In today’s globalizing economy, commercial printers face an expanding array of challenges to remain competitive and profitable. Increased competition from out-of-state and overseas printers works to undermine a stable base of clientele. More marketing dollars are going to non-traditional media, via email and the Web, causing print to suffer. The trend to shorter runs and faster turn-times is rapidly accelerating with the spread of digital presses. In the midst of efforts to retain old customers and bring in new ones, adding value and strategy, printers find they still need to squeeze more time and cost out of the production process. How is that possible when they’ve already spent hugely on faster RIPs, CTP devices, digital presses, and PDF-enabled prepress workflow systems? Perhaps it’s time to deploy a Print Management Information System (MIS).
An integrated Print MIS is designed to help manage every aspect of a printing operation. It not only supplies management and operations with the tools they need to more efficiently run their daily printing business, it supports higher-level, strategic decisions for long-term growth. The best ones do this by centralizing and integrating data across all business functions, from planning to production and fulfillment to administration.
The benefits can be manifold. Typical improvements include more precision and speed in the estimating process; more control over job costs, inventory levels, and purchases; a better handle on wastage and spoilage; overall improvement in production performance; and improved cash flow management and more timely financial reporting. The trick, of course, is finding a MIS system that’s best suited to your type of printing business.
"That’s a tall order," says Craig Press, president of Profectus, Inc., a national consulting firm for the printing industry, headquartered in Sarasota, FL. "Since buying a Print MIS system is one of the most critical decisions a printer will ever have to make—and there are so many choices between vendors and features—extreme due diligence is required in the selection process." Profectus publishes a free online directory of business management software products for the printing industry.
Print MIS Providers
Since the field is so large, the first thing to do when looking for a Print MIS is to survey the marketplace for systems tailored to the kind of printer you are. Quick printers and small commercial plants don’t have the same needs as medium to large firms, nor do those with a mix of offset and digital—opposed to just one type of press. Those who specialize in web, labels, packaging, or wide format printing have their own distinctive requirements.
Price point is also a great divider. The rule of thumb is that if you have under ten employees, you’ll spend roughly $1,500 to $12K; ten to 20 employees, $15K to $25K; 20 to 40 employees, $30K to $35K; 50 to 75 employees, $40K to $55K; 100 to 150 employees, $110K to $125K; and it goes up from there. The cost will also climb from the company’s core offering as additional modules, employees, training, leasing, click costs, and maintenance fees are added into the mix. Note that the categories given are really a long continuum from entry-level to high-end systems, and even as mid-sized printers may find themselves buying a so-called higher-end MIS system to plan for growth, larger printers may find a so-called mid-range MIS system just perfect for their needs.
Entry-to-mid-range MIS systems typically begin by providing some basic modules that include price-list estimating, order entry, job tracking, invoicing, accounts receivable, and some job costing. The better ones offer some sales and marketing analysis, basic scheduling, perhaps a link to a more full-fledged accounting system, and a Web storefront for customer ordering. While EFI’s Printsmith is a popular system in this category—installed at over 8,700 sites, according to EFI—there are many others in this range that you may want to check out. To give one example, PowerQuote Software provides an entry-level MIS system on Mac OS X—with a PC version on the way—starting at $1,600 for the core modules. The complete package includes enhanced capabilities, such as quotes, job ticket, schedule, paper order, invoice, accounting, job history, and reports, along with Web integration through MyOrderDesk from PagePath Technologies.
Mid-to-upper-range MIS systems typically provide more sophisticated functions than the first category, with a more robust server/database for processing more data and a larger set of concurrent users. Modules include the above-mentioned ones, as well as time and materials-based estimating, customer relationship management, change-order tracking, better job costing, downstream JDF compatibility, shop floor data collection through various means—bar codes, keypads, RFI—purchasing, inventory, sophisticated inquiry and report writing tools, security functions, Web-enablement for users and customers, an executive dashboard, customization tools, payroll, and more advanced accounting options.
EFI’s Logic and PSI systems fall into this category along with Graphisoft, Heidleberg Prinect Prinance, PARSEC, and Tailored Solutions. Pace Systems Group provides a browser-based system called ePace that resides on a leased Linux appliance. The base configuration starts around $20K and consists of seven modules, the Linux appliance, a five-concurrent-user license, a SQL-compliant database, the Web reporting engine, and custom setup and configuration of the appliance. A full package extends across some 21 modules for eCommerce, Estimating, Production, and Accounting, and can be further customized and extended from there.
