Many top business stories in the news today involve supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and inflation. These might not sound like production workflow issues, but they can be. Streamlining production processes extends far beyond printing. Business processes can also be streamlined with automation to save time and labor.
Consider the ordering process: every time your shop needs new materials, someone must contact one or more suppliers, locate the materials listing needed, update the price, confirm delivery dates, and place the order. This might be done online or through e-mails and phone calls, but each method takes time. This has always been the case but changing business practices are exacerbating the problem. For example:
These factors increase the time that skilled workers must spend investigating and ordering materials when printers are struggling with labor shortages. Automating these tasks, however, also poses some challenges. Specifically, materials suppliers and printers use various systems and processes for ordering and managing inventory. These systems rarely speak the same language.
Keypoint Intelligence’s 2021 North America Software Investment Outlook Study found that most printers and in-plants use a commercial management information system (MIS). These systems often provide inventory management services and update flow pricing updates into estimating modules. However, contacting materials suppliers, comparing prices, placing orders, and entering updated pricing into these systems is still manual.
The time and labor involved in tracking and entering materials pricing are further complicated by supply chain issues. Paper prices, which used to change annually, are now fluctuating rapidly and unpredictably. Materials suppliers are unable or unwilling to commit to large or long-term orders, creating a need for more frequent ordering.
Zaikio provides a business platform that addresses these issues. They are building a cloud-based software platform to connect, digitize and automate the printing industry. Their first app on the platform is called Zaikio Procurement. It is designed for both printers and suppliers and connects to numerous printing software, like printers MIS or suppliers ERP, via API. More apps will be published in 2022.
Zaikio Procurement streamlines materials procurement by digitizing the processes involved with communication between materials suppliers and printers. Printers can connect to their suppliers, overview the materials they need, and see up-to-the-minute prices and delivery estimates. This is not, however, a webshop. Zaikio Procurement is an automation layer that directly connects suppliers with MIS solutions to retrieve and communicate pricing information for paper, inks, plates, and other consumables.
I recently interviewed Matthias Prinz, Founder and Managing Director of Zaikio, who explained the process and implications in greater detail. Listen to our conversation today!
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