Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for offset printers.
A checklist built from how offset printers 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.
- Plate register
- Press sheet issue and return
- Impression counts per press unit
- Ink, varnish and consumables
- Colour approval
- Press downtime log
- Job costing from actuals
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For press operators
- For prepress
- For the pressroom manager
- For estimators
- For stores
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Make-ready sheets against allowance by job and press
- Plate remakes with reasons
- Impressions and hours by press unit
- Ink and varnish used per thousand impressions
- Downtime by cause and press
- Sheets issued, spoiled and returned per job
- Quoted against actual cost by job
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Press counter data import
- SMS
- Accounting export
- Barcode label printing
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- How does it treat make-ready waste?
- Can plates be charged to a job?
- Can it work with a press counter?
- Does it cover ink?
- Can it follow a job that prints on both sides?
- What do downtime reports show?
- Can the estimator use actual figures?
- Do we need a terminal at each press?
- How do we move in the existing jobs?
- What does a demo cover?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Make-ready waste is guessed
- Plates are remade without a record
- Ink use is spread across all orders
- Press sheets and finished sheets are confused
- Press downtime has no cause
Prefer to talk it through? See the offset printers page.