High-end MIS systems usually have the full panoply of features and functions you see in the mid-range products, but may also offer additional ones such as a higher-performance server, electronic specifications and sales management tools, full supply chain management, bi-directional JDF/JMF compatibility and deeper tie-in with prepress/production workflow systems, direct machine interfaces (DMI) for computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and real-time data collection, real-time dynamic scheduling, multi-company/division functionality, quality-control functions, material and plant management, more fulfillment functions, complete Web-enablement operational/business line and/or executive dashboards, multi-lingual capability, and multi-currency management among its more advanced financial functions.
DiMS! organizing print Inc., EFI’s Hagen OA, and Prism WIN are three providers. Hagen OA, starting around $90K, provides a full panoply of MIS modules for Estimating & Quoting, Job and Production Management, Scheduling, Shop Floor Data Collection—enhanced with JDF and Auto-Count DMI—Costing, Fulfillment, Inventory and Purchasing, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Data Access and Reporting, Multi-Company/Division functionality, and Web access. Options include PrinterSite Fulfillment, which provides a client-facing fulfillment desktop, and PrinterSite Internal, which provides a Web-based job specification and status solution for sales.
Similarly, the upcoming Kodak Enterprise Management Solution (EMS) will be a high-end Print MIS for mid-to-large enterprises when it’s released. Based on the Epicore ERP system that’s being verticalized for the print industry, the solution will provide comprehensive business management tools, with modules for integrated customer and supplier relationship management; advanced estimating and production planning; integrated quality control; eBusiness functionality; real-time production management; bi-directional JDF integration; and automated business intelligence, according to Kodak.
Buying and Implementing a Print MIS
It’s after you’ve eliminated inappropriate systems from the overall field that the true due diligence really begins. "You have to be very systematic when making your selection. It’s a multi-staged due diligence process, no stage of which can be given short shrift," advises Press, of Profectus, Inc.
You’ll start by identifying the key person or people in upper management who’ll lead the whole due-diligence and change management process. His or her first responsibility will be to help determine the strategic business goals for the company as they reflect themselves in the Print MIS system. The leader will oversee the due diligence process and take care to maintain the larger view, while managing the business and production changes that will need to take place to implement the system properly.
You’ll then assemble a team comprised of the users from the key areas of your shop. Such users will help you assess your current business practices and where the processes need to be changed. Do you need a dynamic scheduling system that can perform what-if scenarios? Are you planning for JDF compatibility with your prepress workflow system and production devices? Do you need a fulfillment module? This team will be the target of the prospective vendors’ hands-on demos.
Next, you’ll define the list of features you need, with an eye to flexibility and growth. You’ll prioritize the list by the modules most important to you—estimating, inventory, a Web front-end, etc.—and then by the features within each module. The list needs to be quite detailed, not just a cursory sketch of functions. "When printers hire us to assist in the due diligence process," says Press, "we start with our database of 1,500 possible features and usually narrow it down to the 400 or 500 critical ones that need to be examined carefully. That’s still quite a lot for anyone to consider."
You’ll then survey the likely candidates you’ve identified by reviewing the product literature for the systems, talking with the vendors, and tapping industry knowledge of the companies themselves—the size of their development teams, their financial stability, their service agreements, etc. You’ll keep eye on any additional requirements and costs for building a properly robust MIS platform for the number of concurrent users you’ll have. Based on these requirements, you’ll then do a second weeding out of the systems that don’t meet your needs, pick a half dozen likely candidates, and then draft a request for proposal (RFP). Based on an analysis of their responses, you’ll select two or three and invite them in to do a demonstration of their system. The RFP will include detailed scripts for particular business processes you’ll require them to walk through during the demo. If the vendors are serious contenders, they’ll have their MIS system all set up to execute these demo scripts before they come to your plant.
Next, you’ll then designate the day for the demo, perhaps staggering the MIS team over the hours required for it—so production doesn’t suffer unduly—bringing in each member of the team only when their particular business process is being analyzed on the system. However, the team leader(s) should be there for the whole demo, maintaining the checklist of pros and cons and providing continuity. You’ll be looking for things like ease of use when executing a process and how well the program meets contingencies and exceptions.
Once you decide on the proper purchase, weighing all the pros and cons in the balance, you’ll work out the implementation and deployment schedule with the vendor’s experts and your team. Here’s where change management really comes into play. "If you buy a system and try to implement it the way you do business today, you’re going to fail," warns Press. "You really need to look at the best practices built into the system and determine how you can leverage those best practices in your own business."
Core modules will be staged first, tested with offline data, and then brought online into actual deployment, with optional modules following. Though full deployment of a mid-to-high-end system can take months of hard work, if you’ve done your work well, the benefits will quickly become apparent—both for the increased efficiency the MIS system provides and for the long-term strategic goals that are driving your business forward.
