Integration and Automation
In today’s competitive marketplace, integration between your MIS system and your Print production system to exchange job specs is fundamental to cost-reduction and workflow automation. Today’s digital PDF workflows provide the data and foundation for this automation.
There are 3 core areas that provide printers the highest integration rewards:
1. Converting the MIS Order into usable Prepress specs to verify the supplied PDF matches the order.
2. Use MIS Print Estimate information to feed Prepress to build the required Layouts and Forms
3. Capture the Prepress system’s JDF Layout to feed back actual layout specs (sheet size and # up) to the MIS system to potentially adjust:
a. Stock allocation
b. Press Schedule
c. Printing Costs
d. Finishing Costs
The layout specs, in particular, not only drives production at so many levels, but in virtually ever shop, it is the gap between the way a job was estimated and the way the job is actually planned and being manufactured.
Many shops today gang multiple orders on the same layout to help reduce manufacturing costs and optimize equipment time. While gang form printing is certainly beneficial to the manufacturing process, it usually creates a nightmare to the MIS system, or at least significant work-arounds and additional order entry to reflect the current manufacturing process.
CSS Group specializes not just in integrating your systems together, but has developed an expansive, customizable, web-based toolkit that will implements your business rules to manage the integration while providing automation throughout the entire process.
Integration can be complex and might seem overwhelming to many printers. Why not leverage CSS Group’s years of experience of working with a variety of MIS system like ePace, Monarch, Radius, and others for MIS, connecting to prepress systems like Prinergy, Prinect, Impostrip, Esko AE, Metrix, Phoenix and others?
For almost 30 years, CSS Group has the experience and tools servicing a wide variety of printers who have specialized in Packaging, Flexo, and all types of commercial work (Flat, Folded, or Bound).
CSS Group can help you in so many ways to reduce costs and automate your production.