New "My Way" Estimating Option

[Hal Heindel]

With the coding of user-defined presses nearly complete, here is a glimpse of the next project to roll out of the Morning Flight hangar: An entirely new press-based pricing model that will complement the product-centric approach of our standard pricing engine.

In a nutshell, where in the current product-based automatic mode you start with a product that then controls makeready, press speeds, and the type of paper you can use, in the new press-based manual mode you start by selecting the press, then enter specific amounts for imposition and RIP, press makeready and press speed. Those amounts can be entered with sliders or via direct entry fields.

The only restrictions on stock are that flat sheet jobs get printed on flat sheets, and envelopes on envelopes. Once the press parameters have been set, paper, inks, prepress, and postpress are entered the old-fashioned way.

Stay tuned! :cool:


http://www.printfire.com/Images/Forum_MyWay.gif

[jerryjfm]

I like the way you put all the press info together. The imposition and slider on the same page along with all the other info.Nice touch...I always like the manual features;)

[Keith]

Wow! That user interface doesn't look like anything else in Morning Flight! I assume it's going to be either/or (product-based or press-based)? I can't imagine being able to do both at the same time.

[Hal Heindel]

I assume it's going to be either/or (product-based or press-based)?

Both pricing models will actually co-reside, Keith. Note the new "MyWay" button on the main menu. The window on the previous post comes up in place of the usual product pick list when you click the F2 button. Naturally, there's no Ctrl-F2 Custom Product button - in manual mode, everything is custom.

You will be able to mix product and press-based quotes and orders on estimates and invoices, the same way you can now mix printing quotes and merchandise.

http://www.printfire.com/Images/Forum_MyWay3.gif

http://www.printfire.com/Images/Forum_MyWay2.gif

One caveat: The new manual pricing mode won't be safe to use by cousin Mel, even with far more liberal data validation turned on!

Using a digital SLR metaphor, when the camera is set on auto you can be sure to get a usable picture, often a very good picture, but it limits your creativity. Set on manual, the sky is the limit but the responsibility is all yours. The resulting image could be anything from two Dobermans in a coal cellar at midnight to a view of the Rochester skyline during a white-out.

What excites me is that you will soon have a choice. All from within the same Morning Flight program.

[Hal Heindel]

I like the way you put all the press info together. The imposition and slider on the same page along with all the other info.

Having all critical info in one place is mandatory whenever you put the user in full manual control, Jerry, but it comes at a price: This is the first Morning Flight window that won't fit on an 800x600 display. Not much of a downside - there aren't many of those old monitors left.

[Keith]

Hal, your programs' awesomeness knows no bounds. As you know, Uncle Mel is not a problem at my shop, but if you don't tell him about the MyWay button, you should be ok. Unless maybe you got something cool up your sleeve like a lock-out when Mel signs in to MF?....

[Hal Heindel]

Thanks, Keith. As for Cousin Mel, not to worry. Manual mode pricing will be restricted airspace for sure. ;)

[Craig]

Can't wait for that download!!!!

[Craig]

Hi Hal,
Just a quick question. Since you are ripping things apart :o. Is there a way MF could tell me my costs to produce the job? I don't know maybe this isn't what I want??? I am in the process of preparing for an outside sales person. I hear a lot about sliding commission based on the mark-up on the job. IE if you make a 60% mark-up your commission is 8%. How would I get this kind of information out of MF.... or is this even the best way to go about it? :confused:

Being a small business owner is so much fun, the hours and pay and lack of responsibilities are awesome :eek:!!

[Hal Heindel]

Being a small business owner is so much fun, the hours and pay and lack of responsibilities are awesome!

Ain't that the truth, Craig. And you don't have to wait years to discover all the nice perks that come with being a print shop owner.

Basing your sales rep's commission on a mix of sales volume and profitability is absolutely the right approach - if you can pull it off. Your biggest challenge will be to convince the rep to try to close every sale on merit. Most will treat printing as a commodity where all that matters is the lowest price. If commissions are tied strictly to volume, that battle is lost before the first shot is fired. The irony is that every time the rep shaves the price to land an order, profitability for the shop suffers dramatically, while creating only a small dent in what the rep takes home in commissions.

