Workflow integration is a hot topic, with printers increasingly realising that opportunities to reduce cost and improve customer experience are difficult to find from traditional methods.
Customer expectations are growing and they are demanding more for less in a shorter lead-time. Speed-to-market now affects the entire workflow, and there is a direct relationship between the speed of the quote and winning the work. Converting quotes to jobs using web-to-print is becoming the norm.
Vendor consolidation is gaining pace: Kodak and Heidelberg; Prism and EFI; and Raleigh, CPI, Focus and BJ Ball. This opens up opportunities to simplify and automate the way they interact.
Print companies face pressure to perform in ways they never have before. It is costly to have disparate systems and machines managed by people. A reduction in the number of touch points is crucial. Over the years, the wider vendor community has made many integration and automation promises, but in reality, it has been extremely difficult to achieve in a measurable and controlled way.
MIS, pre-press and pressroom systems are now capable of integrating and automating the way that we work, opening up opportunities to significantly reduce cost and improve interaction with customers. But some printers wish to maintain current practice while developing an integrated workflow. This is not achievable.
Utilisation of existing software is typically very low, particularly with MIS and pre-press systems. People – not systems – are often the real problem. Utilisation levels are typically affected by internal management and development post purchase, coupled with isolation from the market and vendor development over time. It is extremely important to maintain an up-to-date system that takes advantage of the development that the wider industry contributes to with the vendor. The capex investment has usually already been made, so in reality, maintenance and licensing costs are all that is left.
Print businesses often have technology that is not leveraged or understood. Key customer and job information is typically held in disparate systems. Different ways of working and managing data and tasks make core information difficult to control. It becomes hard for management to get visibility of the customer and job. This makes it tough to communicate workflow information, with a heavy reliance on email. The “forward” button becomes a key tool. In addition, reporting for customer, sales, operations and profit is very difficult with real-time information for scheduling/decision-making almost impossible.
The opportunity to provide alignment and a fully automated workflow is now real.
Rules-based automation is a key driver, with the ‘best method of production’ (BMOP) now able to be determined using rule sets, not estimating staff. This is determined at the quote stage, which becomes the invoice. Simple and consistent approaches are achievable. Once converted from quote to job, planning is removed, leaving estimators to complete complex quotes and win the work. Automated quotes should now be delivered either immediately via web-to-print or in less than 15 minutes.
If the BMOP is a key driver, and the quote is right, it flows automatically through the entire workflow with JDF/JMF now coming into its own. Experience over the past 12 months has demonstrated that workflow improvement offer full-time equivalent reductions of 4-8%, with additional paper and consumables savings in excess of 5%. At minimum, a printer should expect a fully automated workflow – from quote to invoice – to account for 55-80% of all jobs.
Success is linked to the capability of the equipment and systems selected, system integration and utilisation and a willingness of people to embrace change. The landscape is changing rapidly. We expect to see a combined MIS and pre-press system enter the market within two years.
Mark Campbell leads workflow and business performance improvement company Agentink
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