When you create flow, you accomplish smooth delivery from the second you receive an order to the moment when you deliver it to the customer. That means no bottlenecks where projects get stalled or slowed.
To improve flow in your print shop, make sure your software solutions are talking to one another. Information should flow freely from your web-to-print platform to your Print MIS and, conversely, from your Print MIS to web-to-print.
When communication is fluid:
You eliminate “islands of automation” – All systems involved in your print process share information to keep production moving smoothly and error-free.
You avoid having to re-key information – Orders entering from your web-to-print platform go directly into the Print MIS. Estimate specifications can be copied easily into new orders and become visible to everyone who needs them: purchasing, production planning and operations. Changes are handled without having to manually consolidate data from various systems. And you can ship items without having to re-key address information.
Your estimates are consistent and accurate – Everyone in the shop uses common templates to ensure you account for all tasks and materials. You can easily access data like supply costs, shipping rates and previous invoices to guide your cost estimate.
You prevent errors – Changes to the job and special instruction automatically populate so every employee can see what needs to be done.
You save time – No more searching for information, transferring information manually or verbally relaying information. You can set triggers to alert your customers if there is a delay, or notify purchasing to order a stock item. Your systems keep track, store and transmit data in an easy-to-locate format.
One way to guarantee this critical flow of information is to choose only standards-based software across your print shop. For instance, JDF-certified products meet requirements necessary to seamlessly interact with one another and preserve your data integrity through every exchange. This provides assurance that your systems will work to their highest – and Leanest – capacity.