Author Howie Fenton: Biography and Authored Content

See all content authored, presented, or sponsored by in-plant consultant Howie Fenton.

About the Author

Howie Fenton

Howie Fenton is an independent consultant and trusted advisor to in-plant printers. He recommends equipment, best practices and workflow automation tools to streamline operations. To learn more about measuring performance, benchmarking to leaders, and improving your value e-mail Howie@howiefentonconsulting.com. 

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 05 August 2022

The Shift in the Costs and Risks of Hiring VS Automation

As production volume increases and staffing remains a challenge, we have a choice to hire inexperienced staff and train them or increase the amount of automation. We compared these options and found that more rework resulted from hiring inexperienced staff, which cost more and reduced the availability of paper. When comparing hiring/training to automation, remember that the costs and risks of hiring inexperienced staff are higher now because of the staffing crisis and paper shortage.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 July 2022

If You’re Problem Solving Who is Steering the Ship?

At a recent in-plant conference I was reminded of the benefits of remaining focused on long term strategic goals. Spending too much time on production issues like finding paper and rehiring staff can shift your focus away from strategic issues like remaining aligned with your parent organization. An excellent presentation about workflow automation showed how one in-plant has benefited from remaining focused on working toward their strategic goals for over a decade.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 09 June 2022

Surviving Today’s Challenges to Help Your Recovery

In this post, Howie Fenton previews his IPMA conference presentation designed to help in-plants in your recovery from the last two and a half years. He offers suggestions for dealing with four top issues: declining volumes, hiring new staff, and minimizing complaints about pricing, and the impact of the paper shortage.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 06 May 2022

Print Center Consolidation Stumbling Blocks

Some in-plant print centers, including a university in-plant, survived through the pandemic by consolidating staff, cross-training everyone, and performing more like a nimble, small commercial company where all staff could perform all the shop's tasks. We discuss the motivation, previous in-plant consolidation trends, and five stumbling blocks to consider if you need to plan for the consolidation of staff or services.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 04 March 2022

Adapting an Old Strategy to Increase Satisfaction, Awareness, and Sales

This article talks about using an older strategy to increase customer satisfaction, awareness, productivity, and sales. The ability to demonstrate shop value has been threatened as more customers work from home, and more communication, marketing, and sales activities have switched to video communications. Adapting the demonstration of operational excellence can help in-plants increase satisfaction, awareness, and sales. 

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 02 February 2022

New Strategies to Increase Satisfaction, Awareness, and Sales

To celebrate the IPMA's in-plant awareness month, this article talks about combining some new strategies to increase customer satisfaction, awareness, and sales. The ability to demonstrate shop value has been threatened as more customers work from home and more communication, marketing, and sales activities have switched to video communications. Using video for communications and demonstrating services can help in-plants increase satisfaction, awareness and sales. 

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 07 January 2022

How to Plan for Growth or Recovery

Despite pandemic challenges remaining, typically there is a sense of new hope associated with the beginning of a new year. There are two planning scenarios. Planning for recovery/rebound while addressing staffing needs, and researching the root cause(s) of lingering low volume and overcoming volume declines. Both involve planning for growth, and we discuss planning and tips for each scenario.

  • Blog Post
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  • Howie Fenton
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  • 09 December 2021

3 Strategies to Prepare for Next Year’s New Challenges

Research shows that not only will we continue to experience supply chain and staffing issues in the coming year, we could also experience customer pushback about price increases and slower turnaround times. In the worst-case scenario, this could result in questions about the value of print or, worse, the value of the in-plant. This article will discuss the threats and offer three strategies to overcome them.

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