5 Common Operational Obstacles An Effective Print & Mail MIS Can Help You Overcome

Managing a print and mail business can be a challenge, especially when faced with new technologies and increased customer expectations. As the adage says, you need to work smarter rather than harder, and an intuitive management information system helps you do just that. Virtual Systems designed its Midnight MIS to overcome the 5 most common operational problems these businesses face every day. These challenges and solutions are:

1. Project Conflicts and Log Jams. Too often a machine is double booked or an unplanned project is added to the schedule creating production problems that can result in unhappy customers. Midnight’s robust automated scheduling system for both production and services jobs keeps everything flowing smoothly and minimizes production conflicts. The module also allows you to drill deep to view scheduling on both an employee and machine utilization basis.
2. Unallocated or Misallocated Costs. A critical component of keeping your business financially healthy is to accurately allocate costs to minimize customer complaints and unbilled expenses. Midnight Job Costing enables you to track and report on labor, costs, and consumables on jobs and the postage accounting system manages costs by project. Together they assure that every expense is captured and allocated to the correct project.
3. Unused Capacity. Often sales teams and operators look at how many projects are on the schedule rather than the resources required to fill those orders, resulting in unused capacity and lower profits. Midnight’s intuitive and user-friendly dashboards allow you to manage all projects in real time and identify capacity opportunities.
4. Lack of Materials. Nothing stops a production floor faster than the lack of needed supplies. This issue impacts productivity, customer satisfaction, and even costs since products purchased ad hoc are usually more expensive. Midnight’s inventory and barcode system allows you to track house stock, client-owned materials, and internal supplies, so you always have needed supplies on hand to complete your orders.
5. Poor Cash Flow. Delayed invoicing due to ineffective cost allocation systems and inventory tracking are key reduce a company’s cash flow. Using Midnight’s estimating, orders and billing system, your company will produce an accurate project estimate which becomes the work order and ultimately the final invoice. This system captures the costs related to the job and quickly produces the bill for faster payment.

Let us help you work smarter through improved workflows and systems that assure that each job is done correctly and on time, which results in timely invoicing and satisfied customers. Contact us to learn how Midnight’s powerful and flexible tools can solve your biggest challenges, or request a demo to experience this robust print and mail MIS for yourself.