The future is mobile, and MultiPress has all the business and commercial data you could possibly need. So it’s an obvious combination. With the MultiPress Mobile App, consulting the customer database, writing visit reports and processing commercial information is a piece of cake. Simply enter the visit report into the MultiPress Mobile App during or after a client visit, and it’s instantly available to all your MultiPress colleagues. Estimates, jobs, sales figures and complaints – listed by client – all there, literally at your fingertips on any mobile device. Consult your jobs in production, current statuses, subjobs, delivery dates and more, online, anywhere, and at any time. Important management info? No problem! View the number of new quotations, orders and invoiced orders at a glance. The MultiPress Mobile App opens up a new world of possibilities!

What can the MultiPress Mobile App do for you?

• Access to estimates, jobs, sales figures and complaints, by client anywhere via your smartphone
• Complete client history including sales insights and visit reports
• Automatic reporting on backups, importing paper catalogues, etc.
• Monitoring status of jobs in production
• Overview of incoming jobs, estimates produced plus daily and weekly turnover

• No longer need to wait for the latest visit report
• Higher quality customer visits
• Communicate status of jobs in production in real time
• Make phone calls or send e-mails from the MultiPress Mobile App
• All the info you need for well-informed communication anytime, anywhere

• How many of last week's visits had items of crucial information recorded centrally?
• During how many visits did you need immediate access to additional commercial information?
• How long does it usually take for a visit report is recorded centrally?

Automation and customisation, a strong duo.

Grafisch Bedrijf Goes’ core business is offset, digital and large-format printing. The company dedicates itself to efficiency, meaning it has undergone exponential growth in recent years. GBG now works with the right machinery, deploying the right employees at the right place. High time for investing in optimising existing workflows in terms of both administration and production. The growth posed the considerable challenge of retaining overview and insight. It soon became clear the back office hadn’t also grown at the same rate, meaning valuable time was being lost and there was a clear lack of efficiency. MultiPress, the tailor-made administrative solution without customising, was just what they needed.

Back office plays a key role

A company keeps on growing. The orders and corresponding administration become ever more complex. Customers ask for increasingly faster deliveries and greater flexibility. Either an efficient back office is given a key role, or sooner or later something goes completely wrong. If invoicing and quotation/order manager are still performed manually (partially or otherwise), if there is, no or only limited cost-price calculation, and if large-format jobs are planned through the offset software out of sheer necessity; then it’s high time for the workflow to be thoroughly automated.

Can customisation and automation really work together?

Every graphics company frequently offers its customers customisation, which is seemingly at odds with the intensive automation of its business. Can customisation and automation go hand in hand? Let's see... This prejudice soon disappears when managers and employees see the MultiPress demo. The example of car stickers produced by GBG soon swept aside many preconceived notions. All of the existing parameters are soon introduced into the system. The calculation immediately makes a big step forward due to the increased speed, with additional insight into the actual cost price. Supplemented with streamlined quotation/order management, efficient planning, straightforward invoicing, etc., this is a must for any company in the graphics sector.

Management also monitors everything closely with the transparent MultiPress reporting function. At Grafisch Bedrijf Goes, the back office is now working a lot more efficiently and management can determine at a glance what exactly the company is bringing in.

Following up a quotation isn’t easy. You don’t want to wait too long, but then again, you don’t want to move too fast. Most of all, you want the client to accept the quotation! With MultiPress, your quotes can be followed up automatically and extremely efficiently. All quotations are given a follow-up status so that the client will automatically receive a reminder e-mail about the requested quotation. You’re sure to get a response because your message sounds professional as well as personal. In the online client portal, the quotation is also associated with a link that allows the client to accept quotations online and convert them into an order. And the sales manager? He or she is automatically informed of all commercial follow-ups and automatically receives useful reports based on the follow-up date, client name, quotation amount, likelihood of success, etc. A smart way of working, which means commercial employees waste a lot less time on administration and can focus more on their clients as well as results.

What does automatic quotation follow-up mean for you?

• Automatically sends a quotation reminder before the expiry date
• Guaranteed prompt feedback from the client
• Less follow-up by phone, ensuring a more personal approach
• The client can accept the quotation via the acceptance link in the quotation

• Limits telephone follow-up only to quotations that really require your attention.
• Ensures more spontaneous reactions, meaning more quotations are converted to orders.
• Reduces the need for manual e-mail reports, freeing up time for more targeted follow-ups.
• More quotes converted to orders by clients via the client portal.

• What percentage of quotations could be converted with more efficient follow-up?
• What ambitions does your graphics company have in terms of growth?
• Do commercial employees have enough time to follow up important quotations personally?

