Web-to-print
 Streamlines Workflow at Steelcase

For Years, the in-plant at Steelcase Inc. received jobs in a variety of disjoined ways: e-mail, FTP and even physical drop-offs. Back in 2006, only about 40 percent of jobs were submitted electronically to the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based in-plant, mostly via e-mail. This had begun to take its toll on the productivity of the five-employee shop.

"Jobs came to the print shop in every way you could imagine, with varying degrees of accuracy of the instructions," recalls Al Schmidutz, manager of Global Output Services. This made it very difficult to maintain a fast, efficient workflow.

At first, the in-plant attempted to tackle these problems through a homegrown job submission tool; however, the internal tool struggled to keep up with customers' requirements. The ability to provide accurate production reports and submit customized, variable output remained limited. The need for a viable job submission solution, coupled with cost accounting capabilities, became critical.

Seeking New Solutions

With 13,000 employees worldwide, Steelcase—a $2.4 billion designer and manufacturer of office furniture—relies on its in-plant for a variety of documents, from forms and business cards to sales presentations, marketing collateral and product catalogs. The in-plant handles more than 800 jobs per month, using a Ricoh Pro C900 and Canon imagePRESS C7000VP for color printing and a Canon imageRUNNER 110 for black and white.

Since so many key customers rely on the in-plant's services—including dealers, corporate marketers, customer service representatives and end users—Schmidutz knew he needed to solve the shop's workflow problems. So back in 2006, he decided to explore commercial tools. He was looking for a Web-based solution that could help his print shop in several ways:

• Simplify Workflow: File submission needed to be simple and consistent for internal customers as well as production staff.

• Improve Throughput: Enabling quick and efficient job file navigation through the print shop was important.

• Allow for Scalability: As the company was growing rapidly, the right solution would need to provide the flexibility to expand capabilities as needs arose.

• Job Accounting: With increasing job volume to the in-plant, Steelcase required more robust management, tracking and reporting of every job coming through production.

• Transparency: The solution needed to provide a way for customers to see their work in progress.

Schmidutz and his team evaluated several different solutions and concluded that Rochester Software Associates' WebCRD product would best match and serve the print shop's requirements.

"When we added WebCRD in 2006, I knew that a Web-to-print strategy...would allow us to increase our contribution level to the company," notes Schmidutz. "Having an efficient workflow would enable us to produce quality materials and make room for more work and print processes."

He and his team managed the server installation and corporate network connection. RSA was tasked to work with Output Services to define the workflows for how different products would move into production. The Output Services team also worked to create a training plan for employees customized to varying levels of technical knowledge, which is key to ensuring large-scale user adoption.

Introducing New Capabilities

Producing and delivering a job quickly and accurately means that when a job comes into the shop, it needs to be as error-free as possible. To help customers create more predictable job files, Steelcase uses RSA's Adobe JobReady-based SurePDF component to convert a customer file to a PDF.

"RSA's SurePDF component creates an environment where all of the production files received can already be converted to print-ready PDFs that are optimized for output on our equipment, and without every one of our users having to purchase Acrobat," explains Kent Sullivan, print service technician. "Anyone using just about any software application can simply...choose the SurePDF printer from their list of installed printers, and the production-ready PDF is created for them to proof."

In the same way that they typically send a file to any desktop or networked printer, users fill out a job ticket, create a PDF and then approve a virtual proof.

"The user is automatically brought right to the [WebCRD] ordering interface where they are just a few selections away from having an entire print request submitted," continues Sullivan. "And we end up with the file and all of the necessary information packaged up nicely into an order that is ready to go."

The print shop receives a print-ready file and a consistent set of job instructions stored in WebCRD that can be reused whenever the customer needs it.

"The SurePDF driver simplifies the workflow for our frequent users, but we still see a fair amount of users electing to upload source files to the site because it's a familiar process," adds Schmidutz. "In either case, the process works for our team, and jobs are processed efficiently."

WebCRD's Dynamics variable data module also enabled Steelcase to version templates for applications including business cards, labels and other document types to create dynamic, data-driven and rules-based documents that integrate directly into a user's Web ordering experience.

Systems Integration

Integration with existing systems was a key requirement to streamline Steelcase's business processes. Utilizing RSA's Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Steelcase connected WebCRD to third-party business and workflow systems to enable the company's external partners to utilize this workflow. This integration allows Steelcase to receive jobs into the workflow from an outside provider that offers a customized marketing collateral service. It also facilitates the requests for variable data marketing materials in cases where the data is hosted externally.

By providing a single source for customers' print ordering and management needs through WebCRD, Steelcase was able to eliminate issues with job submission and increase the speed of jobs going through the print center. Customers complete a simple, single-page job ticket to submit their files and instructions in a consistent manner.

Easy Access to Data

They are also able to access billing, tracking and reporting information in a way that was never possible before. Even the jobs that are submitted physically are processed within WebCRD, either by proxy or through a one-on-one training session so the user becomes more comfortable with using the software.

Everyone in the organization can now benefit from features such as receiving production updates and viewing previously ordered jobs for quick reorder.

"Prior to a Web-to-print solution, 30-40 percent of the work came to us electronically. Now, 95 percent of the work originates in WebCRD," reports Schmidutz.

Furthermore, the adoption of Web–CRD has reduced the amount of time that operators spend interpreting customer requirements for a job, ensuring that more time can be devoted to simply fulfilling orders. These reductions in print submission issues have resulted in a 30 percent increase in monthly job volume in the four years that Steelcase has been using WebCRD. Continuous process improvement plays an important role.

Even with increased volume, job turnaround time has continued to decrease, dropping from an average of three days in 2009 to about two days presently.

"We took a lot of complexity out of our process and streamlined production hand-offs between the team, which allowed them to be more efficient and continually get better," notes Schmidutz.

Better Accountability and Reporting

The in-plant also gained the ability to track and report on the increasing number of jobs coming through the production workflow. Standard production reports as well as custom reports are now available within WebCRD.

"The ability to manage, account for and report on every aspect of every job and every order gives me, the manager, a lot of data to use in making fact-based decisions," observes Schmidutz. "To me, the back-end management is a key factor that enables me to easily benchmark and compare."

Output Services benefit from the reporting functions of WebCRD as well. Steelcase's in-plant follows lean manufacturing principles, and the ability to manage work efficiently and monitor every job throughout the various stages of completion is important.

In 2009, it took an average of three days to turn around a job. By automating workflow through WebCRD, that number dropped to an average of two days—a 30 percent reduction.

While the initial implementation is complete for Steelcase, continuous development and improvement is in place to ensure that Output Services provides the best customer service and the most efficient workflow possible.