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ShopWorks Print Track Software

Print track software is important for promotional product and textile companies. It doesn’t just make your job easier by allowing you to track an order form conception through to delivery, but it can also help your customer by allowing them to track their order once it is placed to see when it is printed and shipped.

The digital printing software from ShopWorks was created with companies like yours in mind, and has been carefully crafted to help solve the problems that you encounter on a daily basis. These include allowing you to price and inventory based on square meters or square feet, linear feet or one of several other variables, allowing you to calculate detailed job costing per order as products are pulled from inventory or purchased, and allowing you to store production variables, design information, material types, and more in your system for a long time to come.

Software such as this doesn’t just allow you to streamline your files and simplify your work place, but it also helps your customers have an easier, more pleasant experience.

While the software solutions for businesses in the promotional product industry have some similar features, there are also slight differences for each. For instance, if you run a commercial screen printing business, being able to input size matrix and have print estimating software is important. These functions would be entirely useless for an award company, however.

Your award company business software should help streamline your business, from consolidating your record of past jobs to estimating prices for future ones, help you sell kitted awards or completed awards, allow you to attach digital files to any work orders and transactions, and much more.

Here are a few of the most important functions of software solutions for award companies.

• Your system should allow you to sell items individually or with components, allowing for replacement or repair orders and other sales.

• You should be able to track jobs that are on production based on specific machines or departments so that you can easily strengthen the weak points in your business. This helps you manage your production schedule, and thus your business, much more efficiently.

• All information from past orders, including design, matrix information, pricing, time spent to complete and more, should be stored in one place on your system. You shouldn’t have to pull documents from multiple locations to get all of the relevant information about a job, since software is meant to streamline.

• Your software should do pricing and job price calculations instantly for you, taking into consideration all of the variables specified, such as number in the order, materials used, model used and more. This frees up labor and time, and eliminates human error.

How to Save Money on Your Screen Printing Project

Print estimating software is used to give you an accurate estimate of the cost, time, and materials that your custom shirt order requires. This is a great way to know what you are spending, but the initial sticker price might be a shocker. To avoid the surprise high costs, there are a few things you can do to ensure your order stays on budget:

1. A helpful piece of money saving advice is to buy larger quantities. When you are ordering bulk items, the per item price tends to go down as the amount you order goes up. Therefore, you’re getting a cheaper item when you order more. The per item price includes the cost for materials and overhead. However, with larger orders, the overhead and materials become a lesser cost. This means a company can quote you a better price.

2. Ask for fewer ink colors. More colors equal more time and raw materials. This means your order is going to come out costing more. To reduce order costs, ask for fewer ink colors, or go with just one color for the lowest cost. This savings really reflects when your orders are larger. In addition, you’ll get your order faster.

3. Buy white shirts. Colored shirts require dyes, which cost more to produce. This additional price might only be $1 per shirt, but when you are ordering 100 shirts, it does add up. Ask for white shirts to save the most money. This savings will factor into bulk orders and single shirt orders.

For more information on our software apparel solutions, contact us at ShopWorks.

To help clients better utilize their software, a ShopWorks training center is available at the West Palm Beach based offices. The facilities allow as many as 16 clients to train on different subjects at the same time, and various workshops are offered, throughout the year, to cover a wide range of software needs.

The next workshop is Core Training, from January 30 through February 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. This class takes place over the course of three days and is an introduction class for new companies who have chosen to use OnSite 7, from the start, onward. Everything, from setup to advanced running, is covered in this class, which costs $495 per person. The fee includes the courses, materials and three days of breakfast and lunch.

To find out more information about the courses and training offered, visit the training center homepage on a regular basis.

Apparel ERP System

The apparel manufacturing industry is a complicated one, meaning a complicated apparel ERP system is needed to keep track of all of the factors of production. We gave you several vital software solutions for business functions that you should search for when choosing apparel software in our last blog. Here are a few more factors that should be included in your system:

1. Artwork Management: This feature is especially important for apparel businesses in the promotional product sector, as artwork and patterns make up the key differences between garments. Your system shouldn’t just store and track artwork, but it should also track which pieces and components are able to be copyrighted and which aren’t.

2. Component Management: Your system should keep track of each of the components of garments, meaning colors, sizes, trademarks, and more. This will help future orders go smoothly and will ensure that all of the required information about a garment is at your fingertips.

3. Safety and Compliance: Your system should be able to track whether your garment is compliant with all government requirements and compare your garments to the OSHA requirements for safety. It should also contain data sheets for hazardous materials that your employees may need to handle so that you can simply print them out and distribute them.

