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Blog Synopsis
The shortage of skilled laborers is one of the most common challenges that has existed for over a decade in the printing industry. Experts believe that this situation is not getting better anytime soon! However, the best part is the growth of web-to-print technology that has been creating a remarkable difference in the print business landscape since quite a while. With the power of automation, this revolutionary technology helps PSPs successfully fight against the labor shortage problem with ease, efficiency, and precision. In this blog, we will discuss in detail how the w2p technology proves to be the ultimate solution to the print industry labor shortage hassle.
The print business landscape has been dynamically evolving, where demand surges consistently, and creativity has no bounds. However, a persistent challenge is always looming in the print industry. And that is nothing but the labor shortage. With the evolution of this industry, traditional addressing approaches to this problem are not promising anymore. Instead, a beacon of game-changing transformation emerges, which is nothing but the web-to-print software.
The USA Labor Shortage Scenario
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , 4.3 million Americans have quit their jobs in the last few years. Moreover, it is evident that with the increasing worldwide recession, the print Industry is also not untouched. There exists a colossal global labor shortage problem. Printers in the USA have been facing this significant challenge lately – dealing with the worker shortage.
To deal with the labor crisis and workload challenges, companies came up with “adding more people” as a solution. They aimed to strike the right balance between printing industry staffing and the labor shortage problem with this approach. PSPs have been looking for the right people to manage the hassle of skilled labor shortage. However, hiring more people led to confusing processes and increased manual work in the workflows. Also, it affected quality control and print order management because of workflow inefficiencies.
What’s more, when companies started throwing more labor for similar tasks, unfortunately, it increased the print business challenges, causing more chances of errors, overdue timelines, more inconsistency, and ultimately more mismanagement in the business. Also, making any changes in the process or tasks became difficult because change management becomes more troublesome with a large team than with a smaller team.
The question arises here: what is the solution if not adding more people?
It is nothing but an automation-led w2p solution. We will unveil in this blog why there is a consistent print industry workforce shortage, its repercussions, and how web-to-print can help overcome the hurdles of labor shortage 2023 and beyond, helping print businesses to grow into a realm of efficiency, quality, and limitless potential.
Read on as we delve into the right approach to conquering print labor shortage using ingenious w2p technology.
Why Does the Print Industry Workforce Shortage Exist?
The shortage of skilled workers in the printing industry is a familiar thing. It has been there for a while, especially in the USA. According to global economists, the slowdown in the U.S. labor market will continue to exist in 2023. Let’s discuss the most critical reasons behind the employee shortage in the print industry.
Gap in Skills
With the advancement of the printing industry, it is more about digital technologies and leveraging print automation benefits. And to cope with this intelligent print business scenario, new skill sets are required that the existing workers in the industry might lack, leading to the print industry labor crisis.
The Silver Tsunami
The existing Silver Tsunami is one of the most significant reasons behind the print industry workforce challenges. It is a common term for the financial inference resulting from the aging workforce and more Baby Boomer retirements. This is creating an irreplaceable void causing extreme labor scarcity in print sector.
Industry Perception
One of the solid reasons for the labor shortage in printing is the perception of the print industry. This industry is often called no-so-good and unattractive to the younger generations. And it stops them from pursuing careers in the field.
Physical Availability
Print industry jobs typically demand workers to be more physically active. It often discourages a section of potential workers from taking up such jobs as they want less physically intensive roles. And this ultimately causes a lack of workers in print companies, leading to delayed order delivery.
Inconsistent Demand
There are many fluctuations in the workforce demand for the printing industry. Like peak periods for certain personalized print products when PSPs need more workers temporarily to fulfill orders. Because of such inconsistent demand, people lose interest in applying for those jobs, and thus, it ends up with a labor shortage.
Disturbing Print Business Aftermaths of Labor Shortages
The above reasons have been causing extreme labor limitations for the last few years in the printing industry. Thus, coping with a labor shortage in printing by launching a w2p-driven online print business has become a common phenomenon for smarter PSPs.
Hence, if you still need to solve this issue in your print company, you must make the right move soon and embrace w2p. Otherwise, the recent print industry labor shortage problem can cause disturbing consequences for your business. We have jotted down some of the most common ones below:
- Reduced productivity
- Degraded quality
- High costs
- Unsatisfied clients
- Burnouts
- Business stagnation
How Can Web to Print Solve the Labor Shortage Problem?
