Which is why he is proud of the launch of the Phoenix Print MIS 2020 that has been developed over the last 12 years working closely with "the top management of very successful printers across Asia."

Das said, "It is critical to any modern printing business that it fundamentally understands how much it costs to manufacture. An MIS is critical to this process of establishing costs,as well as monitoring and adjusting those costs as business patterns change." This is the reason, the Phoenix Print MIS has been "successfully implemented across all departments in more than 55 major reputed printing companies."

Afsal Kottal from Phoenix Technologies, UAE said, "With margins so tight, bringing down cost per piece of production is essential for any printing company to improve their bottom lines. To achieve this management should have access to true shop  floor data collected from across the floor made available to them on a dashboard  supported by a business intelligence module.”

“This information assists them to make business improving decisions and decide on further technology investments based on ROI & Benefits.Print MIS systems is central to this," stated Kottal. 

One reason the information flow is smooth is because the Phoenix is already seamlessly integrated with most of the popular Oracle or SQL based workflows and ERP systems.

Originally, some MIS’s relied on operators filling in their activities for shopfloor data collection. Now, the information is captured direct by interfaces that are fitted onto a machine or with computer controlled presses - this is fed directly to the MIS. Therefore, you can forecast the amount of ink, paper and other consumables needed for a particular job. The Phoenix Print MIS scores with its Business Intelligence Module to create reports to analyse strengths and weaknesses of the business as well as KPI-based reporting modules.

Further Das cautions, apart from making sure you choose from a supplier that will give as much support as possible, it's also important to remember what the MIS software is for. "The MIS most of the time tends to be viewed as an electronic admin system, rather than a business decision support making system that can help managers run their business in the most lean way. Here is where the Farb team scores over its competitors," concluded Das.

Farb Technologies is the Indian distributor for GMG Color Management solutions, X-Rite, Enfous, Kodak, Arden Software. Print Smart and Elpical. Farb Technologies is sister concern of Phoenix Technologies,UAE.