Software - MIS

Manufacturing. That's a difficult concept for some print managers to grasp. As proud as we all are of our arts and crafts roots, times change and so must we.

Printers procure raw materials, expedite them through specific equipment and processes and then package and ship the end products. Effective manufacturing requires efficient, economical and cost effective managers.

Progressive print managers understand that manufacturing is a process. When it comes to problem solving, they don't let personal or personnel biases cloud their judgement.

THE AIIM/On Demand Conference and Exposition is returning to IPG’s home town of Philadelphia next month, taking place April 20-22. Some 10,000 people are expected to attend the three-day show, with hundreds of vendors planning to exhibit. To whet your appetite, IPG asked some key vendors what they plan to showcase at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Though attendance was noticeably down on the first three days of Print 09, by Monday morning it was starting to look like a trade show again. Booths were packed with attendees, and vendors were busy giving demos, trying to capitalize of the sudden resurgence of interest after a lackluster weekend. IPG spent four days at the show, and the first three...let's just say we never had any problem finding someone to talk with at vendors' booths. Perhaps the beautiful Chicago weekend weather lured many to delay their arrival. (Or maybe it was the questionable wisdom of starting a trade show on a Friday.) Whatever the reason, though, by Monday morning, attendees arrived with a vengeance, including scores of in-plants managers.

To improve the quality of its brochures, booklets, post cards and color statements, the 23-employee printing and mailing operation at Western & Southern Financial Group recently became one of the first in-plants to install the new Xerox iGen4 digital press. Dan Cowan, Print/Volume Document Production Manager, feels the quality of the iGen4’s output is even better than that of the iGen3. “It’s much closer to offset,” he contends.

Paper job tickets are a thing of the past at the Washington State Department of Printing. Thanks to the in-plant’s new EFI Monarch print production and management solution, the Tumwater, Wash.-based operation now uses digital job tickets. This not only saves time and printing costs, it is expected to reduce spoilage and rework over time.

PIA/GATF’s newest economic research, Management Metrics for Digital Printers, is now available for free download. The report is a compilation of metrics that lets digital printing executives compare their operations against industry leaders. The findings are the basis for one of the sessions at PIA/GATF’s upcoming event, Converge Conference: Variable Data, Web Services, Cross-Media, which is expected to draw several hundred people to Phoenix, September 20-23. You can download the free white paper at www.piagatfconverge.com

CAMBRIDGE, MA—March 2008—Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS, www.bitstream.com) and a leading developer of enterprise variable data publishing and web-to-print solutions, and Avanti Computer Systems (www.avantisystems.com), a leading provider of print MIS solutions for the graphic arts industry, announced today the integration of two award-winning technologies: Avanti’s Graphic Arts Management System and Pageflex Storefront™ web-to-print software. This comprehensive solution provides a complete, streamlined workflow from online document customization and ordering in Pageflex Storefront through the print production environment to for printing, finishing and shipment. The first Avanti customer to implement the integrated technology is Associates Graphic Services (www.agsprint.com), a world-class printing solutions

ORGANIZATIONS THAT leverage technology to their advantage are more successful than those that don’t. One technology that can greatly impact the success of any in-plant is a management information system (MIS). Business processes, business rules and workflow management are the domain of the MIS. The system provides access to information, and automation to simplify calculations, track resources and monitor costs. Historical reporting provides information to managers to help identify trends, areas for improvement and a picture of the overall performance of the business. MIS performs two primary functions: • It is a repository of data on the historical activities of the in-plant (and also of data that

FOSTER CITY, CA—Aug. 20, 2007—EFI, the world leader in color digital print servers, superwide format printers, and business management software, today announced it will hold the ninth annual Connect user conference July 29 to August 1, 2008 at the Wynn Las Vegas. This year’s event received trade media praise including the comment by Patrick Henry in the July issue of American Printer that “EFI Connect is in a class by itself.” Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI Advanced Professional Print Software (APPS), said: “We’re pleased to announce the date and venue for next year’s Connect conference. Even with the focus on drupa, customers spoke

Gerlinde Williams has been waiting a long time for a graphic arts management information system. “I’ve been wanting this for 10 years,” says Williams, administrator of Central Printing for the State of Oklahoma. After putting up with an internally created job ticketing and billing program for years (with a flawed estimating function), her 22-employee print and mail operation got its big break when the IT department decided not to continue supporting the old program. She immediately thought of Avanti Computer Systems, having seen the Canadian company’s exhibits at in-plant conferences. Avanti won the bid and is in the process of installing its Graphic Arts Management