Continuous Improvement: September 2025 

At Courier Graphics, our amazing employees continue to raise the bar through thoughtful innovation, awesome collaboration, and a shared drive to make our workplace—and our Southwest printing operation—better every day.

These continuous improvements strengthen efficiency, enhance quality, and support our growing capabilities across catalog printing, magazine printing, instruction manuals, saddle stitching, perfect binding, and pocket folder production. Whether it’s refining digital workflows, enhancing safety, or supporting sustainable printing practices, every update helps us serve our customers with precision, speed, and care.

 

Shipping Department

Computer Screen Organized for Efficiency

Gabe from Shipping took initiative to organize all desktop folders and files, creating a clean, streamlined digital workspace. This improvement enhances job tracking and coordination for catalog and magazine printing orders, allowing for quicker access to key documents and smoother daily operations. It’s a great example of how employee feedback drives better workflow efficiency in our Southwest printer environment.

Pre-Filled Delivery Slips Simplify Logistics

Shipping now pre-fills client names on all delivery slips, reducing manual entry and saving valuable time. This upgrade improves accuracy and speeds up deliveries for everything from perfect bound catalogs to saddle-stitched booklets. It’s another thoughtful touch that enhances client satisfaction and operational flow.

Forklift Training Boosts Warehouse Efficiency

Shipping associate Mathew completed certified forklift training, enabling safe and efficient movement of heavy materials. This improvement cuts down on manual labor, increases load capacity, and ensures faster internal transport of printed goods like instruction manuals and pocket folders. It’s both a safety and productivity win for our amazing employees.

Web Department

Color-Coded Chemical Bottle Tops Improve Safety

The Web team introduced a color-coded cap system for all pressroom chemicals. This improvement reduces the risk of mix-ups, enhances safety, and supports sustainable printing by keeping operations clean and organized. The change contributes to a smoother, safer production flow for large-scale magazine printing and catalog printing projects.

Belt Cart Upgraded for Smarter Press Maintenance

To improve maintenance efficiency, the Web team replaced their old belt cart with a new, more durable model equipped to hold all essential tools and materials. This upgrade cuts downtime, supports smoother press belt repairs, and helps ensure consistent print quality across saddle-stitched and perfect bound projects.

Sales Department

Prospect Tracking System Centralized

Carrie in Sales implemented a new spreadsheet system to track all prospects and ensure each is followed up twice per month. This improvement enhances client engagement, strengthens relationships, and boosts productivity for commercial printing accounts ranging from catalogs to marketing pocket folders. It’s a simple yet powerful example of awesome collaboration between sales strategy and customer service.

CSR Department

IN Boxes Organized Daily for Consistency

The CSR team now organizes its IN boxes at the end of every workday. This consistent habit ensures a clean, efficient start each morning, minimizes delays, and guarantees quick access to essential documents for all catalog and instruction manual printing orders.

Workspaces Labeled & Standardized

Our CSRs labeled all shared work areas, ensuring that quotes, job tickets, and client notes can be found quickly—especially if someone is out. This operational improvement strengthens team continuity, enhances awesome collaboration, and keeps customer service seamless across all departments.

AI-Assisted Billing & Quote Tracking Charts

The CSR team introduced AI-powered tracking charts to visualize billing speed and quote turnaround. Using color-coded metrics—green, orange, and red—these charts provide real-time insights into workflow performance. The system promotes accountability, faster responses, and greater transparency in managing catalog printing and magazine client requests.

Maureen utilized AI to analyze three years of paper usage data, identifying trends in popular stocks and consumption rates. This annual analysis improves forecasting, reduces overstock, and prevents shortages—supporting sustainable printing and smarter inventory management for perfect binding and saddle stitching production runs.

 

PrePress Department

Automatic Page Assignment System in Development

The PrePress team began building an APA (Automatic Page Assignment) system that streamlines the imposition process. Once implemented, it will drastically reduce manual setup time, eliminate common errors, and ensure consistency across catalog, magazine, and instruction manual layouts. It’s an exciting step toward smarter automation in our Southwest printing workflow.

Instant Job Status Search Implemented

PrePress now has the ability to type just a few letters of a job name to instantly view its current production status. This efficiency upgrade reduces delays, improves tracking, and ensures saddle-stitched and perfect bound projects move through production seamlessly.

Scheduling Department

Guru Card for Separator Cards Created

Scheduling designed a detailed Guru Card outlining step-by-step instructions for producing Separator Cards used in The Grand Season magazine bulk mailer. This documentation improvement simplifies training, ensures consistency, and allows any team member to execute the process confidently—demonstrating amazing employee initiative and process reliability.

Production Schedules Go Digital

In a move toward greater sustainability and communication efficiency, Scheduling replaced printed production schedules with digital versions emailed directly to each department. This change saves paper and ink, supports sustainable printing practices, and ensures real-time access to job updates for everyone—from press operators to bindery teams.

Bindery Department

Cutter Safety Sign Installed

The Bindery team added a bright, clear safety sign to the cutter reminding operators to cut only on the sides. This improvement protects the blade, prevents damage, and promotes safe operation during perfect binding and saddle stitching runs. A small detail with big safety impact.

Closing Note

Every improvement this month—large or small—adds up to a stronger, safer, and more efficient Courier Graphics. Our amazing employees continue to embody the spirit of awesome collaboration that keeps us a top-tier Southwest printer for catalogs, magazines, pocket folders, and more. Together, we’re shaping a smarter, more sustainable future for print.