Utilising our proprietary MIS system, Chris Fowler International believes that one of its key differentiators is its use of technology.  We offer the Client access to our website to allow file and order submission, progress tracking and soon pricing, invoicing and management reporting. Working with the your chosen distributor and where we bundle the print and distribution, we can offer you the facility of pricing the print and distribution of each job and where you utilise our unique fully owned global network, allow you to minimise the cost of each job by deciding in which locations to print.  Working with our partner BlueCurve we can provide a complete integrated workflow and distribution system from analyst to your Client. See below for more detail.

Colour consistency is key to meeting your quality requirement.  To achieve this we have been accredited to ISO 12647-2 standard, using the ISOLitho approach.  This establishes a colour curve which matches your requirement and through the use of end-to-end calibration and spectrophotometer readings we can ensure this is always the colour that is printed.  Internal and external audits ensure that it is adhered to.

Assisting with meeting of the colour standard, our B2 presses are fitted with CIP3 transfer.  This allows the Prepress department to set the ink ducts on the press and allowing management information to be fed back from the press to the production management team. This assists not just with accuracy but with speed of make ready and control.  It also helps us with an environmental requirement of minimising wastage; estimated material and consumable requirements can be compared with actuals.  Supporting both, colour standards and environmental concerns, we use vegetable inks for the vast majority of our work.

Another leading technology linked to colour is colour digital.  Whilst this technology has been available for sometime Chris Fowler International waited until there was a production level machine available which could cope with the required throughput, finish online to industry best standards and at a price which was litho competitive for the research marketplace.
In the finishing area we have introduced Optical Character Devices to the feeding hoppers on the B2 finishing lines which will ensure that no mis-collations can take place.  We have also introduced, primarily in digital finishing, the Spinemaster finish; a first for the research marketplace.  This is a saddle stitch finish has the spine flattened post finishing (but online) allowing us to provide a finish similar to perfect bound books up to 80pp at no additional cost.

Investments planned for 2006/7 include the upgrade of our workflow and MIS system, the move to processorless, probably thermal plates and the introduction of virtual proofing whereby the true colour image can be provided on an LCD screen to the pressman, other internal departments and to the Client, where volumes of colour work permit.

MIS

Chris Fowler International has built a proprietary management information system, the Job Control System (JCS) that sits at the centre of all Chris Fowler International activities and is the fulcrum for managing the document life-cycle. 
A document arriving at Chris Fowler International is assigned a unique record that remains with the job as it progresses from the Customer Services team, through the production function and ultimately to the Accounts team. 
It also serves as the tool for maintaining quality controls and by linking it to consoles in the various production areas, jobs are electronically signed off at each production stage.  Effectively, this provides a live location for each job as it passes through the production facility.

As a result, all authorised personnel have access to a real-time system that provides a complete knowledge of all work being undertaken for our clients.  Furthermore, using secure, 128-bit SSL encryption technology, we are able to provide our clients with direct access to their account details through our website, allowing them to establish the progress of their work through our facilities at any time.