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End-to-end automation

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endtoend

What is end-to-end au­to­ma­tion?

End-to-end au­to­ma­tion means: in­clude all pro­cesses in a stre­am­lined work­flow with unne­cessary in­ter­fe­rence by people.

What do we mean by all pro­cesses? Order input, sup­plying of files, checks of files, cal­cu­la­tion of prizes, plan­ning, pro­duc­tion, mai­ling and in­voi­cing.

Is this achie­vable?

This may sound like a dream, but today it is being rea­lised by in­tel­li­gent app­li­ca­tions of in­ternet, mo­dern pro­duc­tion de­vices and soft­ware.

No­wa­days the pe­ne­tra­tion de­gree of broad­band in­ternet of your cu­sto­mers is also high and nearly all de­vices are di­rectly con­tro­lable by soft­ware.

Does this fit your cu­sto­mers?

Often it is said that the end-co­stumer has a need for con­tact and per­sonal gui­dance when or­de­ring. We the­refor ad­vise you to split your pro­duct into ad­vice/gui­dance and pro­duc­tion as well as pos­sible.

The 80/20% rule

The uni­versal 80/20% rule is also app­li­cable here: There are al­ways the 20% cu­sto­mers and the 20% or­ders where au­to­ma­tion is not pos­sible. That doesn’t mean that the other 80% shouldn’t be au­to­mated.

The role of App­lify

App­lify is the one that can help you with this. We have the needed ex­pe­ri­ence and tools to make a plan for a suc­cesful end-to-end au­to­ma­tion. Also our ap­proach is very prag­matic which means that wi­thin a short time a fully func­tio­ning work­flow will be esta­blished.

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How does this work

Your cu­sto­mers enter or­ders through a web-to-print system, e-mail or own or­de­ring system to which there is a link based on XML, CSV or ano­ther file format.

All or­ders are in­cluded in one order da­ta­base.

At entry all PDF files are checked: pre­f­ligh­ting. The re­sults of the pre­f­light are used to check if the files are ready for con­ver­sion and in they match the order.

The pre­sence of all fonts and re­so­lu­tions of images are checked, but also if the number of pages in the order mat­ches the number of pages in the PDF. Only when an error oc­curs the user is no­ti­fied and the order pro­ces­sing is stalled.

Next on the order gets linked to the right prices en the ne­cessary work­flow ac­tions are au­to­ma­ti­cally planned. This way simple or­ders can exist only of a printjob and mai­ling and com­plex or­ders of mul­tiple print­jobs and mo­di­fi­ca­tions in the fi­nis­hing. The system has the know­ledge to de­ter­mine the pro­duc­tion pro­cess for each order.

The order gets re­leased for pro­duc­tion and a cer­ti­fied PDF and a filled in job­ticket get sent to the printer. In the job­ticket the quan­tity, pa­per­type and fi­nis­hing op­tions are spe­ci­fied. The print ope­rator only has to load up the right pa­per­type and press the start-button to start the pri­ting pro­duc­tion.

The fi­nis­hing ma­chines can ad­just au­to­ma­ti­cally by using bar­codes which are placed on the printed pages or order quote.

After fi­nis­hing the needed ship­ping slip or adress la­bels are au­to­ma­ti­cally printed and the order gets re­gis­tered at the post of­fice. After the order is picked up by the post com­pany, the order is closed.

In­voi­cings are au­to­ma­ti­cally made for closed or­ders and are op­tio­nally sent by e-mail. In the e-mail an Ideal pay­ment link can be in­cluded.

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