Las Vegas - EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced that users of its popular PrintSmith MIS can now place xpedx paper orders and check inventory and pricing directly from PrintSmith, simplifying their supply chain and providing 24/7 insight on this critical supply.

"PrintSmith users can now view real-time paper availability and up-to-date pricing and place orders directly from within PrintSmith," said Ron Teller, EFI PrintSmith product manager. "This will save customers a huge amount of time and streamline the entire process, offering a new level of integration to the commercial printer."

The integration between the two systems enables PrintSmith users to easily check inventory levels at xpedx and confirm that sufficient amounts of stock are available before creating orders. The integration also allows manual or automatic pricing updates from xpedx, so stock will always be at the current pricing in PrintSmith and quotes are never underpriced because of paper increases. This greater insight on paper availability and pricing translates into more accurate job bids and more efficient print production.

Randy Herron, president of Herron Printing in Gaithersburg, MD, said: "I'm excited about the new PrintSmith-xpedx integration. Having our biggest paper supplier linked into PrintSmith will save two to three hours a week, while making the process quick and easy."

"Harnessing key operational data from xpedx.com, and integrating that with EFI's PrintSmith MIS, gives printers a critical competitive advantage," said Dave Wallace, xpedx director of eBusiness. "Increasing productivity, reducing costs, and empowering printers to win new business is where xpedx adds value."

xpedx also distributes EFI's print management and workflow productivity solutions for commercial and in-plant printers across the U.S.