Atlanta, Georgia, USA – A desire for increased efficiency through visibility across its multi-site operation has been behind Peczuh Printing Company’s decision to implement a comprehensive MIS solution from Tharstern USA, the worldwide specialist in management information systems for print, packaging, wide format and label industries. 

The company has four manufacturing facilities – three in Utah, one in Colorado – from where it operates as a full-service print supplier, offering offset, digital, wide format and flexo printing, as well as full bindery capability. A family-owned business, Peczuh (pronounced PeeZee) has been in business for 54 years and employees around 120 people. 

Prior to a meeting with Tharstern at Dscoop USA in March 2016, it had been trying unsuccessfully to harness an alternative MIS solution to its needs. Jay Harris, Chief Operations Officer / VP Manufacturing at Peczuh, explained what the company was looking for: “One of the most difficult challenges we have as a company is that we are spread out over 300 miles with these four sites. We wanted visibility across all the buildings so we could see scheduling and planning better.”

While each production manager would have control over their own facility’s schedule, everyone would have a clearer picture of the company-wide situation, he added.

Peczuh Printing found a suitable partner in Tharstern, whose software is designed to cope with exactly these kinds of challenges. Peczuh was also impressed with the detailed implementation plan that Tharstern brought to the table, with implementation starting in September 2016. “Their whole plan was very well defined,” said Mr. Harris. “It gave us a high level of confidence that we would have success with this.”

The Tharstern MIS is due to go live in late-February at Peczuh, and already Jay Harris has been excited by the potential impact of the software. He continued: “As we are building up the Tharstern system, we are seeing that it will give us a much simpler path to better utilize our equipment across our facilities. If I need to move a job to another site because that’s where the free resource is, it’s very simple to do and it improves inventory control across the four sites.”  

Mr. Harris reports that the implementation has gone “extraordinarily well”, given the magnitude of the project: such MIS solution implementations can take as long as 18 months to complete. Peczuh is implementing a complete suite of Tharstern modules, with the exception of the JDF module, which may be added at a later date when the company has more experience using the  system. It will also have a better idea of areas that will benefit from automation at that point.

“Ultimately, the goal is creating higher levels of efficiency, because that’s how you get more profitable these days,” he continued. “We will be able to gather data that enables us to better manage our business, understand our inventory and understand how long it takes us to actually complete certain projects, compared to how long we’ve been thinking it takes. It will help us understand our business better so we can run it more efficiently.”

Of working with Tharstern, he spoke of an “outstanding organization” that has been very proactive in dealing swiftly with any issues that have arisen. “We are glad to be partners with Tharstern at this point and we hope that continues,” he said. 

Bob Moore, Chief Operating Officer for Tharstern USA, which has just become a member of SGIA, said: “Peczuh Printing is a forward-thinking organization with custom needs due to its multi-location operation. This is the kind of challenge that we love at Tharstern – an opportunity to work alongside a tremendously impressive print provider and really get our teeth into healing its pain points. We’re confident that the Tharstern MIS will make a big difference to Peczuh’s efficiency for years to come.”

Bob, and Susan Moore, SVP of Sales, along with members of the Tharstern team will be at Dscoop Phoenix at the Phoenix Convention Center, USA booth #212, from 1-4 March, 2017 showing its market-leading MIS software solution, including these new modules:

Business Intelligence – a smarter way for decision makers to view their MIS data, uncover hidden trends and identify new opportunities.

Advanced Imposition – demonstrating how inexperienced users have the power to create complex impositions at the click of a button.

Tharstern, which launched into the US in the autumn of 2015, has been a pioneer in the strategy of workflow integration with its MIS. It has established tight integration with other market-leaders, for example Heidelberg and HP – both using Tharstern as a preferred partner for MIS – as well as Manroland, Komori, Xerox, Esko, Enfocus Switch, Kodak, Agfa, Fuji, Infigo and Vpress.

Tharstern provides MIS to the printing industries. It has a client base of more than 700 users across the globe. It has 7,000 users of its MIS and workflow solutions, with a 96% customer retention rate.