Lancaster Ultra-Graphics of Landisville, PA was founded in 1987 as a conventional pre-press service shop. It has a unique history of serving printers, advertising agencies and in-house corporate advertising and marketing departments. More recently, the company has gained recognition for its innovative use of personalized (variable-data) printing while providing a host of other services. These include digital colour proofs, custom-made spot-colour proofs, large-format output (for banner and display signage), photography and image manipulation, precision product colour match and project management – as well as offset printing, digital printing and web publishing services. In May of 2000, it expanded by acquiring the pre-press business of Alphabet Graphics, thus combining the two largest digital pre-media companies in Central Pennsylvania. Today the company is a regional industry leader offering state-of-the-art digital printing, photography and pre-press.
Meeting its growing challenges
After carefully evaluating the workflow market, Lancaster Ultra-Graphics chose Avanti's Print MIS platform.
The growing company was looking to install new technology that was centralized, easy for any employee to use, very efficient and ultimately facilitated a much smoother workflow from project input to final delivery. But its highest priorities were better inventory control and cost management.
In order to get this project underway, the company’s board hired Karen Peiffer as Executive Vice-President in 2012.
“I understand that getting a handle on costs was especially difficult in our shop,” said Karen Peiffer. “We really didn’t know exactly where we were making money and where we could improve and be more efficient.”
Seamless workflow = less downtime and reduced costs
Lancaster Ultra-Graphics started by using Avanti’s estimating, inventory control, purchasing and order/shipping technology. “We actually used traditional paper initially to get a better look at all our processes and obtain more feedback,” said Peiffer. “We were meticulous and mapped out each and every process before automating.” Avanti’s systems improved Lancaster Ultra-Graphics’ purchasing and inventory control methods while streamlining and standardizing the estimating process.
One of its biggest concerns was an inefficient purchasing workflow. Previously, a purchasing requisition was initiated and went to the production manager to make sure what was asked for, was correct and detail-specific. When jobs were done, they were returned to the production manager – but there was no way of verifying that the details of the job were met. Often, crucial documents were not easily located. Avanti eliminated this cumbersome, time-consuming paper trail and today, instant verification of all jobs, from estimating to shipping, is possible.
The technology also showed where the dollars were going and how jobs were performing cost-wise. Employees are now able to easily input all relevant project information to facilitate more accurate, final job costing. “Avanti enabled us to analyze all costs carefully,” said Peiffer, “even down to such things as machine productivity, which involves putting the right jobs on the proper equipment to maximize productivity. We even examined how we handle photography – from the time the photos are taken to how they’re incorporated into the design process by our in-shop artists.”
More time to concentrate on its strengths
The technology has also enabled Lancaster Ultra-Graphics to spend more time doing what it does best – serving its customers and continuing to produce superior products. “We’re well known for our colour matching expertise, our mastery of variable-data printing, and our exceptional photography,” said Peiffer. “Avanti has given us the ability to better understand and control our costs and project workflow company-wide. This, in turn, has given us more time to concentrate on refining our brand and serving our customers."
At the end of the day, we have a streamlined system that brings order to what was previously a chaotic paper system where documents would get lost or misplaced,” she added. Today it is company practice for Peiffer to lead a production team meeting at least twice a week to help identify even the smallest of inefficiencies moving forward – knowing that she can call on Avanti at any time for guidance.
For more information on Lancaster Ultra-Graphics please visit: www.ultragraphics.com.
