# Print & Packaging > ERP for printers and packaging converters - estimating that reflects make-ready, substrate stock, artwork approval and waste that is measured. **URL:** https://cubeerp.co.uk/industries/print-packaging Where the estimate is the product, and make-ready is most of the cost on a short run. Print and packaging estimating is unusually unforgiving: run length, substrate, colours, finishing and make-ready interact, and a rule of thumb that works at ten thousand loses money at five hundred. CubeERP models the job properly - substrate by area or weight, make-ready separated from run, finishing operations sequenced, waste captured as a real figure rather than a percentage assumption - and then reports what the job actually cost against the estimate that won it. ## Figures - **Separated** Make-ready priced apart from run - **Per reel** Substrate and remnant tracking - **Measured** Waste against estimate, by job ## Common problems in this sector - **Estimates that ignore run length:** Make-ready is a fixed cost spread over the run. Applying an average rate makes short runs quietly unprofitable and long runs uncompetitive. - **Substrate stock in reels and sheets:** Part reels and part pallets are physically present and systemically invisible, so material is bought that already exists in the racking. - **Artwork approval by email:** Proof approvals sit in inboxes. When a job is printed to an unapproved version, the cost of the reprint is entirely avoidable and entirely borne by you. - **Waste as an assumption:** A standard waste percentage is applied at estimate and never compared with actual. The gap between the two is real money and nobody is measuring it. - **Finishing planned separately:** Print is scheduled properly and finishing is planned informally, so the constraint moves to the department nobody is looking at. ## What CubeERP does about it - **Estimating that models the job:** Substrate by area or weight, colours, plates, make-ready separated from run speed, finishing operations and outwork - priced per quantity break automatically. - **Reels, sheets and remnants:** Substrate tracked by reel and pallet with part-reel management, so usable stock is found before more is ordered. - **Artwork and approvals:** Artwork versions held against the job with a recorded approval, so what goes to plate is what the customer signed off, with a timestamp to prove it. - **Scheduling through finishing:** Press and finishing scheduled together, with sequencing by substrate and colour to cut make-ready across the whole route rather than one department. - **Waste actually captured:** Set-up waste and run waste booked at the press with a reason, then compared with the estimate so the standard can be corrected with evidence. - **Job cost against estimate:** Every job reports material, make-ready, run, finishing and outwork against what was quoted, by customer and by product type. ## Use cases ### Short runs winning and losing **Scenario:** A label printer used an average hourly rate covering make-ready and run together. Short-run work was easy to win and, once measured, largely unprofitable. **Outcome:** Make-ready was separated from run time in estimating. Short-run pricing rose, some work was lost, and gross margin improved because the work retained was worth having. ### A reprint that was nobody’s fault **Scenario:** A job was printed from an artwork version superseded two days earlier. The approval email existed; the version on the plate did not match it. **Outcome:** Artwork versions and approvals are held on the job and plating requires the approved version. Reprints caused by version confusion stopped. ## Implementation 1. **Discovery:** A structured session mapping how you work now - the systems, the spreadsheets and the bits held together by one person’s memory. We come back with what the platform covers as standard, what needs configuration, and what needs building. 2. **Configuration:** Your sites, warehouses, price lists, approval limits, document templates, workflows and permissions set up to match the business - not a demo tenant with your logo dropped on it. 3. **Data migration:** Customers, suppliers, parts, bills of materials, price lists, open orders and stock balances brought across and reconciled. We migrate, you check the numbers against the old system, and only then do we cut over. 4. **Training & rollout:** Role-based training so the order desk learns the order desk and the warehouse learns the warehouse, with a pilot group first where it makes sense. Documentation and short screen recordings left behind for new starters. 5. **Ongoing support:** UK support from the people who built the platform, with a named contact, agreed response times, and a product roadmap you can influence. ## Frequently asked questions **Is this an MIS or an ERP?** Both, in the sense that matters: estimating, scheduling and job costing sit alongside stock, purchasing and invoicing in one system, so there is no interface between the print side and the commercial side. **Can it price multiple quantities at once?** Yes. A single estimate produces prices across quantity breaks with make-ready correctly spread, so the customer gets a proper price ladder rather than a linear guess. **Do you handle outwork and trade suppliers?** Yes. Outwork is a routing operation with its own purchase order and lead time, tracked on the job so the schedule reflects it. **What about packaging traceability?** Batch traceability through substrate, ink and finished product is supported, including certification where food-contact packaging requires it. **Can it integrate with press data collection?** Yes, via the API - impressions, waste and downtime can be posted directly from press systems rather than transcribed from a sheet. ## Relevant solution pages - **Quoting & Estimating Software** - Build quotes from live material costs, labour rates and real availability - then convert the winners to orders without retyping them. https://cubeerp.co.uk/software/quoting-software - **Job Costing Software** - Know what every job actually cost - materials, labour, sub-contract and overhead - while it is running, not six weeks later. https://cubeerp.co.uk/software/job-costing-software - **Production Planning Software** - Schedule works orders against real capacity - people, machines and shifts - and see the effect of a rush job before you accept it. https://cubeerp.co.uk/software/production-planning-software - **Stock Control Software** - Multi-location stock with bin locations, barcode scanning, batch and serial traceability, and figures that are right first time. https://cubeerp.co.uk/software/stock-control-software ## Related industries - **Food & Drink Manufacturing** - ERP for food and drink manufacturers - batch traceability, shelf life, allergens, yields and recall readiness that survives an audit. https://cubeerp.co.uk/industries/food-drink - **Plastics & Rubber Moulding** - ERP for moulders and extruders - tooling, cycle times, cavity counts, regrind and machine data from the shop floor. https://cubeerp.co.uk/industries/plastics-rubber - **Engineering & Fabrication** - ERP for subcontract machinists, fabricators and engineering firms working to drawing, to order and to a promised date. https://cubeerp.co.uk/industries/engineering-fabrication ## Contact - **Product:** CubeERP - **Trading name of:** Cube Systems Limited (company number 17220899, ICO registration number ZC216972) - **Email:** hello@cubeerp.co.uk - **Sales:** sales@cubeerp.co.uk - **Support:** support@cubeerp.co.uk - **Telephone:** 01234 672 617 (+441234672617) - **Address:** Unit 11, Olney Business Park, Osier Way, Olney, Buckinghamshire, MK46 5FP - **Opening hours:** Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm - **Part of:** Crushed Ice Group (https://crushedicegroup.co.uk)