BTM: What other significant gains should publishers and suppliers be seeking in terms of supply chain management initiatives?
Tenthoff: Reduced lead times and better planning. The more information exchanged, the more accurate the information will become and the more value will be realized.
Toolan: I think Tenthoff is right about planning. If publishers keep printers informed of publication schedules and commit work to a specific supplier earlier rather than later, then publishers will have a better chance of getting the books where they want them, when they want them. In addition to this, the other big opportunity I see is to radically streamline the financial aspects of the business. If P.O.'s are correct, then invoices should reflect what's on the P.O. If this comes to pass, printers could submit invoices monthly for a whole group of titles instead of for each P.O. generated. This is where great time and cost savings could be achieved on the customer side.