How do you guys keep track of orders/jobs currently in your shop?

[neoguri]

I've been trying different things, but its not been working well since we are a multilingual shop with minimal overlapping.

We tried work orders that are passed along throughout the production process, "micromanaging," verbal, folders- nothing is quite working out for us. We are having some issues keeping up with more difficult projects because of the lack of manpower and talent. I am now searching for a software to manage workflow.

One thing that does work is- to start the production clock, we need full approvals of all drawings and deposit. If either or is missing the job sits at the shop.

Edit: we tried trello, gantt chart, and 2 other website based PM software, but it never works out because the guys on the floor doesn't want to learn how to look at an app, drag and drop/fill out some basic job notes.

 

[ColorCrest]

Edit: we tried trello, gantt chart, and 2 other website based PM software, but it never works out because the guys on the floor doesn't want to learn how to look at an app, drag and drop/fill out some basic job notes

A common complaint and problem. A solution is to use just a single button-click to acknowledge whether the job in "in" or "out" of their production stage / area. Button-clicks are what current workforce generations are good at. Leave any data entry to production managers and that should always be rather minimal.

 

[LarryB]

We use ShopVox and when the job gets entered we list each department and machine it will go to. Each employee logs in and out when the job is at their station. This works well when customers call asking about jobs we know exactly where it is at. We can also highlight rush jobs and move them to the top of the job board so the production manager knows what needs to go out first.

 

[jagsouthern]

Sign tracker used for 10 years - does everything we need and is 29.00 per month for up to 3 users - free trial available.

I am very surprised at the difficult systems some have hobbled together. So glad we started using signtracker about eight years ago. Our business now handles about 120 jobs at any one time in different stages from writeup to complete. Tracker has let us keep up with so many steps that just can’t be ignored until a customer reminds us. Have it on six workstations with everyone keeping up and making real time updates.

 

[ColorCrest]

I am very surprised at the difficult systems some have hobbled together. So glad we started using signtracker about eight years ago. Our business now handles about 120 jobs at any one time in different stages from writeup to complete. Tracker has let us keep up with so many steps that just can’t be ignored until a customer reminds us. Have it on six workstations with everyone keeping up and making real time updates.

I’m wondering if I understand correctly that SignTrack is only just now developing work order functionality in their software. It seems it has been in “beta” mode since last year.

So, for users of the last 10 - 12 years, care to explain any successes or shortcomings with or without work orders? Also, once the functionality is available, do you imagine positive or negative impact to your workflow?

I would be surprised if work orders were not a cornerstone from conception of the solution.

 

[Stacey K]

I tried Estimate and Graphixcalc - I liked both of them but... I keep going back to my spreadsheet. It estimates for me and tracks all materials I use. I enter as much info as I can, print it out then write anything additional on it and once the job is finished I just update the spreadsheet and hide it. I have one for signs and one for apparel. I keep adding to it and making updates as things change. No fluff or things I don't need.

At my last 2 jobs I was huge on going paperless. I implemented several systems to do so and they worked very well (non-signshops). I'm not sure why I don't do it for myself. If I had people working for me I would likely go to a more paperless system.

 

[mbasch]

We developed our own system using filemaker. Everyone can see a live status board from any computer in the building or on the large screen TV we have on the wall and they can open any job to see details or make changes. We track, ship, invoice, run CC's and email customers without ever leaving the system. We tie it in to QB for accounting, FedEx and UPS for shipping and us Twilio to send text messages (or emails) automatically when jobs are complete. This is by far one of the best investment we made to our business.

 

[GB2]

We developed our own system using filemaker. Everyone can see a live status board from any computer in the building or on the large screen TV we have on the wall and they can open any job to see details or make changes. We track, ship, invoice, run CC's and email customers without ever leaving the system. We tie it in to QB for accounting, FedEx and UPS for shipping and us Twilio to send text messages (or emails) automatically when jobs are complete. This is by far one of the best investment we made to our business.

It sounds like you have created the perfect system with the ideal software. Did you actually develop this in-house or did you hire any developers or consultants? Could you give us a little more information about how your system works? Thanks!

 

[ColorCrest]

Could you give us a little more information about how your system works?

Maybe a good question would be how you want your system to work.

Begin by listing, just off-the-cuff, "modules" and then, because you're in the sign business, you might map a diagram for the work flow. The diagram QuickBooks offers for their bookkeeping is a brain twister. Your diagram will be much simpler in the end.

 

[mbasch]

It sounds like you have created the perfect system with the ideal software. Did you actually develop this in-house or did you hire any developers or consultants? Could you give us a little more information about how your system works? Thanks!

I wouldn't say perfect, but it works very well for us. We developed it ourselves in house and then tied in plugins for Quickbooks and used NRG extension/service for shipping. The companies that wrote those extensions did the scripts to tie them in for a reasonable fee. For Credit we used 360works Plastic and for sending texts Twilio which we integrated ourselves. We started simple and just created and electronic version of our work orders and then did Quickbooks integration, followed by CC Processing integration and eventually fedex/ups. The beauty is knowing what stage every job is at and being able to generate reports with a click of a button like what is due today, a list of all jobs running on the same material or a list of all my jobs vs another CSR. It has sped up our billing process significantly compared to a paper workflow.

