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Prospecting Stage: The art of soliciting new and repeat business is the first step in a job's life cycle.
OTSales Power: Before scheduling prospect calls, a representative and/or manager accesses OTSales to determine prior sales history. This is so easy and so fast there is no reason not to prepare before you make that call. It happens in seconds. In addition to archived estimates and orders, job costing and profitability results are reviewed. If opportunities have been lost with the prospect, the history will prepare the sales representative with vital competitive knowledge. If the prospect is a repeat client, profitability history may uncover value added ratios that need addressing. Prospecting success itself can be improved and monitored by using OTSales call reporting. Either remotely or in the office, your sales team can enter sales call results, schedule follow-up activities, and hopefully, initiate a job for estimating.Estimating & Pre-engineering Stage: An opportunity has been identified and qualified in the sales stage. Your client provides job specifications and requests a price quotation. In most cases, multiple estimates for the job are required. Variables, causing the need for multiple estimates include quantity changes, paper alternatives, and a range of design variations from color format to finished size. Each time, estimators make production decisions, such as which press is best suited for efficiency, quality, and production cost control. Estimators also make decisions regarding outsourcing of jobs or parts of jobs, such as complex bindery work. Estimators provide estimate information to clients through the sales staff or directly. On highly competitive bids, sales management reviews estimates to approve pricing.OTEstimating Power: OTEstimating provides powerful tools, which are used to pre-engineer, cost estimate, and generate multiple estimate versions quickly and easily. Generation of complex multi-part, multi-quantity estimates is extremely fast, with automated generation of multiple quantities per estimate version. Importing client and paper information is automated to speed the estimating process. OTEstimating also provides the ability to quickly and easily change presses, production formats and numerous variables to produce "what if" scenarios in real-time. OTEstimating provides Value-Added reporting and True-Value reporting in real time. True-Value is a powerful OTview concept that shows you the ratio of Value-Added to Production Hours. This helps the estimator to make the best production decisions in order to minimize the cost and maximize the profitability of a job. OTEstimating provides highly detailed yet easy to read one-screen estimate views, and one page estimate printouts. Management can quickly and accurately review a comprehensive, yet concise, estimate report. The final decision on pricing is made from a position of knowledge that the job can be produced efficiently and effectively, providing acceptable profit. In a situation in which a customer has provided a price-to-beat, OTEstimating provides the necessary information to evaluate whether a job can be produced profitably at that price. Bottom line, the OnTrack view of your business gives you the tools to know what jobs are high reward and how to minimize risk. The final step in this stage is when OTEstimating automatically generates your letters of estimate to be either printed or emailed. Production Planning Stage: Congratulations, the job is won. The client submits the job, either directly or the sales representative picks up the job information. The planning function now begins. Customer service receives the job, including customer provided proofs, job specs, and digital files. Frequently, if the job has been estimated, your estimate number is referenced in the job specs. Or, the sales representative provides the estimate number or a printed estimate sheet to customer service. If the job was awarded without an estimate, customer service may request an estimate before continuing with job engineering. Next, the job is reviewed to confirm whether the specifications match the estimate. Then, job engineering assumptions are reviewed with a concern for profitability and equipment loading. At this point, a job can be reengineered or produced as estimated, depending on available equipment time. Production schedules are now created spanning Prepress, Press, Bindery, and Shipping/Mailing. You may have a single person or department for this purpose. CSRs/Planners are intimately involved with the process as they will track the jobs progress and report to sales and the client as the job is produced. Production materials and outside services are purchased or allocated. Then, production forms are produced and all job information is assembled and sent to the Prepress department.OTEstimating Power: The appropriate version of the job estimate is quickly and easily located with OTEstimating. The CSR, or whoever is authorized, turns the estimate into a live job with the push of the "Make Live" button. All information that was entered and stored for this estimate is now present in the new live job. The job can be reviewed, reengineered and reevaluated for profitability if necessary. Any deviations from the original estimate specifications are revealed at this point. If these deviations affect price,OTEstimating reveals the additional charges, which should be assessed. There is even a time-saver function that allows non-estimated jobs to be entered directly into live production. An estimate is generated automatically using the entered job information. OTScheduler Power: OTSchedulerempowers the authorized planner or planners, to produce the schedules for all production departments. Multi-part estimates can be scheduled on the same schedule or each part can be scheduled independently. All production forms are created automatically. OTview recognizes the importance and use of both screen display and hard-copy output so screen views and print versions are created. Key forms produced include Work Orders, Cutting Tickets, and Production Board Tickets. OTInventory Power: Inventory materials, such as paper, special inks, and supplies are allocated with OTInventory. The operator will search the system to determine which materials are not in inventory. Key information such as detailed product data and location is available instantly. Minimum and maximum inventory levels are maintained automatically. Before ordering for a particular job, an analysis is done to determine the recommended order quantity. OTPurchasing Power: Acquiring job materials, such as paper, special inks, and outside operations is facilitated with OTPurchasing. Some OTview customers prefer to interface the purchase order capability with their accounting system and allow it to produce the actual purchase order that is mailed or phoned into the supplier.