4. Garment Size Conversion: Even if you don’t use this feature often, it is helpful if your system is able to convert sizes from American to European, to UK sizes and beyond. These predefined sizes should be contained within the system.

How to Save Your Business Money: OnSite Business Software

Once you have your products and services all lined up, and you have created an ethical business mission statement and goal that you are pleased with, the next step is investing in software solutions for business that can streamline your business and make it more efficient. OnSite 7 from ShopWorks is a business management software capable of fulfilling print estimating software needs, Apparel ERP needs, and several other business requirements.

OnSite 7 can help save you money in the workplace in three main ways:

1. Lessen Expenditures: OnSite 7 helps to process transactions faster and reduce expenses per transaction. With a solid business software, you are able to reduce labor at your company and save money re-tasking your current work force.
2. Fewer Errors: Errors can be costly and are a very human thing. This system tracks all order processing details for you and is fully integrated, resulting in less human data entry and more communication between departments and employees in your company. Information is able to travel without hitch from order entry through to receivables, and customer service representatives have access to all of the information they need without a lengthy request and wait period. Essentially, efficient communication leads to reduced errors in purchasing and production.
3. Better Customer Service: With information more readily available, and communication made easier, your employees are able to provide better customer service throughout a customer’s entire interaction with your company. Customers are more satisfied and more likely to purchase again when customer service is more efficient, meaning OnSite 7 not only saves you money, but also helps you make more money in the future.

When you manufacture apparel, you need an approach that makes the process from designing a concept to shipping a completed product streamlined. Apparel ERP software is the answer to this issue. This software is a suite that offers an integrated approach to every step of the process in creating a finished product for customers. With this type of software, you can do everything from creating concepts to billing customers, and then manage inventory and create shipping labels.

Because of this multifaceted approach, your business will be more productive. Integrated software means that you do not have to worry about importing information between different programs that may not be completely compatible with one another. This adds extra steps in the manufacturing process that costs time, and time equals money. Instead, when you use ERP software, each step in the manufacturing process moves smoothly.

How the process of manufacturing clothing works with ERP software:

• The customer creates and submits a proof.
• This proof is uploaded into your system for you to edit.
• Once editing is complete and an order made, it submits the purchase.
• Inventory management keeps track of the inventory used.
• A shipping label is printed, and the package readied for pickup.

With everything streamlined, you can get products to your customers faster. This means increased profits, since your employees will spend less time on each step in the ordering process and more time readying products. Happy customers turn into repeat customers, and often bring in more business, with much thanks being to an integrated ordering system.

For more information on how an apparel ERP suite can help your business, contact us at ShopWorks.

Home businesses can be a good avenue for income, but you may want to grow your business beyond your humble abode. We gave you three tips on how to grow your in-home business in our last blog, including opening a physical store, hiring a sales and delivery staff, and investing in software solutions for business, like embroidery business software or an online proofing system. Here are a few more tips to expand your business beyond your home:

• One thing every businessperson hears, over and over, is that networking is key. You may be tired of hearing it, but it’s true. Start forming relationships with other local businesses, members of your community, and distribution processes. These connections can turn into business connections, which can help you begin to expand your company. Distribution partners can be particularly helpful if you own a small, home-based business since they can offer discounts and help you bring savings back to your customers.

• In addition to growing your sales, you need to make sure you have steady funding. Figure out what your overhead costs will be, regardless of your plan, and then calculate what you need to do to generate that money. This may include taking a loan, asking for investments, or building your home-based business at a very slow pace.

• Finally, whatever your plan is, make sure you map it out in detail and then follow it. Businesses do consistently better if they have a clear plan to follow, including details about financing, sales goals, and a plan as to how much they want to grow and how they are planning to achieve that growth.

Modern Business Solutions

Before technology really found a footing in business, several years ago, competition was simply about offering good products and services, and having a good marketing campaign to tell customers about your company. Today, though, you need to also make sure you are as current with technology as possible.

Software solutions for business can range from gadgets like smart tablets, to machines that allow you to run credit cards on your phone, to print-estimating software and apparel-management software. Whether you already have business software to help you run your company, or you are in the market for one, here are several functions that you should prioritize:

• Your business software should automate many menial tasks, reducing expenses of equipment and human labor. This is a great function, as it also reduces the chances that you or your employees will commit small errors.

• Software should allow your staff to communicate more effectively. All notes and communications for certain cases and orders will be kept in one place, and the chain of communication should be made clearer by software, instead of more confusing.

• Even though you may have a hard time letting people go, this is one of the best ways to save money and streamline your business. Business software eliminates several archaic jobs, makes your entire staff more efficient and will save you a lot of money in the end.

• Your system should also facilitate easier communication with your customers, no matter where they are located.