Software - MIS

Paper job tickets are a thing of the past at the Washington State Department of Printing. Thanks to the in-plant’s new EFI Monarch print production and management solution, the Tumwater, Wash.-based operation now uses digital job tickets. This not only saves time and printing costs, it is expected to reduce spoilage and rework over time.

PIA/GATF’s newest economic research, Management Metrics for Digital Printers, is now available for free download. The report is a compilation of metrics that lets digital printing executives compare their operations against industry leaders. The findings are the basis for one of the sessions at PIA/GATF’s upcoming event, Converge Conference: Variable Data, Web Services, Cross-Media, which is expected to draw several hundred people to Phoenix, September 20-23. You can download the free white paper at www.piagatfconverge.com

CAMBRIDGE, MA—March 2008—Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS, www.bitstream.com) and a leading developer of enterprise variable data publishing and web-to-print solutions, and Avanti Computer Systems (www.avantisystems.com), a leading provider of print MIS solutions for the graphic arts industry, announced today the integration of two award-winning technologies: Avanti’s Graphic Arts Management System and Pageflex Storefront™ web-to-print software. This comprehensive solution provides a complete, streamlined workflow from online document customization and ordering in Pageflex Storefront through the print production environment to for printing, finishing and shipment. The first Avanti customer to implement the integrated technology is Associates Graphic Services (www.agsprint.com), a world-class printing solutions

ORGANIZATIONS THAT leverage technology to their advantage are more successful than those that don’t. One technology that can greatly impact the success of any in-plant is a management information system (MIS). Business processes, business rules and workflow management are the domain of the MIS. The system provides access to information, and automation to simplify calculations, track resources and monitor costs. Historical reporting provides information to managers to help identify trends, areas for improvement and a picture of the overall performance of the business. MIS performs two primary functions: • It is a repository of data on the historical activities of the in-plant (and also of data that

FOSTER CITY, CA—Aug. 20, 2007—EFI, the world leader in color digital print servers, superwide format printers, and business management software, today announced it will hold the ninth annual Connect user conference July 29 to August 1, 2008 at the Wynn Las Vegas. This year’s event received trade media praise including the comment by Patrick Henry in the July issue of American Printer that “EFI Connect is in a class by itself.” Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI Advanced Professional Print Software (APPS), said: “We’re pleased to announce the date and venue for next year’s Connect conference. Even with the focus on drupa, customers spoke

Gerlinde Williams has been waiting a long time for a graphic arts management information system. “I’ve been wanting this for 10 years,” says Williams, administrator of Central Printing for the State of Oklahoma. After putting up with an internally created job ticketing and billing program for years (with a flawed estimating function), her 22-employee print and mail operation got its big break when the IT department decided not to continue supporting the old program. She immediately thought of Avanti Computer Systems, having seen the Canadian company’s exhibits at in-plant conferences. Avanti won the bid and is in the process of installing its Graphic Arts Management

I WAS amazed to learn that only 42 percent of in-plants have shop management software. I then got down from my high horse and remembered the not-so-distant past when the shop that I manage was part of that statistic. Like many small in-plants we had a homegrown system that relied upon Microsoft Excel, carbonless forms, chalkboards and the memory of our employees. While it sufficed for years, the two-day drudgery of generating the end-of-the-month chargeback reports for our controller’s office was reason alone for me to begin investigating management information systems (MIS), knowing in the back of my mind that we couldn’t afford

Symantec CEO, John W. Thompson, to chat one-on-one with EFI CEO Guy Gecht on broad array of subjects, from leadership to information and Internet security FOSTER CITY, CA—April 11, 2007—EFI (NASDAQ: EFII), the world leader in color digital print servers, superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, today announced that John W. Thompson, chairman and CEO of Symantec, will participate in a special session at Connect 2007. The print industry’s largest user conference, EFI Connect takes place June 10-13, 2007 at the Wynn Las Vegas and the Thompson session will be held on Wed., June 13 at 11 a.m. “Connect is unmatched

FOSTER CITY, CA—Jan. 23, 2007—EFI (Nasdaq: EFII), the world leader in color digital print servers, superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, today announced several recent developments supporting the company’s intent to drive the ubiquity of variable data printing (VDP), which represents a significant new revenue stream opportunity for its customers. EFI will have a major presence at the PODi (Print On Demand Initiative) Applications Forum, which will be held Feb.12-14, 2007 in Anaheim, CA, where the company will launch the Fiery® FreeForm Kit, a new tool to help customers implement personalized, one-to-one marketing campaigns. And in an industry first, EFI recently

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA—Dec. 6, 2006—A new EDSF study, titled “Current and Future Use of MIS/ERP Systems in Production Printing in the U.S.,” reveals insights into Management Information Systems/Enterprise Resource Planning (MIS/ERP) solutions. EDSF, the non-profit organization dedicated to the document management and communications marketplace, in collaboration with Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas, examine current and future use of MIS/ERP--- which provides an automated workflow for print production---in the print marketplace. The EDSF study is available as a free download at www.edsf.org. The report was made possible through an EDSF research grant provided to Pittsburg State. According to Dr. Jesús J. Rodríguez,