Entering Uncharted Territory

Print-management software is a critical tool for running a graphic arts business. But almost all of these systems are geared, out of the box, for the workflow and equipment of a commercial printing company, not a postpress like firm like ours. We recently installed EFI's Logic system and are one of the first trade binderies in the country to do so. Many of the software adjustments we made moved us into uncharted territory.

The system is yielding greater productivity through faster, more accurate estimating and is substantially reducing rework due to better flow of more accurate, up-to-date information through the plant.

Adapting a system should not be taken lightly. Much of the heavy lifting should be done before determining which system to buy.

At The Riverside Group, we analyzed each facet of our operation to determine its readiness for integration into a comprehensive plant-management system. That gave us the information we needed to evaluate the various system offerings on the market with an eye toward the amount of tweaking each system would require.

The bulk of our attention focused on how the system would handle the estimating process. Our goal was to create a comprehensive estimating module that would greatly reduce the time required to quote both simple and complex projects. To gather the information required for customizing the estimating portion of the system, we spent several months accumulating data on equipment running speeds and makeready times for hundreds of projects, setting realistic minimum and maximum format sizes for each piece of equipment.

We also documented average set up and production spoilage per machine and dozens of other job factors peculiar to binders.

We took into account the number of complex projects we produce. With the full range of hard- and soft-cover binding capabilities and complete finishing services we offer, including diecutting, foil stamping, embossing and UV coating, we routinely estimate projects that involve upwards of 20 individual processes. These types of projects can chew up large chunks of estimating resources as each process—and its interaction with all other processes—must be calculated manually.

Collecting this amount of information was time-consuming and often frustrating. But it was essential to building the right estimating system—and critical to the overall success of the system in our facility.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect to implementing a plant-management system is the change in mindset required before, during and after installation. Such a task requires a high level of commitment from everyone involved; we asked a lot of people in our facility to spend a good deal of time gathering the information needed to optimize the system for our specific needs.

While “working to the system” is nothing new for us, implementing such a comprehensive tool underscored the interdependence of every department in the company. Missing, incorrect or outdated customer or job information in one area can wreak havoc everywhere else. People are naturally reluctant to change, but if they recognize the value of the tool, then the benefits of using the system properly and consistently will quickly be revealed.