Custom printing software development
Appfront builds custom printing software as an internal management information system: from pre- and post-calculation of print jobs and quotes to order management, production planning across prepress, press and finishing, work orders, purchasing and stock, time registration and invoicing. The calculation works out your print jobs by paper and format, waste and make-ready sheets, run length, press passes, colours and finishing, tailored to your own calculation model and machine park. For print shops, screen printing and large-format companies, packaging printers and advertising agencies with their own production who want to calculate accurately and see their margin per order.
What is print shop software?
Print shop software is the internal management information system (MIS) of a print shop: the system you use to calculate quotes, take orders, plan production across prepress, press and finishing, manage work orders, purchase paper and materials, register hours and ultimately run post-calculation and invoicing. The core is the calculation. It translates a print job into the number of sheets on the press format, and works out paper and format, waste and make-ready sheets, run length, press passes and colours, ink and finishing to arrive at a cost price and a well-founded quote price. Around that, the system makes sure the same calculation is followed all the way through to delivery and invoice.
In many print shops, that calculation starts in an outdated package and ends in spreadsheets alongside the system, because the standard calculation model doesn't fit their own standard times, paper scales and finishing operations. That takes time, is error-prone and makes post-calculation almost impossible. Custom software captures your calculation model in the system: the set-up and make-ready times per press, the waste percentages per operation and the way you price rush jobs and series work. That way, the system produces a price that matches your actual cost price, and nobody has to calculate twice.
The scope matters here. This is about the print shop's own internal calculation and production system. An online ordering portal where customers configure and order print jobs themselves is web-to-print, a separate solution that connects to the MIS. Read more about our broader approach to custom software and tailor-made software for specific processes.
One order from quote to invoice
Calculation, quote, work order, planning, purchasing, hours and invoice are all linked to the same order. The data from the pre-calculation carries through to the post-calculation, without retyping between separate systems or folders.
Your calculation model in the system
You define standard times per machine, make-ready and waste percentages, paper tiers and finishing rates. The costing calculates with your figures, so the quoted price matches your actual cost price.
Margin per order at a glance
Post-costing sets actual hours, paper and materials against the pre-costing. You see by order, machine and customer where margin leaks away, and can adjust your cost prices and standard times on a substantiated basis.
How we build your print shop software
We work step by step and involve your estimators, planners and operators early on. In a print shop, the value lies in the details of the costing model: a wrong make-ready allowance or a forgotten finishing step carries through into every quote. From a thorough review of your costing, press fleet and workflow through to go-live and ongoing support, we focus each step on software your team trusts and that matches the reality on the shop floor.
We map out your costing: run times per press, make-ready and waste, paper quantities and purchase prices, finishing operations, and how you price print run tiers, rush jobs and serial work. This forms the foundation for costing that reflects your true cost price.
We design the data model around orders, costing, work orders and scheduling, plus the approach for integrations with accounting and, where it makes sense, with prepress and press via JDF and JMF. The design takes into account your different printing processes and finishing routes.
We build in short iterations with automated tests. You check the costing against real orders that have already been run, so the results are verified before the system goes live. You help set priorities and ensure the system fits the shop floor.
Controlled go-live with conversion of open orders and master data, followed by ongoing support, monitoring and further development as your press fleet, rates or ways of working change.
What print shop software actually does
We tailor every application specifically to your costing model, press fleet and workflow. Below are the features we most often deliver for print shops that want to bring their costing, production and margins together in one system.
Pre-calculation and quote
The calculation translates the finished size and run length into sheets on the press format and works out paper, press passes, colours, ink, make-ready sheets and finishing to arrive at a cost price. Based on that, you put together a clean quote in a few steps, with run-length scales and variants, and keep track of outstanding quotes until they become orders.
Order & job ticket management
An accepted quote becomes an order with a digital job ticket: specifications, materials, operations, requested delivery date and attachments in one place. The work order drives the shop floor, with statuses that follow the job from prepress through press to finishing and dispatch, so everyone knows where things stand.
Production planning
Schedule orders across prepress, press and finishing with capacity, set-up times and lead times in view. A planning board shows the load per machine, flags clashes and bottlenecks, and helps fit rush work in without holding up everything else. For more complex scheduling, this links to our production planning software.
Purchasing & stock
From the costing, the system generates material requirements: paper, ink, plates and finishing materials. Purchase orders, supplier prices and stock levels are tracked, so you order on time, make use of remnant stock, and know whether a rush order is feasible in terms of materials before you commit.
