Printing presses on Karachi's Arambagh and in Lahore's Urdu Bazaar, carton plants in SITE and Korangi, and flexible packaging and plastics units on the Sundar estate all share one habit: every order is different. A pharma company wants a carton with a new batch line, a mithai shop wants boxes for Eid, a snack brand wants printed film in two sizes. The estimator works it out on a calculator, the job goes to the floor, and nobody compares what was quoted with what was actually used.
The job card is the system
A packaging ERP is built around the job card. One card per order holds the customer, artwork version, material, size, colours, finishing, quantity and delivery date. Everything that happens after, from board issued to cartons delivered, is entered against that card. When the job closes, the card shows the real cost next to the quoted cost.
Quotation and job costing
- Material: board or paper by grammage and sheet size, or film by micron and width, with the number of ups per sheet.
- Pre-press: design, plates or cylinders, and whether the customer already has them with you.
- Printing: colours, machine, make-ready and running time.
- Finishing: lamination, UV, foil, die-cutting, pasting, slitting, pouch making.
- Wastage allowance for make-ready and running, which the system learns from past jobs.
- Packing and delivery.
The estimator still decides the price. The ERP makes sure nothing is forgotten, that the same carton is quoted the same way by two people, and that a revised quotation keeps its history. Sales tax treatment on goods and services is something to confirm with your tax adviser; our invoicing software guide covers the invoice side.
Plates, cylinders and dies
Plates, cylinders and cutting dies cost real money and belong to a customer's design. Many presses keep them in a back room with a marker on the side. The ERP gives each one a number, the customer and artwork it belongs to, where it is stored, and its condition after each run. When a reprint comes in, the job card shows at once whether the die is usable or must be remade, which changes the quotation.
First job and reprint, side by side
| Item | New job | Reprint |
|---|---|---|
| Artwork | New version uploaded and approved by customer | Last approved version reused, changes logged |
| Plates or dies | Made and added to the register | Pulled from the register; condition checked |
| Wastage allowance | Standard allowance for the material and machine | Actual wastage from the last run of this job |
| Quotation | Built line by line | Copied from the last job and updated for material price |
| Approval | Proof or sample signed off | Usually skipped unless the artwork changed |
Stock of board, paper and film
Material stock in print is not one item called 'board'. It is board of a given grammage in given sheet sizes, or film rolls of a given micron and width, often bought in bulk when prices look good. The ERP holds each size as its own item, records reels by weight and sheets by count, and reserves stock against job cards so the store knows what is free. For more on stock control in general, see inventory management software.
Issue material against the card
The store issues board, film or paper only against an open job card number.
Record make-ready waste
The machine operator enters sheets or metres used to set up before good output starts.
Record good output and running waste
At the end of the run, enter good sheets or metres and rejected ones.
Record finishing losses
Die-cutting, pasting and slitting enter their own rejections against the same card.
Close and compare
Close the card when delivered and review quoted against actual material and waste.
Repeat customers are the best data a press has. Over a year, the job history shows which customers reorder, which cartons always run over on waste, and which machines spend too long on make-ready.
Is it worth it for a small press?
A shop with one machine doing visiting cards and wedding cards probably does not need an ERP; a good billing and quotation tool is enough. Once you run several machines, hold customer dies, and quote cartons or film to brands, the job card and wastage history start paying back. Our guide to manufacturing ERP in Pakistan gives the wider picture, and the manufacturing industry page shows how we approach factories.
Operix builds ERP software for Pakistan from Karachi, with on-site work in Karachi and online projects for Lahore and other cities. Bring two recent job sheets, one new job and one reprint, to a demo and we will show how they would sit in the system.
Questions people ask
Can the ERP calculate ups per sheet?
Yes, from the sheet size and the opened-out size of the carton or label you enter. The estimator can still override it when the layout is unusual.
Does it work for flexible packaging and plastics?
Yes. Film is held by micron and width, jobs run in metres or kilos, and steps such as lamination, slitting and pouch making are recorded against the job card.
Can customers approve artwork through the system?
A proof can be shared as a link or PDF and the approval recorded against the job card, so nobody prints from an unapproved file.
Do you have an office in Lahore?
No. Operix works from Old Clifton, Karachi. Lahore presses and packaging units are served online, with visits when the project needs them.
