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Sells Printing
Fully Catalogued!
But did you ever stop to think about where that catalogue came
from? For many of America's top catalogues, the trail leads back to
New Berlin, Wisconsin -- and the Sells Printing Company,
specialists in high-quality catalogue production. And behind the
scenes at Sells you'll find FileMaker Pro -- the award-winning
database software application from FileMaker, Inc!
When you glance at an Ace Hardware calendar, or plan out your next
order of office products from Quill, you're looking at a product of
Sells Printing Company -- and you're looking at the end product of
a production and printing process that requires extraordinary
attention to detail. Every line of text, every image has to be
precisely right. And clients all have different ideas of how they
want they want to present themselves to customers --- different
ideas of how to ensure that their catalogues and calendars get used
and not just tossed into a drawer.
Keeping up with the demands of Sells' clients is Ron May's job. And
FileMaker Pro makes it possible.
Using a database to track work orders was a natural progression for
Sells, a company which prides itself on its technological prowess
-- but which database system to adopt? Clearly, the platform would
have to adapt to whatever requirements Sells and its clients would
require . 'The primary consideration was to work with a database
that did not require us to redefine or change our operating
procedures drastically,' recalls Ron. 'Our customers demand a very
diverse range of manufacturing processes, not compatible with a
'cookie cutter' solution.'
FileMaker Pro proved a natural fit. 'The ODBC capacity of FileMaker
gave us the opportunity to repurpose the data in our business
management system,' Ron notes. 'FileMaker's ability to run on
multiple platforms was also critical -- we were not about to
abandon our Macs to run Access. Finally, the fact that someone like
myself, with no formal computer training can pick this program up
and develop a pretty decent working solution has been very
helpful.'
Using Ron's system of fourteen FileMaker Pro databases, containing
over 8000 records altogether, Sells Printing is able to track every
job, every step of the way -- providing production staff with a
consistent structure for job planning, and reducing costs resulting
from errors and omissions. And clients themselves also benefit,
thanks to FileMaker's easy web-accessibility. 'Data that we are
generating on the solution is being put on the web for our
customers to view,' says Ron. 'Currently they are able to look at
finished goods inventory, and soon will be able to view the entire
job plan on line.'
Producing a consistently high-quality product under ever-changing
client requirements keeps Ron busy -- and he's constantly coming up
with new details, new features to integrate into his FileMaker
system.
The presses keep rolling, the catalogues keep coming, and Sells
Printing keeps its clients happy. And Ron keeps it all on track --
with FileMaker Pro.
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Ron May
Billing/Cost Analyst
Sells Printing Company
414-317-8259
may@sells.com
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- To track their catalog production and printing processes, Sells Printing Company needed a database -- an easy-to-use database that would work on multiple platforms and be flexible enough to fit in with Sells' established proceedures. The got it all with FileMaker Pro. Sells' FileMaker Pro solution delivers more accurate work order tracking, saving the company costs resulting from errors. And FileMaker Pro's Web publishing capability allows customers to view finished goods inventory online.
- Creative Markets
- Printing/Publishing