Nearly as difficult as the behavioral aspect is determining how profitable each job was, after it's been accepted by the customer. That means finding out how much paper was wasted, whether it took longer to set up and run than what was budgeted, does part or all of the job have to be rerun, and so on.

Clearly, any analysis of profitability can only come after the fact (actually, after the job is paid for!). If you could count on everything always going according to plan, and your hourly rates are realistic, you could tell how much profit to expect even before each job is run. We all know it doesn't work that way. Not even for General Motors. Come to think of it, especially not for General Motors.

With merchandise and outsourced work, finding out how much money you made is simple: subtract the sales rep's compensation (along with other SAE and a proportionate share of overhead) from the difference between what you paid and what you sold it for.

Getting a profit picture for jobs done in-house isn't a whole lot more difficult, but takes more work. To some extend, the Morning Flight Engineer can help you with that. Namely, by keeping track of the paper used and the hours spent on production, then comparing it with what was budgeted. To be sure, the Engineer is a work in progress, but that's what's available today.

Hope you don't have big vacation plans for this summer! I know I don't. :cool:

http://www.printfire.com/Images/Forum_FlightEngineer.gif

[Craig]

Thanks Hal, I'll keep at it and let you know when the fun starts!

No major vacation this year, I will be running over to PA this weekend, our girls have a competition in York. On our "way there" they decided to swing over to Philly, to get a real cheese steak! :eek:

[Craig]

Am I hearing you correct on the video that we have to start from scratch again with a fresh install of the 2010.3 My Way version? Does this mean all history is lost? :mad: :confused: :eek:

[Hal Heindel]

No way, Craig. The only file that will change is the press file (PRSFile.TPS). When V2010.3 is released in September, the program will automatically convert that file and transfer all existing data. None of the other TPS files will be affected by the upgrade.

[Craig]

Thanks Hal, must have had the wires crossed when multi-tasking :o

[PeterL]

As I'm new it seems to make more sense to dive straight in with Gold and upgrade when the time comes...

MyWay seems a good way to compare prices? Have a 4c 4/4 Leaflet in the system 500 - £103.80

Click F2 MyWay Screen price with digital changes to £67.70

Click back to offset changes the press to the 1c litho

Click press it goes back to the 4c but the job stays at 1c

Is it me? I appreciate that I may well need to adjust the way I look at some things and if it helps any I do like what I've seen so far and it's beginning to fit real well.:)

[PeterL]

First Job Sheet printed which looks really good - quick question.

The job is 500 copies A4 Page with bleed SRA4 (225mm x 320mm) Printed 4/4

Paper 130gsm from stock

Job Sheet suggests
We need 860 sheets SRA4 and Draw 430 Sheets SRA3

To me I would expect 250 sheets SRA3 plus wastage (10% say)

Now I did set (what I thought to be) my paper mark-up to be 70%?

[Hal Heindel]

We need 860 sheets SRA4 and Draw 430 Sheets SRA3. To me I would expect 250 sheets SRA3 plus wastage (10% say). Now I did set (what I thought to be) my paper mark-up to be 70%?

Hi Peter,

Looks like the job you're working on is printed by offset. On a 500 A4 4-color bleed run front and back, using paper you have to specifically order for the job, Morning Flight calculates that you would need 200 extra SRA3 sheets for setup and waste. That's with spoilage set to 'Medium'.

Setting the spoilage rate to 'Very Low' reduces the setup and waste count to 120 sheets. Again, this is for paper you have to order, which means if you run into problems, the press gets to sit idle (and may have to be washed up) until you can get your hands on more paper. Using in-Stock paper reduces the setup and waste count dramatically, as you can see in the third screen capture. We're now down to just 40 sheets. With in-Stock, should you need to, you can simply go to the shelf and get more paper.

A quantity of 500 finished sheets is an extremely low count for a 4/4 offset run. Naturally, as the quantity goes up, the setup and waste count goes down significantly. Incidentally, your markup percentage has no effect on spoilage.

I'm still looking into your earlier post about My Way pricing. Though not meant as a comparison tool, you do make a good point about maintaining the run config when switching between offset and digital.

Thanks for the input. :cool:
Hal