Verity for printing businesses
A print business runs many small jobs against short promises. Verity keeps every job, its approved proof and its due date in one place.
Verity runs the shop. Design software and machines stay where they are.
Verity / Shop
LiveLive jobs
92
Jobs due today
27
Reprints this month
31
Proofs awaiting approval
18
Needs attention
Illustrative figures. Verity shows your own shop in this shape.
How the business runs
A printing business runs a large number of low-value jobs simultaneously against short turnarounds. Ninety-two live jobs on four machines is a scheduling problem where the constraint is not capacity in total but which job can be on which machine at which hour, and twenty-seven due today with six not started is how a promise gets broken.
The second characteristic is the proof. A printed job is produced from a file the customer supplied and approved, and thirty-one reprints in a month — nineteen of them from changes that were never approved in writing — is the cost of an approval process that lives in conversation rather than in a record.
The third is that reprints are absorbed rather than charged. Fifty-eight thousand in a month is machine time, substrate and labour spent twice on work billed once, and its cause distribution is what makes it reducible.
The fourth is the turnaround promise. Small print work is bought on speed, and eighteen proofs sitting unapproved while their due dates approach means the shop will be late for reasons that originated with the customer but will be blamed on the shop.
The fifth is corporate repeat work, which is the profitable half of most print shops and carries account terms, repeat specifications and payment behaviour.
Verity holds every job with its approved proof, its machine and its due date, and records reprints with their cause.
What Verity calls these things
What gets in the way
Printing difficulties come from volume of small work against fixed machine hours.
Approval lives in conversation
A customer says they approved a change and there is nothing showing what was approved.
In Verity Proofs carry versions, approver and date, and the job is bound to the approved one.
Reprints are absorbed without a cause
Work is redone free and the reason is never aggregated.
In Verity Reprints carry cause, cost and responsibility, so the pattern is addressable.
Due dates are promised without machine time
A turnaround is agreed at the counter without checking the schedule.
In Verity Promises are made against machine availability, so the date is real.
Jobs stall on customer approval
A proof waits while the due date approaches and the shop takes the blame.
In Verity Proof age is tracked against the due date with the customer chased.
Small job costing is guessed
Setup, material and finishing on a low-value job are estimated by habit.
In Verity Actual consumption is recorded so job types can be priced from real cost.
Corporate repeat work is re-specified each time
A recurring job is quoted and set up again from scratch.
In Verity Repeat specifications and previous actuals sit against the account.
The complete system
One system across jobs, proofs, machines and accounts.
Work
Each job carries its specification, quantity, material, finishing, machine, due date, approved proof and cost.
Why it matters here A print shop is a set of many small jobs and each needs a complete record.
In practice Ninety-two live jobs across four machines.
Records
Proofs carry version, issue, approver, approval date and the job bound to them.
Why it matters here The approved proof is what settles who pays for a reprint.
In practice Nineteen reprints from changes never approved in writing.
Workflows
Jobs are scheduled to machines with due dates, progress and collection tracked.
Why it matters here Turnaround is what small print work is bought on.
In practice Twenty-seven jobs due today with six not started.
Locations
Each machine carries its capabilities, capacity, current queue and service state.
Why it matters here A promise is only real if a machine can take the job in time.
In practice Machine queue against jobs due tomorrow.
Inventory
Materials are held by type and size, consumed against jobs, with wastage recorded.
Why it matters here Material consumed on small jobs is the cost most often guessed.
In practice Actual material consumption per job type.
Relationships
Accounts carry repeat specifications, previous jobs, pricing, terms and payment behaviour.
Why it matters here Repeat corporate work is the profitable half and should not be re-specified.
In practice Four corporate accounts past payment terms with work continuing.
Reports and analytics
Due date adherence, reprint rate by cause, machine utilisation, material consumption and job margin come from the records.
Why it matters here The shop’s losses are reprints and unpriced small jobs, and both are measurable.
In practice Reprint cost by cause and responsibility.
Verity AI
Verity AI answers from your own job, proof, machine and account records, respects permissions, and can create assigned follow-ups.
Why it matters here The useful questions are about what is due, what is unapproved and what is being reprinted.
In practice "Which proofs are unapproved with due dates this week?" returns them with customers.
People
Staff carry jobs handled, proofs issued, reprints attributed and throughput.
