EFI-certified workflow expected to deliver 25% productivity improvement in customer service, project management and custom programming 

FREMONT, California - EFI today reported that Seattle-area business K&H Integrated Print Solutions has decided to refine its business and production operations with the implementation of EFI’s Enterprise Print Productivity Suite software with Monarch print MIS/ERP technology as its core. The software will replace K&H’s homegrown systems with a complete suite of components that delivers end-to-end commercial print workflows with certified, out-of-the-box integrations.

Founded in 1908, K&H has facilities in Everett, Wash., and Sacramento, Calif., and primarily offers digital printing, with six digital web presses and several color and black-and-white digital sheetfed presses. The company also has half-size sheetfed and web offset presses. As one of the West Coast’s leading providers of ballots and related printing services, K&H needed an IT framework capable of handling the significantly increased volume that occurs each presidential election year.
 
“We were looking for a modular, scalable solution,” said Darren Loken, the company’s president, “and the Enterprise Print Suite fits the bill for us. We wanted to ensure that we were using best-of-breed technology. That’s why we chose to partner with EFI.”
 
Flexible software to address critical IT needs
 
Loken and the team at K&H selected the Enterprise Print Suite based on the software's flexibility to address a number of unique production scenarios. “Our business is a bit unusual in that it has extreme peaks during election season,” Loken explained. “We can go from 70 to 350 employees, and we have tight production deadlines. We need a workflow that can help us address those variables, but our core business is not software development. We were spending way too much time with a staff of two full-time IT people dedicated to maintaining our internal systems.”
 
The new Enterprise Print Suite workflow at K&H will be powered by EFI’s Monarch Print MIS/ERP software along with fully integrated components to handle Web-to-print, dynamic scheduling, fulfillment and shipping. The shipping software component of K&H’s Enterprise Print Suite will connect with the company’s existing mail and data processing systems – a factor Loken said is especially important because 95% of everything K&H produces enters the mail stream.
 
Once the new workflow software is implemented, Loken anticipates 25% or more in productivity increases in K&H’s customer service, project management and in-house development teams. “We will be able to eliminate annualized hours for custom programming, software development, database management and project management,” he explained.
 
“Our entire infrastructure will be much more streamlined, automated and scalable,” Loken added. “This is especially critical because we have significant fluctuations in our business model, with revenues nearly tripling during election years. Now we have the confidence that we can scale up to meet those requirements.”
 
In fact, Loken anticipates that streamlined operations using the Enterprise Print Suite can help the company reduce custom programming costs the company incurs with every major election by more than 33%.
 
Above and beyond in pre-launch planning and support
 
The go-live target for K&H is January 2016, which is important with 2016 being an election year. “We are right on track to meet this goal,” Loken stated, “and the support we have received so far has exceeded our expectations.”
 
Loken cited a recent scenario where he received an unsolicited call from EFI’s director of service and support: “He called me to report that in reviewing a status update, he noticed some anomalies and was going to fly an expert to our site to address the issue,” according to Loken. “What could have ended up as a pitfall was addressed proactively and we were able to continue on track with our implementation.”
 
“K&H’s Enterprise Print Suite implementation will be a great example of the level of productivity and streamlined workflow automation possible with the most comprehensive, end-to-end software solution designed specifically for the print industry,” said David Taylor, general manager, enterprise segment, EFI Productivity Software.