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Achieving a 15% Annual Cost Reduction While Ensuring Stable Supply: An Overseas Printing Strategy Case Study

Company A, a Japanese Automaker

Automotive Manufacturing

Print & Publish

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Print & Publish

Results

Reduced printing costs by approximately 15% by shifting production to China.

Eased the operational workload for reprints with a dedicated order format.

Ensured a stable supply, even with sea freight, through proactive transportation management.

The Challenge

･ The client required regularly scheduled printing and delivery of instruction manuals to be included with their automobiles throughout the year.
･ Because the manuals were for vehicles produced in Japan, consistent quality and a stable supply were essential.
･ Although not specifically requested, we were proactively seeking ways to offer more competitive pricing.
･ We wanted to make our ongoing business relationship more efficient and mutually beneficial.

How We Helped

･ We proposed a cost-reduction strategy that involved leveraging our facility in China for overseas production and then importing the materials into Japan.
･ We created a dedicated order format to streamline the recurring order process.
･ We prevented delivery delays by proactively arranging shipments to account for sea freight lead times.
･ We secured a larger safety stock than typically needed for domestic orders to mitigate any risk of shipping damage.

Overview & Key Points

We leverage our global network of domestic and international printing facilities to deliver both cost benefits and a stable supply for our clients.

Although the client had not initially made a specific request for cost reduction, our philosophy is to go beyond simply executing orders. We always strive to deeply understand our client's overall business and provide value-added proposals that uncover potential benefits. By combining our years of know-how in overseas production with our facility in China, we determined it was possible to significantly lower costs while maintaining quality. We proposed a new procurement method: producing overseas and importing into Japan. We were honored that our proposal was accepted, and we consider the resulting 15% cost reduction a major success.

Given the large volume of recurring print jobs, we created a dedicated order format to improve operational efficiency and provided close support from initial rollout to full adoption. Furthermore, we addressed the long lead times associated with sea freight by proactively managing shipments and securing ample safety stock, mitigating risks of delays or transport issues and providing our client with peace of mind.

We also established a hybrid system that combines cost-effective overseas production with flexible domestic production, allowing our local factories to respond quickly to urgent reprints or specification changes. This ability to propose innovative solutions using our domestic and international network, combined with our meticulous support system, is the core value we offer our clients.

Services Provided