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CUSHING + CO

Creating a seamless, end-to-end workflow, utilising print MIS

pepper wall, decorative wall art

Profile

Founded in 1929, Cushing began by producing blueprints for the architects, engineering firms, and construction companies building the city of Chicago. 90 years later, the needs of their customers have evolved and so have they. The Chicago institution made the transition from “blueprinter” to a branded display graphics provider equipped to handle more nuanced projects and complex customer requests.

The Challenge

Cushing’s homegrown order and production system could not keep pace with the increasing number of technologies, quoting standards, media types, and customer ideas. Cushing quickly realized that there was a need to improve systems for seamless communication and workflows – how could Cushing create repeatable processes to make sure the easy jobs stay easy, while providing tools to manage complex requests?

The Solution

Cushing looked to printIQ to implement a seamless, end-to-end workflow. Joseph X. Cushing, Managing Principal of Cushing said, “when we were looking for a solution for process management, we literally had eleven boxes to check on our wish list, seeking a solution that would hit 5-6 of them. printIQ immediately presented a solution for nine and continued to pursue numbers ten and eleven with us. Partnering with printIQ has been a great decision for our business. We’ve been able to improve our customer experience, onboarding, and workflow with printIQ as our platform.“
Being a web-based application, it allows production staff to manage the shop, while customers quote, order and track all from within the same application. From automation to quantifiable costing data that helps drive more strategic decision-making, printIQ allowed Cushing to help improve communication and workflows.
Cushing’s Director of Information Technology, David Parkes, took on the role of project architect and organized a team to facilitate implementation of the MIS system. In about sixteen weeks, the new system was implemented.

The Business Impact

What once was at times challenging due to estimates for client projects being unique and multi-faceted, is now simplified with the use of printIQ’s robust tools to streamline the complexities of customer work orders. For example, from window graphics to custom books, product templates for frequently requested items were just a few mouse clicks away. Even with unique projects, quotes no longer needed to be built from scratch. And customers now had a simple method for viewing and approving proofs of their projects – anywhere, anytime.
Another goal for Cushing was to make the new system simple to adopt. With any new system implementation, onboarding can carry with it a very steep learning curve to understand the intricacies of production jobs, but Cushing saw that new team members were able to adopt the processes more swiftly and with far greater ease.

The power of printIQ

“Who knows what interesting client request will come next? There are so many possibilities…We look forward to continuing our partnership with printIQ in the future.”

Joseph X. Cushing, Managing Principal

Cushing + Co

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