Southern Graphic Systems has over 60 years of experience delivering "Design-2-Print" services and technology to consumer product markets. SGS has grown from its start as a US based gravure cylinder engraver in 1946 to a global Marketing and Print Media services organization.
For consumer products and retail clients, Southern Graphic System's integrated "Design-2-Print" services increase speed to market for client brand initiatives, ensure worldwide brand continuity, and deliver productivity benefits by leveraging Southern Graphic Systems' global talent base and infrastructure. An important part of that infrastructure is MetaCommunications' Virtual Ticket and Job Manager, which the company has deployed across 26 of its locations with some 600 users — 400 to 450 of whom are concurrently using the system at any given time.
Southern Graphic Systems (SGS) was looking for a solution that could provide a common shop floor manufacturing interface across all of its locations and chose MetaCommunications due to the ability to easily customize the interface to reflect existing workflows and processes. According to Gary Bernier, SGS's Senior Director of Global Operating Technologies, "Over the last three years, we have actually deployed two versions of Virtual Ticket across our operation. In the first iteration, we tried to be all things to all people at all locations and quickly realized that that was not the best approach. In our second iteration, based on user feedback, we streamlined the system to make it as easy as possible to use, including a number of template-driven order entry processes. Today, a template based order can be entered into the system in as little as five minutes using a consistent interface across all 26 plants enabled with the MetaCommunications software."
Bernier indicates that the SGS IT team has customized Virtual Ticket to meet the company's business need to have a virtual manufacturing system across this large number of locations. He says, "It is routine for us to perform certain steps on the graphics file at one location, and then move the job to another location for additional work, and possibly even to a third location where we output image carriers-plates, cylinders, etc., at a location closest to the printer who will do the actual print production. From the time any of our 4,000 clients communicates a need, we use Virtual Ticket and Job Manager to record the need, develop specifications, and manage file submission and subsequent production processes.
Of all of the systems that we investigated, the combination of Virtual Ticket and Job Manager best facilitated our workflow across the board.
Gary Bernier, Senior Director of Global Operating Technologies
Prior to implementing Virtual Ticket and Job Manager, each SGS site had developed its own tracking tools based on FileMaker Pro, which resulted in workflow inconsistencies that could impact a complex, multisite job. Bernier says, "We have been able to replace almost all of those disparate systems. With Virtual Ticket, I can create a nice front-end tool for both graphics and flexo that covers 80% of our needs. For an organization of our size, you could never develop a system that meets everyone's needs all of the time. Of all of the systems that we investigated, the combination of Virtual Ticket and Job Manager best facilitated our workflow across the board."
Bernier finds working with MetaCommunications staff a good experience. He says, "They have a very good staff of intelligent people that addresses our issues quickly."
His advice to companies looking to deploy a similar solution? "Make sure you have done your internal due diligence, have a scope document in place before beginning, and involve the decision makers for each line of business. This approach will help you with a smoother deployment that can take into consideration user requirements and feedback, but is not hampered by trying to get buy-in from each and every individual who will be using the system."
