Healeys splashes on Dash as new MIS

Added by Sharon Mordey on October, 7, 2013

Article Published 15th September courtesy of "The Print Business"

HEALEYS PRINTERS, IPSWICH, HAS taken delivery of an Optimus Dash MIS and will spend until the new year integrating it into the production workflow and replacing the incumbent MIS.

The investment takes the company’s spending this year to £1.25 million following installation of a five-colour Speedmaster XL75.5L earlier this year and web to print investment. Further investment is earmarked before the end of the year says managing director Philip Dodd, without further explanation.

THE DECISION ON THE NEW MIS involved a lengthy investigation, eventually coming down to a choice between two suppliers. “Optimus made it very clear that they wanted to do business with us, producing a 54pp report after someone had been here to spend time on site to gather data about our operation. They then sent someone down for two days to build the templates we needed,” he says. “The eventual decision was actually surprisingly easy as Optimus was the clear winner.”

The immediate impact will come from the speed of generating an estimate to quote for a job. Sales and marketing director Kelly Harris adds: “Buyers shouldn’t have to wait for a price. We want to demonstrate to our clients that we want their work and what better way than to turn around estimates in super quick time?”

OPTIMUS SALES DIRECTOR STEVERichardson adds that “Dash can cope with the digital and other work and fits with the lean philosophy they have adopted. It’s going to bring significant improvement to the way that Healey’s does business. And will lead to a very demonstrable ROI.” Dash is a non traditional MIS based around defined products and automating estimate generation. It will also run on iPads for remote quotation generation. “It will speed up their estimating, will generate job bags automatically and accelerate invoicing,” he adds.

The installation will also involve integration with Healey’s Vpress web to print system. After a slow start this is starting to pick up says Dodd. “We are building and deploying sites for customers and we are planning to revamp our web site within the next three or four months to have an online print shop where customers can buy digital and litho products. The transition into a different type of printer is gathering pace at the moment.”

After a sluggish summer, Dodd reports that the company is operating flat out during September.

Unit 10-11
The Sterling Complex
Farthing Road,
Ipswich,
Suffolk IP1 5AP
Tel: 01473 461122
Web:http://www.healeys-printers.co.uk