Prepress Stage: The first stop in production is the Prepress department. All job specifications, and special instructions are reviewed. Prepress performs services including preflight, scanning, digital retouch, type setting, file preparation, imposition, proofing, & imaging, and platemaking. The client's job files are evaluated and processed and imposed for the printing layout configuration, which was engineered for the job. Proofs are made. These proofs are distributed, usually through the customer service department, to the customer. After proofs return from the client the Prepress department makes plates, makes changes requested by the client and produces plates, or makes changes requested by the client and makes new proofs for approval. Any billable changes requested by the client, must be documented. The Prepress department will keep in constant contact with the customer service department to communicate the completion of proofs, scans, and plates. These are all time-critical issues. All significant prepress errors should be documented as well. When all is done and the proofs have been approved, Prepress notifies customer service that the job is complete. The job is then sent to the pressroom.OTShop Power: OTShop enables the Prepress employees to easily and effectively communicate job status with all users, across all departments. The communication is real-time. Job notes and specification changes are available immediately after they are entered. All job specifications are presented in an easy to read computer screen interface, as well as via a printed work order. For a business to produce OnTrack jobs, it is essential that real-time production reports are available to the entire organization. OTShop keeps track of all prepress production activities and relates them to the appropriate job. Data collection has been made easy and logical with a simple graphical user interface. In minutes, operators learn how to log "start" and "stop" times. OTShop also provides forms for Prepress, such as the "Proof Approval Slip", which accompanies the proofs for client approval. Any rework due to customer changes or internal errors is documented and valued. Automatically, all schedules throughout the plant are updated. Press Production Stage: In a conventional workflow, plates are made by the prepress department and sent with the job jacket to the pressroom. In a digital press workflow, the jacket is sent to the pressroom upon proof approval. This means the files are "press-ready" or "plate-ready". The press department locates all of the materials necessary to print the job including plates, paper, ink, work order and proofs. Any necessary Press checks with the client are coordinated. The press operator will review the job for special bindery concerns to insure downstream efficiencies. The press operator then produces the job and documents the quantities produced. Any significant press problems are documented.OTShop Power: OTShop provides the means of communicating job information to the Press department. It also allows for communication from the Press department to all other concerned parties. The communication is real-time. The press operator interacts with OTShop to review the proof approval slip, confirm that the job is correct, and then proceed with production. Job notes and specification changes are displayed or can be printed for use. The printed work order provides a clear overview of the job. The on-screen view provides the press operator with an up to the minute look at printing specifications. During production, shop-floor data is collected, entered into OTshop and published for the OTview user community. Operators log start and stop times with pushbutton simplicity. Run yields, make-ready and wash-up counts are captured and used for efficiency reporting and job costing. Production delays due to any factors are documented. Again, to insure OnTrack results, job status information is constantly published during the press production process. From a management perspective, all shop floor data collection triggers an accurate production cost report as the job is produced.
Binding Stage: After the job has been printed, it will sit for a time, before the bindery department can begin work. When the job is dry, the bindery department then proceeds to cut, fold, stitch, die-cut, glue, tab, label, and other finishing functions. Clear communication of how the job is to be finished, is critical. At this stage any mistake becomes very expensive. Bindery schedules are typically very compressed. Upstream delays impact and commonly are paid for in the bindery department. Therefore, it is imperative that the bindery department receives accurate production completion estimates. Bindery scheduling is reviewed and reworked periodically in most businesses. As schedules change, workload requirements are impacted. This stage is often under a microscope because of client delivery pressure. Customer service interacts periodically with Bindery to effectively communicate with sales and/or the client representative. At completion, shipping is notified.OTShop Power: As with the other production departments, OTShop enables the Bindery department to communicate with all other departments. Bindery schedules are presented clearly, and can be reviewed and modified with ease. An employee or manager will display the printed work order and review the overview of the job. The on-screen Bindery view provides an up to the minute look at binding specifications as well as shop-floor data collection requirements for documenting all Bindery activities. OTShop provides all the information to produce the job correctly. If there are any unanswered questions about the job, the names of the people who know the answers are displayed. As binding activities are completed, data is entered into OTShop. This data collection provides time on task and yield information for all bindery operations, as well as accurate production time estimates, to aid in scheduling. Again, to insure an OnTrack result, an accurate bindery cost report is updated as the job is produced.
