Transman distribution management software

Transman distribution management software selected for catalogue printing application.

Every week printing giant Polestar Purnell has to keep track of many millions of different sections of long catalogue runs for companies like Ikea and Argos, during the journey from press through finishing and on to customer.

Polestar's Gravure Printing factory in Paulton, Somerset prints over 5 million copies each week, which are sent off to be finished at a variety of different locations both near and far.

In the past, order tracking for this complex logistical operation fully occupied one member of staff and was done manually by phone or fax.

Because, like all manual operations, it was vulnerable to incurring risks of error and the resultant problems of material being sent to the wrong place or at the wrong time, Polestar wanted to find an easier way of controlling this process - a way of keeping the customer informed of their order's status at the touch of a button.

The company also wanted to find a system that would be user friendly enough for staff at various levels to use, from the warehouse operators to transport managers and account executives.

This way, an order could be fully accountable during its journey from printer to customers throughout the UK.

Polestar's IT systems manager Colin Webb approached Spark Data to see if it could develop software that would be user-friendly and cost-effective.

Polestar found money could be saved by specifying its exact requirements in the first place in a custom-designed system.

Although 'off-the-shelf' software packages can appear to be more economical initially, they often have to have a number of additional modifications made to suit the specific needs of the individual customer.

Spark Data researched the requirements and developed a programme called Transman.

Transman is a search facility that gives comprehensive details of the quantity or the order, the whereabouts of the order, which machine they had been printed from, cumulative quantity and a load number.

"The benefit we have noticed since using Transman is that it is hugely time-saving and cost-effective.

We now have less orders going astray and orders are delivered on time, which means we can focus our time on new projects," Webb said.

Spark Data director Jonathan Jones has been updating the system since it was first implemented in 1997.

"It has been particularly gratifying for us to see Transman grow from being used as an administrative tool to becoming the core of the Total Copy Management System for production tracking.

This includes monitoring the quality of the paper used at the beginning of the process, through to tracking the pallets of finished products," he said.

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