Phase 3: Transforming Operations Through Automation

“Technology doesn’t replace experience or people. The only reason we’re successful is because of all the great people we have, it’s giving them more tools so they can work better and more efficiently, but that consultation on the front end, it’s never replaced,” McGinnis says. “It takes both – you still have to have great people with great minds, and that’s what has always been at the core of this company, but then you also have to be smart and bring in the technology. You don’t replace one with the other.” – Troy McGinnis, the executive VP of print services at Phase 3 Communications, Inc.

This article on the Wide-format Impressions website is a powerful example of how an automation solution can be individually implemented with OneVision software. It explains in a great way that the path of automation is not always an easy one, but definitely worth to go.

Troy McGinnis, the executive VP of print services at Phase 3:
“We wanted the flexibility to build something that was unique to our business, because we’re definitely unique. We’re not your standard ‘Hey, here’s some business cards, throw them on the press and let’s go,’” McGinnis says. “Everything we do is custom and weird and funky. So, we needed a company that would be flexible, and help us adapt and build to our needs, and OneVision was in the running, and at the end of the day, they convinced us that they could partner with us and help us build that system.”

Phase 3 is a marketing services company that celebrated its 20th year in business in 2021.
It integrates marketing services and provides solutions across the print and marketing spectrum, from ideation to execution. It’s headquartered in Atlanta with other offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and the New York City metropolitan area.

McGinnis notes the test run was for a job that once took them seven-eight hours to process from order entry to printing, and the interim steps in between like setting up the files, checking colors, etc. It now gets processed in just 12-15 minutes.

“We’ve completely been able to transform our entire front end, and that’s really, really critical because the production time still takes about the same amount of time because presses print as fast as they print, but we’re gaining that front-end time, so we can be faster to market and service our clients without any change in service level,” McGinnis says.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years – we’ve implemented a lot of technology, a lot of presses, a lot of front end services, all this kind of stuff. This has probably been the most daunting technology implementation, but it’s also going to turn out to be probably the most rewarding,” McGinnis says. He estimates that their new ERP system will fully be up and running by December.

Read the entire article on wideformatimpressions.com