Shipping Stage: After a final quality review, the job is authorized for shipment. Multiple shipping destinations are common, with samples and various portions of the completed job going to different locations. The first step is scheduling. Managing your shipments is critical because they can dramatically increase the cost of a job. When possible, the shipping operator will produce a schedule that insures the least costly shipping method. If your company provides mail services, this complicates the distribution of a job dramatically. It is also common for printing companies to provide finished goods inventory services, where you ship a portion of a job and store the remainder. This all leads to the actual shipping event, and the communication of that event.OTShipping Power: OTShipping provides complete control for scheduling, processing and tracking an unlimited number of shipments for all production jobs. Generating packaging labelsand packing slips is a highly automated process. Destinations and job information auto-populate packing slips and labels so there is no time wasted re-keying existing information. OTShipping also provides the shipping manager with the ability to look ahead at future shipping demands to forecast appropriate departmental resources and plan for the most cost effective shipping method. OTShipping provides information to the shipping department in real-time, so last minute destination changes are immediately available to shipping staff, saving time, money and keeping the job on track. Shipping costs are tracked for every possible shipping method, and these costs are readily accessible at Job Close to provide an accurate view of all job related costs. OTShipping paves the road to a truly OnTrack shipping department.
Job Close Stage: After a job has been shipped, the Job jacket, containing all relevant job information is sent to the billing department. It may be reviewed by the CSR, or by an accounting clerk. Costs must be reviewed and any billable changes must be added to the price of the job. Some companies perform a cost analysis at this point. Tracking materials usage and outside purchases is easy to perform, but labor costs can be difficult to generate. Therefore, a true cost report is seldom accurately generated. Finally, an invoice is produced and sent to the client. After the Job is invoiced, the job jacket is purged of unnecessary information and archived.OTClose Power: OTClose provides job close and billing functionality, which digitally assembles all job costs, including labor and materials. Billable changes are presented for review, and the job is invoiced and digital files archived with the push of a button. Unlike most environments, whether they are automated or not, OTview customers can access true cost results including actual labor costs. When all costs have been agreed upon, OTClose generates the appropriate invoice. This invoice can be sent directly to the client. It can be transmitted electronically to your accounting system which then can generate the invoice. Or, it can be printed, and accounting can use the hard copy to feed their normal billing data entry screen. Analysis Stage: Progressive managers are constantly monitoring and projecting business. Yet, it is difficult for most printing companies to consistently project accurate sales. One problem is they have no true report of the value of work in process (WIP). They also lack a report of the value added component of their WIP. Regardless, many hours are dedicated every week to forecasting. This forecasting is necessary to forecast cash flow requirements, labor allocations, inventory purchases, and future capacity expansion. When production capacities are exceeded by the sales load, it is necessary to add production shifts and ultimately, to add equipment.OTAnswer Power: OTAnswer allows users to check the work in process at any time, providing a complete financial breakdown of work by production center. Total value added, Total production time, and True value ratios are reported for the WIP. This helps with forecasting sales and profitability. In addition, OTAnswer provides data mining capabilities across multiple jobs, which can be used to evaluate the needs for additional equipment. On the other hand, many times the first step is evaluating efficiency. Press efficiency reports reveal any weaknesses in the production of individual press operators or production shifts. This can reveal a need for training or re-staffing which can save the very high cost of acquiring new presses. When it is determined that a new press is needed, OTAnswer can also help with the choice of equipment. For instance, OTAnswer can calculate how many jobs were printed on the 6-color press which were only 4-color or less. OTAnswer will reveal the job count, with a breakdown of total sales dollars allocated to every participating department. In addition, Value-Added and True-Value reports are generated. Many of these answers have been undiscovered metrics when making previous capital expenditures. OTAnswer is ready to assist you in running your OnTrack business.
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