June 2004
Imprint Business Systems and First B2B Partner to streamline Electronic Order Management
Imprint Business Systems Ltd. has developed a working partnership with First B2B Ltd., specialists in Business-to-Business (B2B) messaging to integrate and streamline electronic order management with its Printmaster MIS system.
Through the significant growth of E-commerce, Imprint has become a valued supplier to a number of major UK suppliers of print media. This growth has not been without its challenges. According to Richard Ward, Chairman, of First B2B, "Incoming electronic files and orders can be composed in hundreds of differing formats, seamless integration of this great variety of incoming files to the printer's MIS system can be difficult and result in a time consuming waste of effort. What we created in partnership with Imprint is a system to integrate any order-in format to the Imprint MIS requirements. This allows printers to do the job they know best: print and convert the customer's job while avoiding the headaches of data translation. It doesn't even matter if the printer has to work with delivery forecasts and inventory reports instead of orders, all these transactions can be integrated. The Imprint interface port makes this task easy, straightforward and timely."
Prior to the introduction of electronic trading for the graphic arts industries, each stage in the order processing, such as orders in, order responses, scheduling, production, despatch advices, invoicing, etc. required two people, one on each side of the transaction, to create paperwork to cover each task. The matched systems from Imprint and First B2B have automated this process and, in turn, reduced project costs and waste significantly.
States Nicholas Bourne, Managing Director of Imprint "The MIS system handles all aspects of order processing from estimating, quotation, raw material acquisition, scheduling, production, shop floor data capture to despatch and invoicing. However, we saw the increasing demand by the printer's customers to request estimates, to book orders electronically and to watch the status of their jobs on line and thereby taking onto their desks some of the work hitherto regarded as a function of the printer's office. Partnering with First B2B was a natural progression to meet this demand".
Headquartered in High Easter, Essex, Imprint is a technology based company serving and supporting companies throughout the UK and overseas in the commercial printing, labels, folding carton and flexible packaging industries. Customers are supported directly from the UK facility.
First B2B is based at Tapton Park Innovation Centre in Chesterfield and puts more than 50 man years experience of implementing and supporting electronic trading to good effect for print industry companies across Europe.