Self-evaluation can hurt but it’s necessary to stay ahead of the pack.

Christopher Clear, Sales Director, Q&P Solutions, went to drupa with serious intent – to discover how Quote & Print solutions measure up against the best in the world. This is his report.

I went to drupa 2004 with two specific things in mind.

Firstly to benchmark Quote & Print Software and Q&P Solutions against the 35+ companies providing similar products. After extensive reviews I can honestly say that the functionality of Quote & Print Software (Q&P) is equal to any of the systems on show. In most cases it set a standard of market appeal far beyond those I visited.

Most of the systems could handle one or two and sometimes three types of printing well; Q&P has functionality for all styles of print production and can easily accommodate mixed process. This is coupled with the fact that Q&P is one of the few systems in the world that can truly make the claim to be fully integrated, by this I mean that all modules are designed, developed and programmed by the same provider.

Good software is only part of successful products and services. I saw software and systems that did come close to matching the functionality of Q&P and I wondered if these products would still be on show at the next drupa because some seemed to lack depth.

For an excellent product to succeed it needs to have support, training and people that have capabilities that exceed those of the product. Most importantly these people must be available so the end users can work on their business and not the shortcomings of a system or service provided by the supplier.

I truly believe that Q&P Solutions is providing a level of training, support and after sale value second to none in our industry. Of course there is still room from improvement and that improvement comes from listening to customers and responding in a positive proactive manner.

The second thing I wanted to do at drupa was to learn more about and spend time reviewing JDF. I was excited to see that the Australian printing industry as a whole has a better understanding of the implications of JDF/JMF to improved workflow and competitiveness than our American & European cousins.

This is likely as a result of our markets being smaller and printers more responsive to change. One thing that was highlighted was the need to have an effective management system capable of providing the required information from the start of the job. Again I was pleased to see that everything that Q&P has done in the past two years has been right on track and forward looking (I tip my hat to David Bell and his team for the willingness to embrace the challenge).

I am sure there will be much written on these topics over the coming weeks and months as a result of drupa and I would urge companies to embrace these emerging technologies sooner rather than later.

It was easy to be impressed by the size and scale of drupa and to be amazed by the speed and capabilities of some of the presses, but the things that struck me were the advances in the production support equipment. The advances in materials handling have been nothing short of mind blowing.

These technologies need to keep up with the advances in production and where packing and dispatch could have had two or three people in the past it is now possible to have one very intelligent robot doing the work. Even the simple and necessary pile turner is now able to do amazing things such as detect and remove spoiled sheets, count and split stacks into counted sheet ready for either wrapping or dispatch.

Finishing lines too have made silent advances that now stay ahead of the short run fast turnaround market that is common. All the fast make ready, reduced down time, whiz bangery of the press manufacturers would amount to little if these processes just left the printed stacks sitting on the floor waiting for the next process to catch up.

As a final word I was proud to be part of the large Australian attendance at drupa 2004, and I believe that our innovation and use of technologies is equal to anywhere in the world.

Christopher Clear
Sales Director
Q&P Solutions