Carl’s Pro Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence

Carl’s playbook for operational excellence in warehouse operations: simple templates, tight team communication, quality control, and faster order fulfillment.

Our all-in-one approach to brand experiences

Full-service, end-to-end, one-stop-shop from ideation to fulfillment… It sounds great however you spin it, but what exactly does it entail? At its core, operational excellence is about continuous improvement across every part of the business—creating a culture where every team member is invested in outcomes and empowered to make things better. Behind the curtain, there are loads of moving parts our clients don’t think about. And honestly, they don’t have to, because we have our operation dialed.

Key Takeaways

• Standardize with Templates: Use simple, repeatable templates to ensure seamless handoffs across global teams.
• First-Time Quality: Focus on “making every first time the perfect time” to eliminate the waste of doing tasks twice.
• In-House Integration: Keeping production, assembly, and customer support in one location maximizes cost and logistics efficiency.
• Gamify Productivity: Transform mundane assembly tasks into friendly competitions to maintain high energy and focus.

We squeezed our way into Carl’s calendar—the master behind our operational excellence—to chat logistics. Specifically:

• How he’s navigated expansion in our U.S. headquarters and international fulfillment centers
• How his crew maintains quality control across the globe
• How, as a team, they’ve perfected the art of making the clock turn faster by transforming mundane tasks into something people actually look forward to doing

Meet Carl, our SVP of Operations (a.k.a. the finisher)

Imprint Engine’s operational capacity has evolved significantly:

• Then: Three picnic tables, four shelves, and one tiny scale.
• Now: A 34,000 square foot warehouse capable of running multiple large-scale projects simultaneously.
• Culture: Employees are empowered to lead projects and manage their own workdays.

But with such a massive space, more hands on deck and a grander scale operation, how does the Operations team guarantee consistency? Carl makes it sound pretty simple: Templates. Communication. And make every first time the perfect time.

Like any big play or relay, the handoff is key.

Most of us have experienced a workplace where “processes” never really work. They often result in too many tedious templates that never get used, or they implode before the ball even gets rolling.

In our operation, templates not only work, they’re why we can seamlessly design, produce, assemble, pack and ship high-quality products to over 186 countries each year.

Our warehouse is adjacent to the front office where the sales, leadership, marketing and design teams sit at their desks every day. Yet our communication with them is equally as streamlined as it is with remote employees, our teams in Europe and APAC, and our suppliers around the world. Thanks to—yes, you guessed it—process.

Obviously the consolidated workspace doesn’t hurt our communication skills, but quality control is where our in-house factor truly shines. There’s a principle in operational excellence called quality at the source: do work right the first time, with the right people and the right components. That’s exactly what plays out here. Carl, and really anyone in our U.S. office, can walk right over to any designer’s desk, production station, or assembly line and see a project’s progress in real time. We’re not losing days shipping back and forth between third parties, so we’re ultimately maximizing cost and logistics efficiency when we distribute the final product.

When something goes wrong, in-house support has the answers

Nobody wants to be on the phone with customer support in the first place, so we made sure that customers are calling the people who have the answers right away. We may not be able to clone Carl, but our global partners are so tightly aligned that no matter where in the world something ships, it arrives with the same standard he holds in-house.

That consistency isn’t accidental—it comes from a constancy of purpose: shared goals, shared standards, and a shared commitment to creating real value for the customer at every touchpoint.

Maintaining a high level of craftsmanship across thousands of units per day sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Carl says it’s not rocket science, which is exactly why mistakes happen. It’s easy to get in (or out of) the zone on the assembly line, but we also know there is not enough time in the day to do things twice. So we stay focused by gamifying it! It’s actually a form of continuous improvement in action: small, ongoing tweaks driven by the people doing the work. Even the most mundane tasks fly by when they become a friendly competition.

The goods arrive safely, neatly, with some surprise and delight and that’s where the fun can come in! It might seem silly, but the team has fun with it. “It’s a cool culture back there,” says Carl, “they hang out on the weekends… through that culture they challenge each other and turn it into a game with prizes.” He also brags that it’s not uncommon for his team to glance at the clock and think, ‘How is it 4:00 already??’

Experiences that leave an impact and products that people actually want to use and keep are our bread and butter. And none of it happens without the Operations team making it real every single day.

3 of Carl’s pro tips for operational excellence:

1. Commit to a process that works. For a consistently seamless handoff, create templates that are easy to use.
2. Remember that it’s a waste of time to do things twice. To maintain quality control, make every first time the perfect time.
3. Build real team culture. When the work gets repetitive, make it a game. Carl’s crew competes for prizes and somehow forgets it’s 4 PM.

At its core, operational excellence is about eliminating friction, cutting out unnecessary steps and optimizing across every boundary, from your design desk to your customer’s doorstep. Carl and the Operations team live in that reality every day. And when you partner with Imprint Engine, so do you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is operational excellence?

Most people think operational excellence just means “being efficient.” It’s actually bigger than that.

Operational excellence means building a system where every person on your team knows their role, work moves without friction, and quality stays consistent, whether you’re filling 10 orders or 10,000. It’s not a one-time project. It’s a culture where problems get caught early, processes get refined constantly, and customers get the same great result every single time.

At Imprint Engine, that looks like templates that actually get used, real-time in-house quality checks, and a team that’s motivated enough to make even the assembly line something they look forward to showing up for.

What are the key principles of operational excellence?

There’s no single universal list, but the principles that show up across every strong operation tend to be the same. Most frameworks (including the widely referenced Shingo Model) point to four core areas:

1. Customer focus: Every process should ultimately deliver value to the customer. If a step doesn’t, it’s a candidate for removal.
2. Employee empowerment: The people doing the work are usually the first to spot what’s broken. Give them the tools and authority to fix it.
3. Process optimization: Eliminate unnecessary steps, reduce handoff errors, and make the right way the easy way.
4. Continuous improvement: Operational excellence isn’t a destination. It’s a habit — making things a little better every day, not just when something breaks.

Tools like 5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) and Lean management give teams a practical structure to put these principles into action and make improvements that actually last.

How do you build a culture of operational excellence?

Process gets most of the attention, but culture is what makes process stick. You can have the best templates in the world. If the team doesn’t buy in, they collect dust.

Building a culture of operational excellence comes down to three things:

1. Make the “why” clear. People work differently when they understand how their role connects to the outcome the customer experiences.
2. Give people real ownership. Teams that are empowered to lead their own workdays — and fix problems without waiting for approval — move faster and care more.
3. Make the work worth showing up for. Repetitive tasks don’t have to feel repetitive. Friendly competition, small incentives, and team camaraderie can turn an assembly line into something people actually look forward to.

The process creates the floor. The culture raises the ceiling.