Same as last time, please
A long-standing customer emails: 'Can we have another 5,000 of the product leaflet, same as last time?' It should be the easiest job of the week. Then someone has to find last time. The MIS shows a job from March with a spec, but the job ticket notes say the stock was changed at the last minute. The artwork folder has four PDFs with 'final' in the name. The price was discounted for reasons nobody wrote down.
So the job is re-estimated, the customer is sent a proof they did not ask for, and the reprint of a job you have done three times before takes as long to set up as a brand new one.
What 'last time' actually means
The information needed for a clean reprint does exist, but in pieces. The spec as estimated is in the MIS. The spec as actually printed is on a job ticket, amended by hand. The approved artwork is one of several files. The agreed price is in an email.
- Jobs are stored as one-off events, not as products the customer reorders.
- The approved artwork version is not marked, only named.
- Late changes to stock or finishing are not written back into the job record.
- Special pricing agreements live in account handlers' memories.
- Plates, dies or imposition templates from last time may exist but nobody knows where.
The quiet cost of reprints
Repeat work should be your most efficient work. When it is set up from scratch, you spend estimator, studio and account handler time on jobs that should need none, and you risk printing from the wrong artwork version or on the wrong stock. Customers notice when a straight reprint comes back looking slightly different, and they notice when it takes as long as the first order did.
A reorder record for repeatable work
- When a job is completed, the spec as printed, including late changes, is saved as the customer's product record rather than left on a job ticket.
- The approved artwork version is linked to the record, so there is one file, not four.
- The agreed price and any special terms are stored with it, along with the date so you can see when it needs reviewing.
- Plates, dies and imposition templates that can be reused are recorded with where they are kept.
- A reorder creates a new job from the record in a couple of clicks, with the price recalculated if stock prices have moved, and flags anything that has changed since last time.
- Customers can see their products and reorder through a portal if you want them to, choosing only quantity and delivery.
| Reorder step | Today | With product records |
|---|---|---|
| Find the spec | Search jobs and tickets | Stored as printed |
| Find the artwork | Guess from file names | Approved version linked |
| Price | Re-estimate or ask around | Last price, updated for stock |
| Proof | Sent again to be safe | Only if artwork changed |
Repeat work that feels repeatable
A reorder takes minutes. The customer gets the same product they had last time, on the same stock and with the same finish. Account handlers can answer 'how much was it last time' immediately. Estimators stop pricing reprints and spend time on new work. Over time the product records also show which customers reorder what and when, which is useful for sales conversations and for planning stock.
Is this how your reprints go?
- Straight reprints are re-estimated from scratch.
- You are not always sure which artwork file was approved last time.
- A reprint has come out on a different stock from the original.
- Special prices depend on someone remembering them.
- Customers reorder by forwarding an old email.