A custom app for print and sign shops

Requests arrive by e-mail with a vague description and a logo pulled off a website. Someone has to quote the size, material and quantity, then tell the customer the file is too low resolution for a six-foot banner. The proof goes out, and the job waits on a reply that sits unread for days.

Meanwhile the queue shifts every hour. A rush order pushes three jobs back, a roll of vinyl runs out mid-print, and a large job wastes material because the layout was not nested well. Outdoor signs need a permit nobody applied for, and a job quoted in a hurry costs more to make than it sold for.

Pressroom writes the job ticket from the e-mail request and builds the quote from size, material and quantity. It checks art files for size and resolution before anything prints. Proofs go out and get approved on the customer’s phone, and the production queue is planned by due date. When vinyl, paper or ink runs low, it builds the order.

It warns when a job will miss its due date, catches proofs not yet approved, spots material waste on large jobs, tracks machine maintenance, and flags jobs priced below cost. It schedules installs, sends install photos, and reminds you about permits for outdoor signs. Customers get a text when an order is ready.

It suits quick-print counters, sign and banner shops with an install crew, wide-format and vehicle graphics shops, and promotional printers. The front counter, the designer, the press operator and the installer all work from the same job, on a computer at the counter or a tablet by the machines.