Helping a community-focused organization reduce costs, eliminate waste and gain greater control over its printed materials.
A local nonprofit serving communities through education and developmental programs relied heavily on outside vendors to produce the materials used across more than 20 locations — booklets, flyers, postcards, folders and educational pieces.
Because the work was outsourced, the organization often had to order thousands of copies to achieve reasonable pricing. This resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in monthly expenses, unnecessary waste from excess inventory, and limited control over production schedules, order quantities, and last-minute changes.
Program information, accreditation requirements and organizational details changed frequently. Whenever updates were needed, previously printed materials could no longer be used.
Lake Business began by evaluating how printed materials moved through the organization — from initial design through production, finishing and distribution.
Instead of starting with a piece of equipment, Lake started with the customer’s workflow and business goals: the types of materials produced, monthly and annual volumes, outsourced costs, the amount of outdated material being discarded, and which work could realistically be produced internally.
The team separated the work into materials that could be brought in-house and specialized projects that would still be outsourced, then presented multiple options based on how much the nonprofit wanted to produce internally — giving a clear view of the investment, capabilities and savings tied to each.
The nonprofit selected a comprehensive solution that brought most of its frequently used materials in-house. Lake helped design and implement a dedicated production print center including:
The solution was designed so employees didn’t need extensive commercial-printing experience to run common projects. Lake also brought in-house marketing and design expertise, helping the customer adapt existing materials for production and wide-format printing — especially valuable when the nonprofit expanded into banners, signage and wall graphics it hadn’t originally planned to produce.
“Instead of ordering 5,000 or 10,000 pieces to get a lower price, the nonprofit could produce 200, 500 — or whatever quantity was actually needed.”
The result was more than a new printing environment. The organization gained a flexible internal production capability that lowered costs, supported its mission and let its team respond more quickly to the communities it serves.
Lake Business evaluates your entire workflow, not just the equipment, to design a solution that matches how you actually work.