The beauty of a filemaker, built to suit system is it is very easy to make adjustments and adapt as our business changes. We had looked at other systems and nothing quite did everything we wanted. When we started we did 45 jobs a month, now we do 300-400 and without a system like this to keep track of all the details and be able to pull up customer history and specs, we'd be overwhelmed. It wasn't all done at once. It has evolved over the last 15 years. It would be a bit more of an expensive venture today since filemaker has gone to a subscription service. We stopped upgrading once they did that. Software companies taking what was a company asset since we owned the software and now making it a monthly liability is one of my pet peeves.

We are more of a large format print shop as opposed to a sign shop. We don't do channel letters, any painting or any electric signs.

 

[isigninoz]

I made a white steel with days laid out in vinyl- each job has a magnetic plate with pertinent info. Worked for 20 years and they are still using it. Low tech 20 years ago.

Any chance you can share a pic?

 

[ArlingtonSigns]

This very well could have been covered in one or more posts but I am curious: when a customer places an official order, what's your guys' process for putting the order into production and keeping track of all the jobs currently in need of producing in your shop? I ask this because it's becoming a bit of an issue for me in my shop but also, a big screen printer I work with locally showed me how they do it: literally a big cork board with the most post-it's I've ever seen in my life. This shocked me as I see them as a pretty big-boy operation and assumed they had a more sophisticated method than that! just thought I'd get some feedback from you guys..

 

[ColorCrest]

Durst offers a solution named Lift for large format print shops. By its rough-around-the-edges interface and workflow, I’m thinking it’s an early version although I trust it’s truly capable at the tasks it tackles. I’m sure Lift will be better refined if it gets enough traction and user feedback. I think they already have because they’ve done the same as Trello by offering a spreadsheet / grid view as an alternate to their default layout view. Users need to see more data with better organization and alignment than initially afforded.

Maybe some points of interest if you examine some Lift layouts from YouTube videos…

1) The overall dark colors might be mistaken as grays but actually are dark cyan tones in the videos. This can adversely affect color judgement in a print shop. A true gray tone in a print might appear as red if one’s eyes are trained too long working with Lift.

2) Much, or most, of the row data does not align into category columns.

3) Too many button styles and colors make for sad faces.

4) The word “management” in the interface is mostly unnecessary and redundant. After all, the entire application is a management app.

5) Machines could use short nicknames instead of make / model names especially if they’re customer-facing in the app.

6) Lift makes use of long-established pricing methods where custom products have been pre-configured of components as I’ve mentioned this more than once in previous posts. The variables of a line item’s qty, size, 1 or 2 sides, etc., are some driving factors for calculating price. Realize that most shops may require hundreds of products to be named but most are just minor variations of the root product. Products are made of components which is another list of what is likely to amount to hundreds. A strict naming convention is key to keep the product and component items organized and quick to use.

There’s more if I find the time.

 

[ADVANCED DISPLAY]

Wow a lot of info here to follow up on. Thanks all! Signtracker looks really intriguing, I'm going to look into that. As it stands now, we run on physical paperwork: each job starts with usually a note from the initial interaction with the customer, or printed email however the dialogue starts. it'll have more added to it or if nothing else a paper invoice/work order form clipped to it. We have a wall with hooks to hang them on but I'm going to level with you: THAT SPACE IS GETTING WAY TOO SMALL! Especially this time of year, stupid-busy for us.

So, the biggest hurdle to adopting any new workflow solution, is going to be making sure it's simple to have my employees use. Adding another step to what we do now isn't really helpful, but I know we can't keep going let alone grow like this. incorporating a system to organize all this requires me to cover all angles and implement it completely and be on my manager's ass about doing it. Thanks for all the feedback I'll be researching most of these solutions mentioned..... it's saturday morning I'm headed to a rural high school to put up a 28ft X 7ft mural, wish me luck!

 

[jagsouthern]

I am playing with a free trial of sign traker. So far i like it

Been using it for 6 years and can’t imagine how we managed without it. Shake my head in disbelief at some of the methods people use when relief is so close. Very adaptable software and the support has been outstanding. They want suggestions too on how to improve.

 

[ColorCrest]

They want suggestions too on how to improve.

One of the first improvements they can make is to understand a quote is not a job. Quotes should be assigned a unique ID number unto themselves and Jobs are assigned a separate number from a quote. Only quotes than are accepted by a customer escalate into jobs.

 

[ColorCrest]

So, the biggest hurdle to adopting any new workflow solution, is going to be making sure it's simple to have my employees use.

Be sure to not underestimate setup time to populate any new solution with the data it needs to be effective once it's deployed. I've mentioned earlier in this thread the long lists of named products (some solutions call these "templates") along with their components with their costings. Also, what to charge for machine times, labor, markups, and desired margins.

 

[ColorCrest]

Adding another step to what we do now isn't really helpful

Hopefully, a good system will very likely reduce the number of steps at the shop. It might alleviate a lot of inconvenient questions and searches and phone calls and emails, etc. Most production people should only need to press a button to signal when they’re working with a particular order and when their part is finished. Rarely should they need to enter a note even when something goes wrong because most problem reports are already established and just chosen from a list.

Good luck!

 

[WB]

We've been using SignTracker. So far so Good.

 

[Precision]

We use Corebridge for our estimating and reports, software, and use Trello for our WIP. Trello is a very easy platform to create a work flow pattern. We have it setup with a column for each employee and their area of expertise. For instance: Design, Waiting to Print, Process and Production, Ready for Installation, Today's installs (by installer name) Estimates Needed, Design Overflow, etc..... It works well. It has taken a bit to fit our workflow, but is easy to change and make work for any operation.