Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for industrial printing companies.
A checklist built from how industrial printing companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Artwork versions and proof approval
- Cylinder, plate and anilox register
- Ink kitchen and colour standards
- Press runs and waste
- Slitting and rewinding
- Substrate stock by reel
- Dispatch and customer approvals
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For prepress
- For press operators
- For the ink kitchen
- For the planner
- For owners and sales
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Waste metres by press, cause and job
- Impressions run per cylinder against rechroming limit
- Ink kilograms consumed per job against estimate
- Reel stock by lot, width and micron gauge
- Open jobs by press and due date
- Repeat orders with their last spectro report
- Complaints by roll number and brand owner
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Colour measurement export
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does it handle reel-fed and sheet-fed work?
- Can we track how often a cylinder has run?
- How is a colour standard stored?
- Can artwork revisions be controlled?
- Does job cost include the real waste?
- Can outside lamination be tracked?
- Can the planner group jobs by colour?
- Can we move open orders and reel stock?
- What happens when a brand complains about a roll?
- Who sets up and supports it?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The colour standard lives on a card
- Cylinder and plate wear goes unrecorded
- Make-ready waste is never costed
- Substrate lots are mixed up
- Revision control on artwork is loose
Prefer to talk it through? See the industrial printing companies page.