Evaluating your production manager's performance

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May, 1988 by Jeff Parnau

Evaluating your production manager's performance

How do you know if you have a good production manager? For some magazines, the question is even more basic: How do you know if you have a production manager?

Let's clear up the second question before we concentrate on the first. Many small-staff publishing houses relegate the production management functions to an editor, art director, designer, publisher, or nobody (in which case, the issue just "gets printed"). If that's the case with your operation, you just don't have a production manager.

The larger or more conscientious publishing houses either 1) realize that ink and paper are the very vehicles of their craft, and thus appoint a specialist to manage production, or 2) are busy enough and big enough that basic production management demands at least one full-time specialist--or even a production management team.

Assuming you fit the latter description, let's return to the first question: What makes a good production manager? How can you evaluate your current production person?

I'm no expert on interpersonal corporate relationships, and I have limited experience in personnel management. But over the past two decades, I've learned that people management is more important than any other production skill. Let me give you a few examples:

Suppose your production person is a charming 22-year-old, eager to learn, pleasant with others at all times, and just a pleasure to be around. But this person has precious little experience in production. Is the instinct of the printer to take advantage of your company based on the inexperience of your manager? In most cases, the answer is no. A printing rep who plans to stay in business for more than a few years will normally default into the teacher mode. He or she will constantly explain things and help the inexperienced director grow into the job.

But what if your production director is an unpleasant 40-year-old with plenty of experience and the sneaking suspicion that all printers are crooks? This person complains about every invoice, calls the printer a thief, never does a press check and always complains about color. How does the printer treat this manager/buyer?

I've seen millions of dollars of printing get thrown out of printing plants just because a production director insulted the wrong people. Generally, a printer won't say "get outa here, we don't like you." But a printer may well say, "Here's your 25 percent price increase for next year. That's 5 percent for labor and materials, and 20 percent for special treatment."

If your production person is not pleasant to deal with and not good with people, read no further. The evaluation is over. You are subtly wasting money, and the one person who will not be able to explain why is the person who is causing the problem.

Getting the best price

Is the primary goal of your production manager to "bargain" for a better price? If so, you probably either switch printers frequently or print at the cheapest, dirtiest printer you can find. If your goal is to buy the cheapest printing you possibly can, again the evaluation is over. And for as long as price is your only goal, you will not understand what "customer loyalty" means, and why a printer might go to great lengths to help you in a pinch.

So, you're still reading. Meaning, your production manager isn't impossible to work with, and understands that there is more to this business than price alone. What separates a good manager from a weak one?

No hard and fast rules

I can't list a hard and fast set of rules, because each publishing operation is different. If I said a production manager had to schedule a paste-up crew efficiently, yet you do not do paste-up in house, my "rule" would be invalid. But I can highlight a few key areas that are common to most production managers.

1. Sudden price increases: As a general rule, a good production manager is not "surprised" by manufacturing price increases. Suppose you add an insert card to a saddle magazine, which adds a pocket to the binder, which goes over the maximum limit, which forces a printer to prestitch the job, which eventually results in a $2,000 binder cost increase for your 100M press run. That's a two-cent per copy increase in cost. The good production manager is aware of it before it shows up on the invoice. The not-so-good production manager gets the invoice, gets upset, gets defensive, and insinuates that the printer must have pulled a fast one.

2. "No-can-do" surprises: A good production manager never asks a printer to do the impossible. Example: A signature or form calls for two fountain splits on the same side of the web. The printer calls and says, "that is impossible," and now the production manager is in trouble: Ads must be moved, the imposition may have to be redone. The good production manager either knows the limitations and abilities of each piece of equipment he or she uses, or calls the printer to check before attempting to change how something is done.