MIS Improves Document Presentation And Automation

After just five months of Printoff Graphic Arts running live with its new 16-user Tharstern SQL management information system (MIS) the company is already able to confirm benefits.

After just five months of Printoff Graphic Arts running live with its new 16-user Tharstern SQL management information system (MIS) the company is already able to confirm benefits.

The purchase of the Tharstern MIS, to replace the previous system, was an example of the capital investments made by the Nelson (UK) national printer.

At the time of ordering Tharstern the company was already known for being the first in the UK to install a £1m fully networked MAN Roland eight-colour press.

Since then Printoff has also taken delivery of another MAN Roland machine, this time a six-colour press, plus a Moll folding and gluing machine and a Shoei computerised folding machine.

According to Printoff Graphic Arts' managing director, Brian Hough, the company has to know that any investment made immediately works for it.

John Spencer, client service manager at Printoff advised that as Tharstern was to supersede the previous, MIS the ability for it to work quickly was even more important.

Spencer added: "The implementation went very well and turned around very quickly, which is a credit to our staff and Tharstern.

There are still a few areas to tweak, as you would expect, such as tailoring our reports but they can be easily done.

In fact one of the advantages of Tharstern is the flexibility and choice of reports.

However, we have quickly got to where we are we haven't yet implemented the scheduling module and feel that our manual system currently works best for us.

We will be working with Tharstern in the future though to explore our options and see how it could work for us.

The importance is that Tharstern does offer support and is prepared to listen to ideas and help us develop our system." Amongst the immediate benefits Spencer commented: "Tharstern helped us to improve the presentation and automation of our documentation in comparison with our older system, such as quotation letters, purchase orders and delivery notes.

We are able to edit or modify them if required and can now also email them direct to clients, which provides a quicker response.

With Tharstern, our purchase order process is now more dynamic than with our previous software and also lends a wider scope of communication by sharing up-to-date job information across our site.

In particular, the addition of the shop floor data capture module provides the operators with more job detail than before and a job sequence pattern that they can work through and find very useful." Having an MIS is an everyday part of life for Printoff Graphic Arts and in Spencer's opinion it is an essential tool to the company's operation.

He explained: "The information provided by the MIS has always played a big role in us being effective, being able to confirm our efficiency and any decisions we make.

We can make sure we have the right mix of work by reviewing jobs and identifying what we can and can't do.

In reality and for a variety of reasons, printers do sometimes have to run a job just at break even.

The difference is that we can quickly identify margins and ensure that we limit taking on the wrong type, or loss making jobs.

In today's climate it is important to know exactly where our business is.

An MIS like Tharstern can provide us with precise information and a snapshot of any job to know where it is at." The advantages of the new MIS offers also extend to customers, as using the estimating module the client management team is enabled to swiftly pick out ways around price issues.

The team can look at 'what if' scenarios and offer advice and choices to customers to make a job fit in to their budget.

Focussing on cost savings there are a few examples that can be highlighted.

Spencer speculated that if the company was to stop using an MIS, it would need at least two extra administration staff and there would also be a loss in the accuracy, pertinence and the availability of information.

He also highlighted the financial advantages of Tharstern's software being able to trap additional costs for a job: "Using an extra's routine we can identify extra work and costs associated with a job and then re-charge them appropriately.

We have probably pulled back in the region of £10,000 in extra's that would previously have been lost." The just in time nature of the purchase order processing module also helps to reduce spending and assists with stock management.

Once a quotation has become a job any stock needed to fulfil the work is ordered, which means the company carries less stock and only orders what is required for each job.

As Spencer observed: "For example, with paper stock we can forecast spoilage, using previous job analysis and calculate exactly how much paper we need to order.

As there is no excess paper we don't end up with extras been run for good measure or stock left over that is never used.

It really contributes to keep wastage to a minimum, which leads to environmental benefits as well." For Printoff Graphics the adoption of MIS over the years has benefited all areas of the business and proven to be a valuable asset, even more so since the introduction of Tharstern's software.

There are also options for the future that Printoff is considering, such as taking advantage of e4print, the e-commerce module, as well as evaluating JDF workflows.

Spencer commented: "We are aware of Tharstern's commitment to developing JDF and that gives us confidence that we could take advantage of the JDF structure to enhance our operation.

We have a wide range of powerful technology at Printoff with an experienced, knowledgeable and enthusiastic team, which means we can offer a complete service to our customers and operate efficiently.

However, we have only ever known our strengths and where we can improve because we have had an MIS that provides us with the facts and figures and a complete overview of our business.".

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