Daily questions from the print shop routine - we have answers.

Time and again, employees and customers ask themselves the question: "Where is the order right now?". This can mean different questions.

For example: "Where is the pallet with the finished print products?" or "What is the current status of the job?"

Or has the order been created in your MIS software and does it have an order number? Finally, the customers ask themselves whether the order was delivered today as discussed.

The fact is that employees spend a lot of time per day clarifying these questions. This means an enormous amount of time and effort spent on research in the form of phone calls, enquiries and searches in production. Inefficient processes may be present here, which can lead to far-reaching problems. Complaints, delayed delivery, increased staff deployment, dissatisfied employees and angry customers are the consequences.

It doesn't have to be!
We have solutions for you that provide answers to precisely these questions. Siskin is our production frontend and supports employees directly at their machines. Here they can see the orders to be processed in the planned sequence and their status.

Mink is the assistant for processing jobs in prepress. Whether the job comes from an MIS or was created manually, Mink offers full configuration options for a job and simplifies and automates prepress processes by reducing manual intervention to a minimum.

When the early shift comes from the press to prepress and asks: "How many spot colours does the job have - and which coating should be used?"

Or the order processor had a customer on the phone and now asks at the prepress stage: "Was the order actually printed last night?

Would you have had an answer directly? And, if so: Because you happened to know or because you could look it up directly in a system?

Often the former is the rule.

Tessitura has a software solution for this. Mink knows from its database exactly which lacquer and which special colours are to be used. And the Raccoon can show you if and when the order has been produced.

And not only that: you can also see the running time and downtimes during production. Even at night, if you like.

Who is not familiar with this question? It is not uncommon for the sales department to ask all the way to the last link in the value chain - the logistician. But the customer also often has a great interest in whether everything has been delivered as discussed, because distribution dates or a trade fair are linked to it.

Employees from internal logistics then look for the order with an order bag in production. In the worst case, the employees at the folding machine are also asked whether the order is already ready - and if not, whether it can be pushed in between, because the products still have to be delivered today.

Siskin would have had the answer at the push of a button, and also the Raccoon would have answered the question.

This is what we call Processoptimization in the printing industry.

A popular question in the morning meeting. The order is supposed to be delivered today. But do you know if the pallets that still need to be cut and packed are already back from the external processing?

Due to a lack of holistic networking, this information is often not available centrally - and the research begins. Staff members take such tasks with them from the early morning meeting every day and try to get clarity.

Siskin has an immediate answer during the meeting: "The pallets were delivered by the external processing company last night and can be cut and packed directly. Even the storage location is noted.

A complaint. Your customer angrily calls the order processing department and complains: When distributing the print products, it was noticed that the ordered print run was not reached. Can you process this complaint quickly and give feedback?

What happened there and why? Was too little paper ordered? Too much waste in the print? Or did the mistake happen in a completely different department?

In addition to a rectification, the customer expects a quick explanation. This can take a little longer if the employees on the late shift can only be questioned personally in 24 hours.

Raccoon quickly provides you with information on which production step caused problems with the print run. Even with older machines. Because our product Badger is a hardware and software extension for production data acquisition for machines that are not equipped accordingly. In this way, even old machines can be integrated into your network.

Our process analysis shows you corresponding starting points for an increase in efficiency.

"Actually, the products should have been ready for packaging in the shipping department long ago."

The salesperson is on the way to a customer appointment and awaits the customer's enquiry as to whether everything is working as agreed with the print products.

The prepress employee goes to the production department, asks for information and then calls back. In the meantime, however, the sales employee is already talking to a customer and can no longer be reached.

You too will have experienced this situation in one way or another.

Raccoon can provide information about when the order has been produced - and this can be done via any internet and browser-capable device. In this way, the sales representative is able to provide information to the customer.
The prepress staff can continue to concentrate on their tasks during this time.

Focus now on the Tessitura and our solutions for Increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

You'd better ask yourself these questions before making a complaint, right?

We know that cohesion among staff and mutual support are a great asset. But it should not be used to compensate for mistakes and weaknesses in inefficient processes.

You can do better.

With our Processoptimization and suitable measures, we support you in making your processes more efficient and, with suitable software solutions, also more digital.

In an initial process analysis at your site, we show you the first success factors that we can improve together. In doing so, we make use of our analysis tools.

Here find out more.

The question of the contribution margin was often heard - especially when things get difficult again in production or in customer communication.

If you're honest, you know this too, don't you?

