In January
1999, the former owner of a commercial web printing shop who has
over 30 years of experience in the industry discussed with Star*Key
Software the idea of creating a software program designed exclusively
for web offset printers. After some research, it was apparent
that many web offset printers were frustrated by their current
estimating procedures and software options.
We found
that some printers continue to estimate by hand while others have
created simple spreadsheets to handle their shop's estimating.
While spreadsheets are a welcome improvement over manual estimating,
their oversimplification of the estimating process can lead to
overlooked charges and inaccurate quotes. Plus, the redundant
data entry needed to manually create the job tickets, shipping
manifests, invoice and other reports after an estimate is complete
provided another opportunity for human error. We found that other
web offset printers have tried to manipulate a sheet-fed program
to work for their web printing shop. While some of these sheet-fed
packages claim to be able to handle web printing estimating, many
of the printers we have met with feel that these modified sheet-fed
calculations do not adequately address the more complex details
of web printing jobs. As we all know, there are significant differences
in the calculations and terminology between sheet-fed and web
printing technologies. Finally, we spoke with other printers who
weren't exactly sure how to create a correct estimate and didn't
have a handle on tracking their costs or profit margins.
With this
information on hand and teamed with our group of professionals
with experience in printing, estimating, software development,
finance, management and education, Star*Key software began the
development of the Presstimator. Nearly two years of design and
development resulted in the first revision of the product which
was taken to several printing shops for evaluation. With their
input, we expanded our development to include features they felt
would improve the functionality of the Presstimator. After incorporating
those requests and completing the next revision, we provided the
product to several more companies for beta testing of the software.
After almost three years of development and months of testing
and evaluation, Star*Key Software completed the first version
of the Presstimator at the end of 2001. With the result of these
efforts, we feel that we have developed the first stand-alone
software product to concentrate exclusively on web offset printing
estimating.
In the future,
Star*Key Software looks to incorporate additional requested features
that would be beneficial to our users, making their shop more
productive and profitable.
