Contract Printing and Scheduling - Management System

[Printwizard]

Hi All,

I am a contract decorator in New Zealand.  In-house we offer Laser, DTG, Screenprint, Embroidery, Signage, and Promo Product Importing.  We supply about 1,000 clients, mostly on-sellers, and can have up to 500 jobs as Work in Progress at any time.  We are struggling to find a software package to work for us.  My biggest competitor ended up coding "the system" themselves.  When we come up against them in the market - regardless of leadtime or price or service or offerings there are many people who wont use us because of "the system" this company offers.

When I look at a load of the shop programs existing we dont need quoting or invoicing - we use Xero Accounting and happy with that.  There are a load of features that are just time wasting or over the top.  Nice to have but maybe a bit entry level or too heavy in admin.  A lot of programs are heavily accounting or CRM based.  We are lean and mean manufacturing - we want a slim systemm more about shop management.  We have CRM, we have email marketing, we have accounting and payroll - I dont want to re-invent what specialists already do better.

The system we want is so that Vendors / Promo and Uniform companies can log-in, order stock, manage their own art files / proofs and repeats, in effect they can populate and start a new job sheet, attach existing or new artwork and fill in delivery addresses, look through their own job history and pull a job to repeat, view pdf print or embroidery file proofs and attach to a new jobsheet, and place it into the que to be timed and production scheduled.  Clients can subscribe to updates, or log in to see all their jobs in the pipeline schedule.  It would show checks for artwork, stock received, screenmaking / digitising, production date in the schedule, packing and finishing, ship dates.

Because we could take in consecutive orders a sublimated flag order - indent, appliquet embroidery, printing on golf balls, printing on tees, transfer on bags, print umbrella, usb stick indent, laser etch jackets with embroidery over top - too diverse and complex to have a price list integrated, we can work our own system and quote in Xero then invoice for that.

Ideally this could be integrated with scheduling in the factory.  We currently output job sheets using excell spreadsheet and use magnets which gives us fluidity to move around, but its time consuming and customers want to see where their jobs are at.

I looked at wheresmyjob.com and that is the closest fit I have been able to find so far, but still a mile off what we would like.  I want to keep it relatively lean and simple and quick for all parties.  It has to be functional more than pretty.  Frustratingly none of the shop management software I see actually doesnt manage the shops and rather than streamlining they can actually add to admin.  Some jobs are literally 3-4 shirt repeat embroidery with a $20 invoice, you cant add 20-30 minutes to process that.  Some software is just too bulky and systemised.  We need to schedule and manage and simplify, in a way its clean and clearly visible to management in the office, the customer / onsellers around the country looking for affirmation / confirmations of schedules and on-time delivery to manage their expectations, and something simple that the guys in the factory can follow and with a degree of fluidity to juggle as factories always have to do.

Also the fact the client populates the jobsheet / production order also reduces in-house admin where possible.

Is anybody aware of anything else similar?  Have you coded something similar.  I would be open to buying code or share-developing to solve this... 

Regards, Mike.

[jasonsee]

The system we want is so that Vendors / Promo and Uniform companies can log-in, order stock, manage their own art files / proofs and repeats, in effect they can populate and start a new job sheet, attach existing or new artwork and fill in delivery addresses, look through their own job history and pull a job to repeat, view pdf print or embroidery file proofs and attach to a new jobsheet, and place it into the que to be timed and production scheduled.  Clients can subscribe to updates, or log in to see all their jobs in the pipeline schedule.  It would show checks for artwork, stock received, screenmaking / digitising, production date in the schedule, packing and finishing, ship dates.

Basically - you would like your vendor/supplier to login to the system and update the outsourced/contract job as they process the order? If it's cool, we can talk more on your requirement in pm.

[brandon]

When I look at a load of the shop programs existing we dont need quoting or invoicing - we use Xero Accounting and happy with that.  There are a load of features that are just time wasting or over the top.  Nice to have but maybe a bit entry level or too heavy in admin.  A lot of programs are heavily accounting or CRM based.  We are lean and mean manufacturing - we want a slim systemm more about shop management.  We have CRM, we have email marketing, we have accounting and payroll - I dont want to re-invent what specialists already do better.

Frustratingly none of the shop management software I see actually doesnt manage the shops and rather than streamlining they can actually add to admin.  Some jobs are literally 3-4 shirt repeat embroidery with a $20 invoice, you cant add 20-30 minutes to process that.  Some software is just too bulky and systemised.  We need to schedule and manage and simplify, in a way its clean and clearly visible to management in the office, the customer / onsellers around the country looking for affirmation / confirmations of schedules and on-time delivery to manage their expectations, and something simple that the guys in the factory can follow and with a degree of fluidity to juggle as factories always have to do.

I am so watching this thread. Mike has been after this for awhile and so are all of us to one degree or another!

[mimosatexas]

we have been trying to find a similar option for internal organization.  We also offer a huge assortment of services (DTG, Stickers, Banners, Dye sub products like mugs, all kinds of on demand and fulfillment services, different heat applied transfers, etc).  We also use external accounting software, and it seems like the "best" options all want you to invoice through their software.  We mainly need internal organization, NOT the whole package, and we need it designed for a variety of services, not just screenprinting.

We are coding our own solution, fyi...