DATA INTEGRATION -- Tooling Up for CIM

"In addition, CIM will require a printer to have a work force that is computer-literate down to the shop floor level," he continues. "This necessitates a commitment to training and a level of employee empowerment that has been difficult for some printers to achieve.

"With a seamless CIM/MIS workflow in place, the printing company will experience a significant reduction in cycle time to produce jobs, which translates into an increase in plant capacity. How big of an increase is hard to say, but an estimate of between 25 and 50 percent seems reasonable. Printers sometimes resort to price cutting in order to fill excess capacity, which is not what our industry needs," the management expert notes.