Estimating Advances: You Can Quote Me on That

Every printing job starts with a price quote. So ideally a printer wants the best estimating solution for the specific needs of his/her firm in order to win new business or satisfy return customers. A look at some of the new products hitting the market this year helps owners and managers find the right estimating solution for their type of business.

AACRO Computer Systems

The company’s Print Shop Manager product was designed from the ground up with speed and ease of use in mind. “Our last update was a major step towards implementing digital printer pricing into the estimating process. Our estimating system uses specialized templates to accommodate the various types of jobs that a printer sees from day to day,” said Rich Giles, president of AACRO.

“For example, there is a template specifically for envelopes, another for carbonless forms, one specifically for printing pads and one for all general work like brochures or newsletters. These templates allow the selection of any print device that has been defined as available whether it is offset or digital or a combination. This gives users increased flexibility. For example, in the booklets template, a cover can be designated to be printed on a digital device while the pages are printed offset.

“And it’s all defined under one job number. It has made life much easier for the person defining and estimating the jobs,” he added.

For more information, call (770) 592-2028 or visit www.printshopmanager.com.

Estimator Corp.

“Using Estimator in the everyday working environment allowed us to develop and apply scores of specialized features unique to this program,” said Estimator President Mark Myers.

As in most available programs, the quote starts with the selection of the customer from an existing list, or by adding the new customer information. From that point Estimator becomes noticeably different. A single screen in front of you at all times becomes your working platform. All required information is easily accessed from this single location. Changes are viewed instantaneously and the thousands of interactive formulas automatically create all required downstream changes, without your having to think about them.

“What’s unique about Estimator is the fact that 90 percent of the questions asked by other programs are already answered automatically in this program,” noted Myers. “Hundreds of jobs can be estimated in one day,” because it is faster and easier to use.

He added that the product prevents mistakes by letting the user know automatically that a three-page book can’t be done. Estimator also helps the user with unique jobs. “If you have an oblong book, it will automatically make adjustments for stitching, folding, binding, etc.”

A few significant features are:

• More than 2,700 interactive formulas and algorithms
• More than 5,000 pages of mostly original source code, which condenses to an executable file of 5MB
• Press Select: Selects the top three presses with pricing from your list of active presses
• Job Locator/Scheduler lists all active Jobs, the due dates and client name and job title
• Controlled data access by the administrator
• Controlled access to employees only
• Pre-loaded Press, Prep and Bindery selections to simplify setup
• Able to easily handle an unlimited number of different presses

For more information, contact (203) 682-6436 or visit www.estimatorcorp.com.

Franklin Estimating

After two years in development by print industry experts, Franklin Anywhere, a new management information system, will be unveiled at Print 09. This innovative solution is designed to provide small to mid-size printers with functionality found only at much larger companies.

Franklin Anywhere is a modular, standards-based solution providing powerful tools for today’s facilities and scalability for future requirements. As a cross-platform product accessible from any Web browser, Franklin Anywhere’s secure modules provide functions such as job estimating, project scheduling, accounting, customer development, staff administration, asset oversight, and reporting. And because this system was designed for printers by printers its simple, intuitive interface is ideal for integrating and maximizing the use of print facility resources.