Graphic arts supervisors face a vast array of managerial issues every day. In a down-to-earth tone, Merit's "how-to" guide to production management explores this broad range of familiar problems (from hiring good supervisors and training to delegation, clear communication, and handling grievances) and provides practical ways to deal with them. Beyond its look at the traits, roles, and dilemmas faced by supervisors, this primer offers ways for production supervisors to become better at their jobs and help upper management enhance the roles of their supervisors.

Table of Contents

• Selecting a Supervisor
• The Right Kind of Supervisor
• A Supervisor's Job Description
• Worrying About Being Popular
• Supervising versus Working
• Stop Wasting Time
• Do Less, Accomplish More
• Hiring the Right People
• A Proper Start for New Employees
• What to Expect from Your Workers
• Performance Evaluations
• Improving Job Performance
• Proper Rules Properly Enforced 
• Handling Grievances
• Making Yourself Precisely Understood
• Cutting Down on Costly Idle Time

About the Author

Don Merit is a nationally recognised consultant in printing management, production, and estimating. He spent many years in managerial positions with some of the major printing plants in the New York City area. During these years he worked closely with customers, designers, and salespeople helping to budget, engineer, schedule, and carry out complex printing projects. As a director of production and estimating, he was deeply involved in the tough problems printers face every day.

Since 1983, he has worked as a consultant to both commercial and in-plant printing firms in all parts of the country. He is a non-resident consultant for the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), and a member of the Graphic Arts Advisory Network of the Association of Graphic Communications, the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area affiliate of Printing Industries of America (PIA). He taught courses and seminars for the Association of Graphic Communications Centre for Graphic Arts Education for more than 20 years. His subjects have been: How to Buy Printing, The Language of Printing, Production Management, Scheduling Production, Advanced Estimating, Customer Service, and Training Supervisors to Manage.

Merit is the 1992 recipient of the Centre's Outstanding Teacher Achievement Award. He is a cum laude graduate of the City College of New York, was a lecturer for the Rochester Institute of Technology, and is a contributing editor to American Printer magazine. He is the author of four other books: Printing Estimating Primer; Is It Printed Yet? Effective Customer Service for Printers and Graphic Arts Firms; Print Production Scheduling Primer; and Print Production Management Primer.

Edition: 1st Edition
Publisher: GATF
Published: 2001