Supplied PDF files can cause problems when processed towards production. This costs your prepress staff time and also endangers the planning. The MultiPress "Check & Repair" module overcomes these risks and even offers a business opportunity in the form of additional customer service.Consider them a business opportunity that allows you to offer the customer extra services.

Files are delivered through a variety of channels, ranging from WeTransfer and Dropbox to email and USB stick. Downloading and checking takes time each time. Depending on the amount of incorrectly delivered files - and just think: how many error-free files do you receive per month? - there will be even more time in repairing them (or having them repaired) and approving them again. Time that can be saved by having customers place their files directly on your server and check them for possible errors via an automatic preflight.

The MultiPress “Check & Repair” module checks the PDF files and repairs them automatically. MultiPress automatically sends a report listing any errors and warnings for the PDF file. If the errors cannot be repaired, the report is immediately e-mailed to the customer. The report clearly indicates which errors cannot be repaired and precisely where they can be found in the document. This ensures that there will be no issues with your planning or your customer’s order.

If the document had no errors or the errors can be repaired automatically, the document is immediately routed to the production workflow. All supplied PDF documents appear in the MultiPress Check & Repair module. MultiPress shows the format and colours of the supplied PDF documents. Corrected PDF documents can be appended or inserted afterwards.

A huge plus of the Callas pdfToolbox is its full integration with MultiPress. The production workflow can be fed from your administration without requiring the intervention of prepress operators, saving you time and money in this important process step. Your job is ready to go into production in a snap, with just a few clicks.

What can MultiPress Check & Repair do for you?

• Securely check production files upon delivery via MultiPress
• Check the supplied PDF files
• Send a visual error report to the client
• Carry out repairs according to existing profiles (Callas pdfToolbox)
• Read order details from MultiPress, add the variable input and then incorporate this data automatically into the PDF tests
• Link profiles to the webshop and automatically check the files via Check & Repair
• Time and cost savings thanks to automation of processing and control of delivered files.

• You save time, gain peace of mind and avoid errors and production downtime.
• Thanks to the error report, services become visible and can be invoiced.
• It expands the function of the account manager to create Order manager 2.0.
• All MultiPress users are provided with a pdfToolbox licence.
• User-friendly wizard with the most popular profiles (e.g. splitting pages and converting to CMYK).
• Easy visualisation thanks to “before” and “after” images of the PDF file.
• Automatically prepare PDF files for printing.

• How often does the production department lose time because it's too late to check the files?
• On average, how long does it take to download a file that needs checking?
• On average, how long does it take to check a file?
• How often does the client have to provide the files more than once because of corrections?

Networked systems and machines offer great potential in terms of productivity, thanks to JDF/JMF integration. MultiPress creates the JDF jobs and can also process the JMF reports that are needed for an optimal Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) solution. With MultiPress, you too can take full advantage of the advantages of JDF and JMF.

Since 2004, Dataline has been collaborating with all its industrial partners to make optimal automation possible via JDF/JMF integration with prepress workflows, conventional, digital and large-format machines, and finishing systems. Dataline is an active member of CIP4, which oversees the coordination of JDF. At CIP4 meetings, we are often one of the few MIS developers present. That is why we are always at the forefront of the latest developments with MultiPress.

But what about the practical implementation of JDF and JMF? Or are you still wasting time with the manual completion, transmission and feedback of order information? The Dataline JDF engineers will be happy to help you with all aspects of this challenge in terms of structure and creating uniform procedures.

JDF and JMF make Computer Integrated Manufacturing possible, and this offers huge advantages throughout the administrative workflow as well as in the production process:

• Prepress workflow integration ensures that administrative order information is automatically translated to the correct preparation for actual production. JDF and JMF ensure, for example, that the correct imposition data is sent to the plate production system. Feedback is also provided as soon as the plates are ready.
• Press/print workflow integration makes it possible to send order data directly to the correct press or production printer. All information about the paper, the print run and, for example, the ink density is available immediately, reducing set-up and production times. Production data for each order is immediately fed back so that scheduling and, for example, post-calculation always have accurate information at their disposal.
• Afterpress workflow integration ensures that order information from both the prepress and the printing company is available for the operators in finishing. This makes JDF-connected finishing equipment extremely efficient to deploy. In addition, the production information that is fed back forms the basis for shipment planning, for example, but also for post-calculation for fast and accurate invoicing.

As a full-fledged JDF management system, MultiPress organises the whole JDF workflow and generates the machine-specific JDF commands, for example, based on other connected JDF equipment. The outstanding flexibility of the MultiPress JDF Engine also makes it easy to apply manufacturer-specific JDF extensions.