With our software Raccoon we support you in a precise follow-up of this order.

So you can see downtimes or even too many waste sheets required. We know exactly how these decisive parameters affect your results. To optimise them, we can develop the right strategy together with you.

Here you can learn more about our Performance Coaching.

A classic. It's a question every print shop corridor since Gutenberg will have heard.

Our simple answer: Ask Siskin - our production overview.

Is this your first question as operations manager:in when you enter the office in the morning? Usually before the first coffee?

It's not supposed to be like that, is it? Siskin can give you a relaxed overview of the production right after you get up.

An overview of all production processes is essential for ongoing printing operations. Raccoon offers you a central overview of machine data and jobs with status information that is displayed graphically in real time. You can check current data such as speed, utilisation, finished sheets, but also information about availability or error messages of a specific machine at any time without leaving your workplace or having to give up a coffee.

For a follow-up, we also offer you comprehensive reporting with our software solutions.

Our software is particularly well suited for heterogeneous machine parks, as it is manufacturer-independent and even non-network-capable machines can be connected to our system by us. Badger can be retrofitted.

You can also keep an eye on different production sites. You can easily access your performance indicators from any smartphone.

Disillusionment usually comes at the end of the year or during the post-calculation of a job. Do you know the parameters that influence paper consumption in your print shop?

Did you know, for example, that the recording of paper consumption in your PDA is influenced by the "human factor"? Through our process analysis, we show you where you are wasting paper. Our software Raccoon you can additionally use as a tamper-proof measuring instrument.

We not only show you where the problem occurs, but also jointly develop optimisation approaches for sustainable cost reduction. This can be a mix of performance coaching and our Odeon-software solutions.

Together we implement changes with you.

- the head of the printing department calls over to his colleagues at the 8-colour press. They look at the pre-sorted pile of order pockets or which printing plates the prepress employee has brought to the press next.

Hand on heart - you know this situation too, don't you?

A glance at the tablet would have saved the brief interruption. Siskin knows what job is planned next.

And Siskin knows a lot more.

"Would you have been in the Siskin just be able to see!"

Straight-through processing is as simple as that.

"I don't know. Call the prepress or the sales department."
"I couldn't get hold of anyone. They are all in meetings at the moment. To be on the safe side, I asked the customer. They were a bit irritated.

If this would also be embarrassing for you as a boss, then there is no way around carrying out a process analysis. What we can tell you right now: With Mink this conversation would most likely not have taken place.

By the way, the same applies to the question of whether the customer release is already there. Our workflow analysis provides you with concrete approaches for process optimisation.

"Yes, it has to be done so that everyone in production has the same level of information. After the complaints of the last few weeks, our boss doesn't want to take any more risks.

We have experienced it: a new employee in the pre-press department really asked his colleagues this question. A uniform information base that is always up to date would have helped here. Mink and Siskin have almost all the answers. And they do so directly at the employees' workplaces.

Since we operate independently of manufacturers, we integrate your MIS system, your prepress workflow and your machine controls in production and take care of the networking. This creates clarity of information for all employees involved. In this way, we avoid unnecessary workflows and repetitive tasks and overcome media discontinuities between the systems.

"Digitalisation, yes, of course! As an entrepreneur, I am aware that I cannot avoid it.
But what does that mean in concrete terms for a print shop?

And what about the old machines in my inventory that I really want to keep using? They are paid for and make money for me. Is that even possible?"

Our answer to this is clear: Yes! And that with Badger.

Badger is a hardware and software extension for the production data acquisition of machines that are not equipped accordingly.

Badger consists of a microcontroller that provides inputs for light barriers and other sensors. This makes it possible to retrofit machines with one or more counters, e.g. for good sheets or rejected products. In this way, integration also succeeds for these machines.

This data is sent to the Raccoon for your reporting. In connection with Siskin, our planning frontend and a barcode scanner to read an order number, this captured data can be assigned to an order.

Every prepress employee knows this question, but it is also often asked in sales.

Is it the right way to educate customers to let them know when data has been transferred? Or to encourage staff to inform immediately in all directions?
The process could look like this. But it ties up important resources, is error-prone and tends to be forgotten.

The solution would be a system that automatically notices when print data for a particular job is in house and then automatically informs all the important offices. Pike can do just that. And through Mink the data is automatically assigned to a job, unpacked, checked and further processed. Here, important recurring tasks are automated and media breaks are overcome.

So that your employees don't waste their time with questions.