Print companies, like most SMBs, essentially live or die in the margins. During any given year, you may generate copious amounts of work, and bring in respectable revenue, yet when all is said and done you don’t see a lot of profit. Remember, revenue is the total cash you bring in while doing business, profit is the cash you have left over after paying all the costs of doing said business. If you haven’t looked at your books to determine where your profit is coming from or going, now is certainly a great time to do so.

One good question to ask is who are your top customers, and how do you determine that? This is one of the primary functions of an MIS solution – to gather and store the data that will lead to informed decision making. An MIS solution helps to inform you who your best customers are. We’ve all experienced the types of demanding customers who, for all the business they provide, manage to suck the profitability out of jobs in one way or another – it’s quite common. There’s a corollary that runs from your customer to your processes, and from your processes to your labor. Circling back, it would be wise to evaluate how much your labor plays into the consideration of your most – or least – profitable customers.

Using Your Print MIS to Automate Your Workflow and Track Your Shop Floor

If you’re not collecting your shop floor data you’re certainly overlooking a vital component of your job costing. At a bare minimum your print MIS should allow you to plan a job and record time and materials to that job. Companies that have an automated workflow – even if it’s only a portion of the workflow – will have a clearer idea of where and how to best assign their people and spot potential inefficiencies. The mere process of setting up an automated workflow will give you deeper insights on how effectively you are using your company resources. As you preside over your labor distribution you’ll also find opportunities to cross-train some people, and further develop their skill sets.

Use Your Print MIS on the shop floor to:

  • Collect the data in real time
  • Review the data in various ways – including charts and graphs on custom dashboards
  • Evaluate the data for actionable measures

 

PrintVis has offered this shop floor functionality since our 2015 version, and we’ve simplified and improved it greatly over the past years. It’s not a separate system, but rather a separate Role Center where shop floor workers have their own unique set of page views and permissions, based on any limitations in their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central user type. It’s just what you want for your crew – a common-sense interface that lets them document and control their workspace and capture/share the data the front office needs to do excellent work.

Now that technology allows for real time, company-wide data collection, shop floor scheduling software can save your production manager from having to make so many trips to the production area. More importantly, it will give the key members of your team the insights needed to make informed decisions on production, so you can work toward maximum profitability while improving customer satisfaction.

Start a Free Trial on a Mature, Proven Print MIS/ERP Solution

Now might be the perfect opportunity to do what you’ve been putting off for various reasons: Evaluate the print MIS/ERP software you know would improve and optimize your company. PrintVis has made it easy for you by providing a free trial of our cloud-licensed platform.

We encourage you to take a test drive – enjoy the look and feel of the attractive Business Central interface, use some of our handy how-to guides on creating a quote, changing user roles and more. We’ll be happy to connect you with one of our certified Partners to answer your questions. So why not go to Microsoft AppSource and give PrintVis a try?

Want to learn more about what to look for in an MIS/ERP software? There are crucial differences when it comes to the needs of the print industry.  Go here to download a free PDF quick guide.

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