What can the MultiPress JDF/JMF Engine do for you?

• Save time and costs: double entry of data is significantly reduced. No need to enter the client, order and product data again;
• Shorter lead times: new orders or tasks are sent to the connected systems immediately and processed there, which reduces downtime;
• Error reduction: double data collection and manual transfer of information by the user is eliminated and incorrect entry is prevented.

• Save time and costs: double entry of data is significantly reduced. No need to enter the client, order and product data again.
• Shorter lead times: new orders or tasks are sent to the connected systems immediately and processed there, which reduces downtime.
• Error reduction: double data collection and manual transfer of information by the user is eliminated, and incorrect entry is prevented.

• What percentage of your orders could benefit from a JDF connection?
• How much time does it take to create a new ticket manually in the production JDF workflow (including client, raw materials, colour grid, etc.)?
• What percentage of the jobs would no longer need to be adjusted in the workflow?
• What are the labour costs of an operator?

In MultiPress, the production data can be registred via Mac or Windows computers, web-based devices, touchscreens, mobile devices, the MultiPress app, or a daily performance document. If a paper production document is used, MultiPress automatically generates special barcodes for items, materials and work steps, to ensure that the production employees can easily register the use of materials and time without any errors. If web-based registration is chosen, MultiPress automatically generates a job list based on your schedule and sends it automatically to the operator. Time recording is also integrated, which means that times can be logged to specific orders, quotations, projects or customers and evaluated at a later stage.Employee time registration allows the logging of times (arrival/departure/breaks) for cost accounting and payroll. If desired, operators themselves can create and print delivery notes, stickers or even invoices. The reserved paper is immediately written off so your stock remains up to date. Pallet movements are also managed – the operator can record which pallet is ready and specify the correct quantities. The warehouse manager can easily detect what is ready and where this pallet needs to be delivered to. Simplifying administration right down to the smallest details!

Shop Floor Data Capture offers an array of individual and immediate advantages. In a modern production company, it should no longer be regarded simply as an option but rather as an essential part of a fast-moving, precise and effective management information system.

What can Time & Material registration do for you?

• Employees no longer spend their time budget filling in a timesheet manually every day
• The accuracy of the registration exceeds anything available using manual timesheets
• Web-based order list guides operators directly from the schedule
• Simple start/stop function for feeding post-calculation
• Reserved materials are written off based on actual use
• Delivery notes and stickers created by operators
• The current status of every job, collection centre and employee is displayed live on the screen (updated in real time). Especially useful for production controllers
• Real-time stock management without additional touchpoints
• Comparison of precise production costs with alternative production methods

• Administration made easy.
• Web-based order list guides operators directly from the schedule.
• Simple start/stop function for feeding post-calculation.
• Write off reserved materials based on actual use.
• Real-time stock management without additional touchpoints.
• Delivery notes and stickers created by operators.
• The invoicing module provides a clear overview of production costs, with a distinction made between calculated, ordered and produced items.
• You get a clear breakdown of your production fleet and employees.

• How much time do you spend determining what stage an order is currently in?
• What percentage does the time registration of repeat orders currently account for?
• What percentage of orders are currently not registered?
• How much time is spent comparing the preproduction costing with the post-calculation?

“The numbers tell the tale” – this dictum applies to every production company. MultiPress Report generator 2.0 provides insight into a huge amount of management information. Reports are generated on demand or at predefined times and allow the graphics production company to run the business more effectively and consult economic, social and logistical parameters.

With MultiPress Report generator 2.0, the creation of “special reports” is standardised and automated. A distinction is also made between the person who creates the reports and the end user. MultiPress Report generator 2.0 is an indispensable tool for your daily business operations.

What else does Report generator 2.0 offer?

• Queries are equipped with a “formula feature”, allowing easy comparison of one or more variable fields
• Two interfaces: one for the “user” and one for the “designer” of the reports
• A scripting language makes it possible to do all sorts of things that would be virtually impossible in standard BI tools
• Dynamic previews of queried reports and fields can easily be replaced for control purposes
• Reports can be created for a group so that restrictions can be imposed on functions or departments, for example

• Works in real time: modified data is reflected immediately in the reports
• Straightforward and user-friendly
• Selection data can be generated for use in other BI tools
• Several (KPI) reports can be consulted on a single screen
• No advanced skills needed to design reports

• How much time does it take to create a report in Excel containing production data?
• How many reports are already created manually and filled with your data every month?
• How many employees spend time creating their own reports every month?
• How long does an Excel report stay up to date?