Getting started with a web to print storefront is the best and ideal way to solve the labor shortage problem once and all. The w2p innovation can be a game-changer for print businesses facing worker shortage problems. Automated operations and streamlined workflows remarkably reduce the dependency on manual labor. Finally, PSPs like you are saved from any losses incurred because of the shortage of quality labor in the market.
Here’s how web to print can help sort out the labor shortage complication in the print industry:
Automated Order Management
The top-notch web-to-print software comes with an automated print order management solution that helps customers place orders online, eliminating the need for manual order entry. As it reduces manual intervention, it automatically allows PSPs to sigh relief amid today’s labor-constrained printing industry. Also, automation helps in reducing risk or errors in the workflow.
Moreover, an automated w2p solution can seamlessly integrate with your production infrastructure. This, in turn, helps you mechanize the printing process from order submission to final output, ultimately reducing the need for manual intervention.
Also, automated web2print solutions are scalable enough, allowing PSPs to meet increased customer demands without using much manual labor. This finally leads you to fulfill a higher volume of orders proactively.
Consistent Accessibility
Building a web-to-print store can automatically allow your customers to place orders anytime, anywhere. They can choose their desired products and place orders without needing constant customer service during business hours. This frees you from hiring a vast customer service team. Finally, you can continue delivering a memorable customer experience without hiring more laborers.
Reduced Pre-Press Work
Using the automation-lad w2p technology, you can allow your customers to custom design orders independently. They can quickly integrate their social media channels and get access to an extensive collection of pre-designed templates in just a few seconds to customize their orders using a w2p online designer studio. It helps you cut down your pre-press manual work remarkably. You don’t have to recruit a full-proof design team. And finally, you can successfully run your online print business without solely depending on manual laborers.
Quicker Turnaround Time
The automated workflows of best-in-class web-to-print portals accelerate the order processing workflow, resulting in PSPs turning around quickly. This gives efficiency and opportunity to print businesses so they can handle a massive volume of orders without using the manual labor force.
Also, print buyers can choose their preferred delivery methods and speeds, thanks to the integrated shipping options that w2p systems come with. It accelerates the turnaround time as well. PSPs don’t need any labor force to handle the delivery process. However, this is not the end! With automated shipping calculations and label generation capabilities, the w2p technology further accelerates the shipping and delivery time without the help of human labor.
Customer Empowerment
One of the most appealing benefits of a web to print storefront to print service providers is that it can allow their customers to design, customize, and submit orders independently. It helps customers have complete control of their print projects. This way, print businesses can consistently keep them empowered and deliver an effortless customer experience by significantly reducing human involvement in every step of the print business workflow.
Next-Level Automation: OnPrintShop is Your Perfect W2P Partner to Overcome Labor Shortages
There are “tons” of work in your print business that require different skills and are applicable to be automated or solved programmatically. Giving your existing team the power of OnPrintShop’s w2p automation that increases their productivity gradually can help you begin to think about scaling without depending too much on human labor.
We promise you the best workflow automation based on digitally connecting all stages of your printing jobs, resulting in a series of pre-programmed events that keep the job moving forward steadily toward completion. With a sequence of integrated activities, which ideally begin with the receipt of the order and end with the delivery of the finished product, our award-winning w2p SaaS solution helps PSPs reduce human intervention and produce streams of data that track the work, keep tabs on its expenses, and provide insights into how to build future projects even more effectively.
So, you have understood that the printing industry’s labor challenges are continuously growing. In that case, you must embrace automation and optimization using our web-to-print system to solve them. No wonder you can effortlessly set up an automated workflow, save time, and cut down human intervention by many folds! And finally, the return on investment you get is an excellent gift.
Contact us today to start automating your printing company and stay protected from the stumbling block of labor shortage in the print industry.
FREE RESOURCE
Canadian Printer Increases Sales & Reduces Labor in Order Processing by 90%
Canadian Printer Increases Sales & Reduces Labor in Order Processing by 90%
FAQs
Yes, w2p software is developed and designed to help PSPs handle high order volumes during peak hours without increasing the need for laborers proportionally. So, you can indeed solve the print industry worker shortage problem with the help of web-to-print.
With the help of advanced w2p features, you can perform automated controlled customizations within predefined parameters without any human intervention. So, fighting against the labor shortage in printing industry becomes very effortless with web2print.
Yes. Web2print systems can generate invaluable data on order patterns, product performance, customer preferences, etc. It helps print businesses make informed decisions without extensive manual help in data collection.
