating. In other words, companies spend less when they outsource jobs.
You hardly have a choice in the matter then. Because more companies are joining the offshore bandwagon, you might find it hard to find a very good bulk printing company that operates exclusively in local soil. This shouldn't alarm you though. There are a number of printer services that can give you exactly what you want in terms of work quality and timeliness. The only thing you need to make sure of then is that you pick the company with the best offshore operations.
It may be difficult to tell at first glance which ones are good at what they do. One good criterion to check is the availability of a certified print management system. This means that a print expert follows a clear and strict set of rules and policies that determines how projects are started, how they are monitored and how they are delivered. With policies in place, you'd worry less about your project getting bungled up.
A printer service that outsources jobs isn't a bad company at all. As long as it has a stable management system in place, you can be sure that it can perform just as well as local counterparts.
