The project provides a comprehensive report on industry performance supported by an online benchmarking system, which allows companies to compare and improve their own performance. It covers such industry segments as magazines and newspapers; prepress; commercial printing; book production; bookbinding and print finishing; web, digital and screen printing; label and tag manufacture; printed packaging; stationery and forms manufacture; and industrial printing.
Benchmarking for the Australian Print, Packaging and Visual Communication Industry (Volume 1) Performance Indicators is the first volume of the series, and it examines the best and worst indicators of company performance. It also maps out how improvements can be made and identifies performance characteristics by company size, sector and process.
According to Chris Segaert, PIAA national president, the PrintNet Benchmarking Online system is the most comprehensive benchmarking project of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and had already drawn interest from printing industries in New Zealand and Asia.
“Our industry employs more than 115,000 people and is one of Australia’s largest manufacturing sectors. But it is suffering through poor trading conditions with many companies receiving a Return on Total Assets (ROTA) of only around five per cent. Businesses cannot prosper or even continue to survive at such levels, ” says Segaert.
Gary Donnison, PIAA CEO, believes the report identifies a number of characteristics of successful companies.
“These companies usually specialise in a particular product or process, have twice the level of machine use as average firms, spent three times the average on training and have 25 per cent less staff turnover,” Donnison says.
“They also write off their equipment faster, then sell it. They also keep all equipment in good order. Their labour costs are lower than average but their employees are paid on average 11 per cent more.”
Donnsion also says that the project has revealed that only ten per cent of enterprises in the industry were achieving an acceptable margin.
“Company performance at every level can be improved. Our goal is to show companies in our industry how to do this and to give them the tools to do so,” Donnison says.
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