Large-Scale Estimating – 500 estimates in a few minutes! New module now available from arifiQ

arifiQ, the technology that provides estimates and optimized workflows in seconds; today announces a powerful addition to the Front-End estimating suite; The Large-Scale Estimating module, capable of delivering hundreds of estimates in a few minutes. Working in real time with PSPs’ actual device availability and inventories across any number of sites, the arifiQ Large Scale Estimating module makes it possible for print buyers and print service providers to answer extensive RFQs immediately, and arrange orders – including recurring procurements – as fast as clients say “yes”.

“This new arifiQ Large Scale Estimating module eliminates the days and weeks needed to prepare and then calculate hundreds or thousands of entries at the print buyer and print provider sites,” says Carina Karlsson, CEO, arifiQ Development. The Module will prove especially beneficial for procurements at enterprises and organization sectors such as retail, real estate, financial, and insurance; where timing is critical to profit potential or compliance.

“arifiQ technology completely removes the greatest bottleneck in print production; which is the amount of time needed to calculate estimates,” Karlsson continues, citing the North American MIS/ERP Adoption in Commercial Printing report[1] issued last month.

How it works:

1. The product specifications (any number of products) are easily entered, in Excel sheets – connected to the arifiQ optimizing engine.
2. The pricing for each product, as well as the total of all estimates, is presented instantly.
3. The order placement is done in the Excel sheet or by submitting the data to arifiQ PRO (or other MIS).
4. The order is saved and managed in arifiQ PRO (or other MIS). 
5. The Gang-Run option in arifiQ PRO combines jobs that can run at the same time.

“Printers and buyers who use the Large-Scale Estimating module can get orders on press before RFQs are even opened by their competitors,” says Karlsson.

arifiQ’s Most Recent Procurement Request:
A procurement officer at a large enterprise needed pricing on 2000 products. The estimator complained, saying, “It will take forever, and we might not even get the print order!”

We went over the job with the customer, and found that if they used a typical MIS to calculate estimates for all 2000 products, it would take 4 weeks at 5 minutes per. The other option that estimating officers often employ is to take a “smart guess,” which includes few, to no, real calculations. In these cases, the PSPs have no idea if they will take a great loss on the extensive order.

Also consider that simple RFQs for one piece often demand many different estimates, such as numerous sizes and pages. For example, a customer can easily ask for 3 sizes and 3 different number of pages; which equals 9 estimates for only one quote. Imagine the number of estimates requested when a large procurement is sent out to numerous printers!

With the arifiQ Large-Scale Estimating module, the PSP provides the Procurement Excel document to the print customer, who easily fills in product specs and sends it back upon receipt. The buyer can also get pricing in real time, while they fill in the sheet. 

The Large-Scale Estimating Module is the newest addition to the arifiQ suite of Front-End Estimating Applications. The product line now includes:

1. arifiQ PRO – advanced estimating tool for professional print buyers and sales teams.
2. Plugin for Adobe InDesign – for designers; to work within budgets or other parameters
3. deQuote – for quick print jobs and Inplants
4. Customized Web forms (API)  – for a regular print customer and key accounts
5. Large-Scale Estimating – for procurements at large enterprises with extended RFQs

[1] The North American MIS/ERP Adoption in Commercial Printing report was produced by industry consultant David Zwang for PRIMIR, the market research arm of NPES. Included in the report was quantitative research extracted from a Keypoint Intelligence (formerly InfoTrends) 2016 survey on North American Software trends in Commercial Printing.

Book a meeting with arifiQ at Print17 on info@arifiq.com