Why it matters here Reprint causes attribute to people as well as processes.
In practice Reprint rate by operator and job type.
Communication
Proof issue, approval chasing and collection notices attach to the job and customer.
Why it matters here An unapproved proof needs chasing before it costs a due date.
In practice Proof chase recorded against the job.
Orders
Quotations carry specification and price, with actual cost compared at close.
Why it matters here Small jobs priced by habit lose money invisibly.
In practice Quoted against actual cost by job type.
Control
One permission model and one audit trail covering reprint acceptance, discounts and write-offs.
Why it matters here A free reprint is a commercial decision and should be a recorded one.
In practice Reprints authorised with reason and cost.
Work in motion
These already happen. Recorded, reprints and late jobs both fall.
Promising against machine availability is what makes the date keepable.
Binding the job to the approved version is what settles a later dispute.
Checking against the approved proof before delivery prevents the expensive reprint.
The recorded cause is the only route to reducing the rate.
Pricing a repeat from previous actuals is more accurate than re-estimating it.
Verity AI
Verity AI reads the same job, proof, machine and account records the shop creates as it works. It answers from your own shop, respects permissions, and can turn an answer into a chase or a schedule change.
Verity / Ask
Verity AI only returns what the person asking has permission to see.
Without chasing
Each runs from the shop’s own records at the point the condition is met.
When
A proof is unapproved as its due date approaches
When
A job due today has not started
When
A reprint is raised
When
Actual job cost exceeds the quotation
When
A corporate account passes payment terms
What you can understand
Turnaround, reprints and margin from job records.
Verity records the shop’s operations. Design software and machines continue as they are.
One system, different ways of seeing it
Everyone works from the same records.
Owner
What are reprints costing?
Reprint rate and causes, margin by job type, machine utilisation, account payment behaviour.
Production controller
What runs on which machine?
Machine queues, jobs due, approved proofs, material availability.
Counter staff
What can I promise?
Machine availability, due dates, proof status, customer history.
Operator
What am I printing?
Job queue, approved proof, material issued, output and wastage.
Where it is used
Proof versions with approver and date attached to the job, which is what settles a reprint dispute instead of a conversation nobody can evidence.
Every reprint carrying its cause, cost and responsibility, turning an absorbed monthly total into a specific and reducible pattern.
Turnaround agreed against machine availability rather than at the counter, so the date the customer is given is one the shop can meet.
Proof age tracked against the due date with the customer chased, so a delay that originated with the customer does not become the shop’s failure.
Actual material, setup and finishing recorded per job, so job types can be priced from real cost rather than habit.
Previous specifications and actual costs held against the account, so a recurring job is priced and set up from what it really took.
Plain-language questions across jobs, proofs, machines and accounts, with chases and schedule changes raised in the same step.
Getting there
Design software and machines continue and are mapped during implementation. Customers and corporate accounts with repeat specifications, live jobs, proof and approval history, material stock and pricing are brought across.
Implementation runs about four weeks: discovery and mapping, configuration, migration, then an ongoing operations partnership.
Questions
Verity AI answers questions from your own job, proof, machine and account records: which proofs are unapproved with due dates this week, which jobs due today have not started, what reprints cost and why, which job types are quoted below actual cost. Each answer can become a chase or a schedule change.
Proofs carry versions, the person who approved and the date, and the job is bound to the approved version. That converts an approval that lived in conversation into a record that settles who pays when something is wrong.
Because a monthly reprint total is not actionable. Cause, responsibility and cost per reprint show whether the problem is unapproved changes, setup errors, material or a particular job type, and each has a different fix.
Promises are made against machine availability rather than at the counter, and jobs due that have not started are surfaced while there is still time to reprioritise or inform the customer.
Actual material, setup, run and finishing are recorded per job, so job types accumulate real cost data and can be priced from it instead of from habit.
Accounts carry previous specifications and the actual cost of previous runs, so a repeat is set up and priced from what it really took rather than re-estimated each time.
No. Design software and machines continue as they are. Verity holds the shop around them — jobs, proofs, schedules, materials, reprints and accounts.
About four weeks: discovery and mapping of job types, machine capabilities, proof process and account structures, configuration, migration of accounts and live jobs, then an ongoing operations partnership.
Most of them trace to an approval nobody recorded. Tell us how proofs are approved today.