Outsourcing abroad?

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tonster01

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I am sure there are posts on this already but for some reason..the new security question idea will never go through to the thread so mods..thats why Im posting a new topic...

Anyway..back on point..

Has anyone outsource work for their business sucessfully?

Specifically that of printing and design costs etc?

Are there specific rules or just general common sense and business rules I should employ when doing this?

Feel free to pm or post

Thanks
 
As a design company we have toyed with the idea of outsourcing our printing abroad. We eventually decided to stay with irish printers for a number of reasons
- we often needed jobs with a tight deadline and I was more comfortable knowing I could get in the car and pick the job up.
- if there was a problem with the file or the first print, i could go down and make a decision on it after seeing a copy in my hands
- if it was a complicated job, I would be more comfortable discussing issues face to face with an irish printer
- i prefer to develop a good business relationship and trust with any suppliers as i feel its more productive and i enjoy it more
- i couldn't justify the enviromental cost and impact of flying 5000 leaflets halfway around the world.
- i wanted to support irish printers.

As regards outsourcing, this issue is huge in my area of work at the moment. A lot of potential clients are instead outsourcing to foreign websites - they have had varied results. I have seen some great work done for an absolute bargain, and i've also seen clients return to us to fix up botch jobs they had got done. It seems to be pot luck really, it can go either way.
 
Depends entirely on the quality of the people doing the work. Good people will make outsourcing easy, bad people will mean you can end up redoing the work. Start with small projects to test the water, and see how that goes.
 
ubiquitous said:
To be honest, I'd guess that turning off the sound on your PC would have a bigger environmental impact.
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With all respect i'd completely disagree with you on that. many of the foreign factories in developing areas have less restrictive environmental laws or little enforcement. I also wouldn't be confident that workers health and safety rights are implemented the way they are in the developed world.

Also there is no comparison between me driving ten minutes to my printer, picking up a job and delivering it the twenty minutes into town - and the environmental cost of the printers having to transport 1000 leaflets on whats probably a massive lorry and then onto a plane to fly halfway around the world. They then need to be transported to my office.

Also what if there is a problem with the job? Here a printer would call me and I could come down and stop the job before they print 5000 brochures or whatever. if i get it done abroad the problem only become apparent when i see it- and then the whole process starts again for a reprint.

Theres a lot to be said for keeping things local on all levels.
 
Small savings multiplied by a large number of people is substantial, it's about an attitude change really.

Let's not transport the leaflets halfway around the world AND turn off the sound on our PCs :D Big Green Grin!!

aircobra19 said:
There no harm in being green if you can.
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aircobra19 said:
But don't forget labour costs are only a part of the total cost.
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you can bet your bottom dollar other things like electricity etc cost a lot less in China too, because their electricity workers are not on 80k per annum with generous sick leave / holidays / pensions etc.
 
I meant that dealing with someone at a distance, has its own associated costs for you here, phone calls, internet, travel, missed comunications, time differences, cultural differences etc. Same thing if a team is scattered across a building vs all in the same work space.
 
might be even better for the environment not to print the leaflets at all. Lets hope these aren't like the half dozen or more menus I get a week into my mailbox for local takeaways, or all the inserts I get in my newspapers.
 
No we don't do door to door bulk flyers. But these flyer are done by other companies, and more and more often they are being outsourced abroad.
 
paddi22 said:
Also there is no comparison between me driving ten minutes to my printer, picking up a job and delivering it the twenty minutes into town - and the environmental cost of the printers having to transport 1000 leaflets on whats probably a massive lorry and then onto a plane to fly halfway around the world. They then need to be transported to my office.
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The "massive lorry" will surely be carrying more than your 1,000 leaflets?

Similar comparisons have been done in relation to imports of food from the third world. They show generally that the environmental costs of "food miles" are much less pronounced than some "anti-food miles" lobbyists make out.

Fwiw, I agree with your other points in favour of shopping locally. However it would be naive to assume that your local printer is sourcing all their paper, inks and other inputs locally.
 
ubiquitous said:
The "massive lorry" will surely be carrying more than your 1,000 leaflets?

Yeah everyone makes that point about my 'one small batch' not making a difference.

But that massive lorry is full of 1000 seperate 'small batches'. The less people that send jobs over, the less lorries are filled. If there's even 100 people like me, than means maybe one less lorry, and thats better than nothing.

I agree that the printers aren't sourcing most stuff locally, I wish it was possible. But at least using an irish printer is better than nothing. Plus most printers in developing world are massively polluting local resources and the majority of workers there are paid and treated badly.

No choice is ideal I know, but i rest easy with my business decision as it's the best option for me and the one i think is more ethically correct as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a massive eco friendly person - I wish I was or was informed more - but I try and make the best decision I can, and I 100% believe in supporting Irish industry where possible, even if it's probably lost us jobs pricewise at times.
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paddi22 said:
Yeah everyone makes that point about my 'one small batch' not making a difference.
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I didn't.

My point was merely that your "massive lorry carrying 1,000 leaflets" example did not appear to make any sense, and that the "food miles" argument tends to be exaggerated by its proponents.
 
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