Franklin Estimating Systems

Print management solutions are crucial to an in-plant's health and longevity. By Gretchen A. Peck "The only way a printer can hope to survive long-term is to improve efficiency, take costs out of the process, and create a market differentiation that ensures some level of competitive advantage," insists Gerald Walsh, director of product marketing at EFI, in Foster City, Calif. Today's print management information systems (MIS), he says, provide the foundation for addressing these competitive challenges. "In fact, with today's realities of high competition and tight margins, a good MIS isn't an option for printers; it's an absolute necessity," he adds.

Ditch that peg board. Computer management systems are the best way to track and schedule jobs—as well as collect data to justify your in-plant. Up until a few years ago, Mike Kalstein took a very hands-on approach to managing. "We tracked jobs manually using a production board, moving pegs around," admits Kalstein, in-plant manager for the California State University at Sacramento. That peg board has gone the way of the slide rule, replaced by a modern computer management system, which the shop uses to track its approximately 1,000 jobs per year. And Kalstein wouldn't go back for the world. Computer management