Testimonials

McClafferty Printing sees dramatic improvement with OTPrint.

“OTPrint production management software is incredible. At McClafferty Printing, we have seen dramatic improvement in estimating speed, accuracy and efficiency with OTPrint. Order entry and job management efficiencies have also improved dramatically. We have been able to eliminate overtime costs in our customer service department, and significantly improve the quality of the information that is communicated to the shop floor. The OTView support group was able to quickly and easily make any customizations to our OTPrint system, in order to satisfy some unique requirements. I’m not sure that there is anything the OTView staff can’t do with OTPrint."

Burkhead Devane meets specialized needs with OTPrint.

“OTPrint is an elegant information system for our company, which converts labels for the pharmaceutical industry", reports Boo Devane, owner of Burkhead Devane. "At Burkhead Devane, our needs are unique. Everything we manufacture is a specialized component. Serving the pharmaceutical industry, every phase of our manufacturing process has to be quantified and traceable. More challenging still, each customer requires specialized information to fulfill their specifications. The staff at OTView worked creatively to address all of our unique needs and delivered a system that is elegant in its simplicity to use. I recommend OTPrint to anyone."

B & G House of Printing Saves $100,000, Increases Efficiency & Reduces Overtime with OTPrint

“Before installing OTPrint, I was overworking my estimators and staff,” says Rick Morimura, a principal at B & G House of Printing located in Gardena, CA. According to Morimura, “moral within my staff was low due to frustrations of dealing with an inefficient system and the resulting increased workload. Without OTPrint, I would have had to continue paying overtime and may have had to increase head count. OTPrint saved me $100,000 in the first year because I did not have to hire additional staff.”

“OTPrint came along at the perfect time. We didn’t know this product was out there until Walt showed us the demo.”

OTview installed OTPrint, an all-inclusive software product that empowers every employee with the real-time vision to consistently produce OnTrack print jobs, 1-1/2 years ago. “OTPrint came along at the perfect time. We didn’t know this product was out there until Walt Marchant, President and CTO of OTview, showed us the demo,” says Morimura. The old system they had been using was not very flexible and they did not have an efficient way to track jobs through their shop. No reliable method existed to capture production activity. Once they heard about the flexibility of OTPrint, they decided to evaluate the software. Prior to that time, they were using a system which created a lot of extra work for their estimators and staff and created a bottleneck writing production tickets.

Improved Efficiency and Responsiveness has Improved Customer Satisfaction

“OTPrint has allowed estimators more time to dedicate to other tasks and service our clients better. Estimates can be adjusted and revised faster and our customers can be given more options,” says Morimura. 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 information from the data base is automated to speed the estimating process. Morimura says “the quick turnaround to our clients has improved customer satisfaction.”

“Real-Time” Data Increased Productivity

The appropriate version of the job estimate is quickly and easily located within OTEstimating and is turned into a live job. All information that was entered and stored for the estimate is converted into a live job with the push of a button. OTview's software has helped B & G effectively manage the work-in-process in the plant and the workflow of each job. “Staff and press room increased productivity with the availability of real-time data. OTPrint eliminated the need of writing production tickets and thus eliminated the bottleneck.” With the aid of OTScheduler, planners can automatically produce the schedules and forms for all production departments. Multi-part estimates can be scheduled on the same schedule or each part can be scheduled independently. “Increased efficiency, both in estimating and production, has greatly reduced overtime,” says Morimura. “OTPrint made their jobs easier.”

Flexibility of OTPrint Allows Easy Customization

The open architecture and flexibility of OTPrint has allowed B & G to customize the software to fit the requirements of their business. “The flexibility of OTPrint enabled quick and easy modifications to the program to fit our product line and makes the program tailored to fit our needs,” says Morimura.

OTPrint is a cost-effective investment with immediate payback and can be integrated into virtually any printing company large or small. Since installing OTPrint, B & G House of Printing has been able increase efficiency, reduce overtime, increase production, reduce bottlenecks, offer more options to their clients with faster turn around and improve communications to insure complete customer satisfaction.

B & G House of Printing is a “boutique” high quality, short run printer servicing the automotive, entertainment, and many other industries. Their primary focus is custom printed products such as promotional kits, catalogues, brochures, sales kits, and specialty orders requiring hand wrapping.

Creative Print Group Exceeds 30% Growth with OTPrint

"I can't begin to measure the benefits that I have gotten from OTPrint. My company simply wouldn't be as successful as it is today. OTPrint has adapted to the dynamics of our growing business and has made it easy for us to grow to the next level," stated Brian White, President of Creative Print Group.

From concept and graphic design to quality printing and on-time delivery, Creative Print Group, a Baltimore, Maryland based company, is focused on the success of their customers. During the past four years, the economic downturn in the printing industry has made it difficult for many companies. Trying to maintain a consistent business and make a profit is one thing, but trying to grow your business has been a challenge for most printing companies. In 2000, White purchased the OTPrint Management System, with the goal of improving the speed and accuracy of estimating. Prior to OTPrint, the operation at Creative Print was bogged down with quotes causing delays to their customers.

Why OnTrack?

"In today's competitive market, it is critical to understand your true business costs. OTEstimating covers all of our costs by asking the right questions on one easy-to-read screen and allows us to make the right decisions for our business model" says White. "The ability to see the "value-added" calculated in real-time as we are building the estimate gives us accurate figures to make informed decisions to win the business and make a profit,” added White.

