Flexo
Cloud-native MIS for independent narrow-web label converters — price flexo and digital presses in one comparative quoting engine, then grow into scheduling, job costing, and invoicing through pricing tiers rather than a migration.
Overview
A quoting-first MIS for independent label converters running 1–8 presses. Four cost engines — flexo press-speed curve by colour count, HP Indigo per-impression click charge, UV inkjet ink-coverage with white-ink surcharge, and Xeikon subscription amortisation — feed one comparative quote that shows every configured press at every quantity break with the flexo-to-digital crossover highlighted automatically. Substrate and machine compatibility filtering keeps unqualified presses out of the quote entirely. Scheduling, the tooling library, ink room, estimated-vs-actual job costing, and invoicing unlock as the shop grows.
The problem
Flexo quotes take 30–60 minutes in a spreadsheet and vary by estimator, and a repeat job that should take 5 minutes takes 20–30 because the workbook is re-entered from scratch. No tool answers which press wins a job at a given quantity — the crossover moves with label geometry, colour count, and plate cost, so every job misrouted around it is a pricing and routing error. Presses are booked on a whiteboard, so conflicts surface when the operator arrives to set up. And with no estimated-vs-actual job costing, a systematic 1–2% underestimate across 40 jobs/month erodes $24,000–$48,000 a year invisibly.
Key features
- Flexo quoting engine — press-speed curve by colour count, per-colour plate cost, makeready waste, die amortisation, MSI pricing
- All-machine comparative quote: every configured press × every quantity break, crossover highlighted automatically
- Four cost engine types — flexo, HP Indigo click-charge, UV inkjet ink-coverage, Xeikon subscription allocation
- Substrate and machine compatibility library that auto-filters quotes to qualified presses only
- Estimated-vs-actual job costing with per-component variance and root-cause annotation
- Dual-granularity press scheduling — flexo in shift blocks, digital in hour:minute lanes, with a DFE preflight gate (Business tier)
- Branded quote PDF export; repeat quotes recalled from the product catalog in under 2 minutes
Benefits & outcomes
- Cut a 30–60 minute spreadsheet quote to under a minute, and repeat jobs to under two
- Route every job to the right press — the flexo-to-digital crossover is computed, not guessed
- Surface scheduling conflicts before job start instead of at the press
- Make margin erosion visible: one recovered 3% underestimate on a $50,000 order pays 7.5 months of Essentials