Offenburg/Lichtenvoorde – DiMS!, a leading provider of MIS solutions for printing and packaging companies, today announces that Burda Druck of Offenburg has increased the efficiency of its internal workflow by at least 20% after using DiMS! MIS software and its integrated Scheduling feature. The multi-plant company produces magazines, catalogues and brochures at four different international locations, and has been a DiMS! customer since 2005.

Single database with end-to-end integration
"We're very impressed by what DiMS! and particularly its Scheduling feature has delivered," says Heiko Engelhardt, Manager Central Planning at Burda Druck. "For us, the most important characteristic of DiMS! is the single, unique database. It supports our end-to-end workflow process for all locations, and allows us to schedule jobs across multiple plants. Data only needs to be entered once, streamlining our operations and minimizing the chance of data entry errors as a job progresses through the company. This is a critical benefit in today's fast-paced world. Delivery times continue to shorten and printing operations must reduce their cycle times as a result. With the DiMS! Scheduling feature we can improve the efficiency and accuracy of our workflow, and be more productive."

Engelhardt explains that before DiMS!, changes in order specifications were made by email or phone, which often caused data entry errors, resulting in differences between the planning board and calculation. "This is no longer a problem with the DiMS! Scheduling feature," adds Engelhardt. "All order data – whether involving new information or changes in job format, number of pages, copies or versions etc – is only entered once, and every department has all necessary details at hand in real-time. Estimating, order management and scheduling are all in sync on a single database, enabling us to virtually eliminate misprints and re-work."

Intuitive scheduling board interface makes daily operations easier
Burda Druck is using the full DiMS! suite, including the Scheduling Feature, to easily split or merge jobs and gang different jobs into a single run. The process takes just a few clicks of the mouse, saving production time every day. This is invaluable for Engelhardt, who manages the operations of four Burda plants in Germany, France and India: "Previously, each plant had its own scheduling process and it was difficult to manage the schedules centrally, especially if we wanted to move jobs from one plant to another. With DiMS! MIS software, I just drag and drop jobs, moving them easily across the company for optimum production. Schedules for all plants are automatically recalibrated, based on these moves. This is a revolutionary advance for our business."

Automatic scheduling calculation, accurate press speeds
DiMS! Scheduling Board allows Burda Druck to examine 'what-if' scenarios for various production possibilities. This enables Engelhardt to choose the optimum production scheme, based on workload, job cost, due dates and a wide range of other business and production factors.

The Scheduling Board also calculates machine speeds, based on pre-configured parameters that include job imposition, format, production quantities, paper weight and other job specifications. "This results in highly accurate and realistic scheduled production times, and more efficient use of production capacity across our four plants," says Engelhardt. "Any changes to an order are simply made by the Order Manager and flow through the rest of the process, presenting various options for changes in job scheduling. All this happens in real-time and results in more clarity across the entire workflow, preventing errors and rework. Ultimately, this saves us and our customers time and money in the production process."

DiMS! MIS software also features Live Feed, which displays the exact order status of each job and compares it to the scheduled run time. An easy-to-understand visual allows potential scheduling issues to be quickly addressed, ensuring customer due dates are not missed. Burda Druck is also taking advantage of the Historic View, a recent addition to the DiMS! MIS system. With Historic View, the company can review its scheduling history to compare how similar past orders were scheduled and how they actually ran. This has helped Burda Druck to further increase productivity.

Engelhardt concludes: "Because of the addition of the DiMS! Scheduling Board, we now schedule our work much more efficiently and use less manpower. We have reduced our costs, we make fewer mistakes, and we're enjoying improved scheduling accuracy across all four plants."