With OTPrint, Creative Print Group has grown their business by $1 million in the past four years without adding headcount. "The installation of OTPrint was painless. Within one week, we were using the system for all of our quotes", says White. The customer service department at Creative Print provides quotes to customers over the phone. They can easily reference old quotes and make adjustments. The quick turnaround to customers has given Creative Print Group an edge in customer satisfaction and retention.

OTview's software has helped Creative Print effectively manage the work-in-process in the plant and the workflow of each job. White states that, "OTPrint's instant view of the plant makes it easy to understand how much press time has been sold, and how much is and will be available to be sold.”

Effective Communication and Production Efficiency

According to White, the OTPrint system has significantly reduced spoilage to less than 1/4%. White commented, "OTPrint has given us an effective communication tool that has taken the guesswork out of running a job. It's rare to make a mistake. Everyone has a live view of the job on their workstation and access to important archived data. Optimizing the workflow of each job throughout the plant has maximized the use of equipment and resources, minimizing the requirements to purchase additional equipment." With OTInventory maintaining the right amount of inventory has become a key cost control factor for Creative Print. When estimating a job, they know exactly how much inventory is in stock and how much material to purchase.

OTPrint is extremely flexible, allowing companies like Creative Print to customize the software to fit the requirements of their business. "As we've expanded, the software has easily adapted to the dynamics of our growing business", says White. He added, "one of the key advantages that we have with our OTPrint solution is the remote access capability that allows me to run my business from outside the office. I can review work-in-process, check deliveries, or estimate a job from my home computer.”

Customer Satisfaction with OTPrint

At Creative Print Group, on-time delivery and meeting the quality expectations of their customers is essential. On-time delivery alone has been dramatically improved to well over 95%. At the end of the day, customer satisfaction is the critical success factor for Creative Print’s dynamic growth in a very competitive market. OTPrint has served as the enabler to achieve a true OnTrack business.

Z3 Graphix Boosts Productivity with OTPrint

"The OTPrint solution offers extreme flexibility allowing us to adapt the software to fit our business model. The ability to easily add new equipment, change existing, and capture the production activity is fantastic. With OTPrint, our entire team sees the same up-to-date view of plant operations, instantly at any time during the day," stated Jeff Goff, Director of Operations at Z3 Graphix.

Serving the Kansas City market since 1969, Z3 Graphix (formerly Buzz Print) is the 28th largest on-demand printer in the nation. Z3 provides complete design, printing, and full mail services to their clients.

Why OTPrint?

Z3 Graphix had been using various print management systems over the past 12 years that they describe as very inflexible. There was no reasonable ability to track jobs through their lifecycle and no method to capture production activity. They heard about the flexibility of the OTPrint solution and decided to evaluate the software.

Goff liked the fact that OTPrint uses FileMaker Pro as the foundation; giving his operation the power to adapt the software to fit their business model. "Cost savings resulted with the ability to capture and analyze the "real" data with powerful reporting tools. It gives our organization quality information at the job level, product level and customer level. The OnTrack view of the plant is excellent in reviewing efficiencies of equipment, costs associated with each job, where we are making money, and to quickly identify and isolate problems", said Goff.

An "Instant View" of the Plant Improves Communication

Prior to OTPrint, the morning meetings to determine the status of each job in the plant took the scheduler at Z3 about 2 hours to track down the information. Within one hour following the meeting, the production information was again out-of-date. "With OTPrint, the entire operation sees the same instant OnTrack view of the plant", says Goff. The scheduler at Z3 Graphix also spent 1 hour at the end of the day preparing a report that is now done automatically by the system. He now spends the three hours saved on the shop floor being proactive with customer orders instead of reactive. The scheduler easily evaluates efficiencies, and the strengths and weaknesses of individuals on each press. This individual job performance analysis helps Z3 identify the areas where operators need more training.

Asked how OTShop has improved the ability to look at work-in-process, Goff replied, "it is easy to view the current capacity and determine bottlenecks in the plant and how to solve them.” Using the data from OTPrint, Z3 classifies the printer errors and uses this data to track the trends of every job to determine solutions. Retrieving the archives has made it much easier when running a job. The software has also given them a more accurate count of material requirements for each job, eliminating excess inventory.

In regards to the advantages of the estimating capabilities of OTEstimating, Goff stated, "one screen for estimating, detailed by cost center and hourly production realization, is a huge benefit. It's easy to evaluate the final price and make informed decisions when estimating." "Communication with our customers has been a real advantage. We can easily track their job right on the screen, without running out to the plant to find it." Z3 Graphix uses web-based ordering that integrates with OTPrint. When an order ships, an e-mail message is automatically sent to the customer with a link to track their shipment.

Fast and Effective Implementation Process

Goff commented, "the implementation process for OTPrint was fast and extremely effective. Prior to the installation, we assembled all of our costs associated with running our business using an easy to understand format supplied by OTview. OTview prepared the Z3 Graphix system with our costs and standards then visited our plant for the installation. We were trained using our data and within a week were fully functional using OTPrint throughout our plant. All users at Z3 were trained on the features that were important to their department, even press operators with no computer experience learned quickly.”

Since installing OTPrint in October of 2003, Z3 Graphix has realized enormous benefits. For the first time, Z3 Graphix has dependable up-to-the-minute data that allows them to make informed business decisions. OTPrint is now a key tool in linking their operation to the success of their customers.