Time recording per order
Operators record their hours and machine time directly against the order, optionally by signing off at the machine or via a terminal on the shop floor. These actual times feed the post-costing and make visible where set-up and downtime eat into the margin, without loose timesheets afterwards.
Post-costing, margins & invoicing
Post-costing compares actual hours, paper and materials against the pre-calculation and shows the margin per order, customer and machine. Delivered orders are invoiced, with invoices as UBL or via Peppol and a link to your accounting, so your bookkeeping stays in line without double entry.
Who we build print shop software for
The common thread is always the same: costing, planning, producing and post-costing. But the costing model differs greatly by type of print shop. For each of them we build software that suits their print processes, their materials and the way they price work.
Sheetfed offset & digital print shops
General print shops with offset and digital presses, from letterheads and leaflets to brochures and book work. The costing works with sheets per print format, click costs per impression for digital, and the right finishing route per order, so both small and large jobs add up correctly.
Screen printing & large format
Companies producing banners, stickers, signage and displays. Here the costing works in square metres and material widths, with overrun on roll material, laminating, cutting and mounting. The software accounts for multiple substrates and finishing steps per order.
Packaging printers
Producers of folding cartons, labels and tags. The costing works with die-cutting formes, multiple finishing steps such as lamination, foil blocking and die-cutting, and material efficiency per sheet. GS1 barcodes and per-item specifications can be carried on the job ticket.
Prepress, print & agencies with in-house production
Prepress and print firms and advertising or marketing agencies with their own production department. Alongside costing, they need control over outsourced work, client specifications and lead times, so that in-house production and third-party purchasing come together in the same order and the same post-calculation.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
We build with a modern, maintainable web stack and integrate with your existing systems and machinery where needed. On the shop floor, where it makes sense, we work with CIP4's JDF and JMF graphic arts standards, so job tickets and status updates can be exchanged between the MIS and prepress, press and finishing equipment. For the office, we connect to accounting or ERP packages such as Exact Online, AFAS or Twinfield, and send invoices as UBL or via Peppol. For customers who want to place orders themselves, the MIS connects to a web-to-print portal. We determine which integrations are needed based on your situation.
For suppliers and technical services who want to supply parts by printing press and serial number, there is our spare parts software for printing presses.
If the main concern is price per print run, with digital or offset at the break-even point, there is our print costing software per print run.
Why choose Appfront for your print shop software?
Appfront builds custom software and always begins with a thorough analysis of your process. For a print shop, that means digging deeper into costing: standard times per press, make-ready and waste, paper tiers and finishing operations. Software that misses these details produces quotes that don't add up, every day. That is why we test the costing against real, previously run orders before the system goes live.
We write clear documentation and transparent code, so your own team or any future supplier can understand and manage the software. No black box and no vendor lock-in, but a system that belongs to you, with clear agreements on integrations, management and further development.
You work with a fixed point of contact who understands both the technology and the practice of a print business. This keeps lines short and speeds up decisions when choices about the costing model or the planning have to be made during the build.
Also take a look at our broader services: custom software, tailor-made software, an online ordering portal with web-to-print software and production planning software. Have a question? Get in touch.
- Custom MIS built around your own costing and press floor
- Costing tested against real, previously run orders
- Pre-calculation and post-calculation side by side for margin per order
- Familiar with industry standards such as JDF and JMF
- Integrations with accounting, prepress and press
- Planning across prepress, press and finishing with capacity in view
- Clear documentation your team can manage
- No vendor lock-in, transparent code and your data stays yours
- A fixed point of contact, no account managers passed around
- Ongoing support and further development as your work evolves
Security and reliability for your print shop software
Your MIS holds business-critical data: customer files, pricing agreements, margins and the specifications of every job. That information should not be visible to everyone and must always remain available, because if the system goes down, production stops. That is why we set access based on role and need, so an operator can see the job tickets but not the margin overviews, and we record changes in an audit trail.
We build in line with the GDPR wherever personal data of your customers and employees is involved, with encryption in transit and at rest and carefully considered retention periods. Failover, backups and monitoring keep the system running reliably, and we secure upload and interface points so that submitted print files arrive safely. That way your production keeps running and you stay in control of your data.
Read more about our security approach: information security policy and vulnerability disclosure policy. Discuss your situation without obligation via our contact form.
- GDPR-compliant processing of customer and employee data
- Role-based access and least-privilege principles
- Margin and pricing data shielded from the shop floor
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
- Audit logging of access and changes
- Secure upload of supplied print files
- Back-ups, failover and monitoring for continuity
- Carefully considered retention periods for orders and files
Frequently asked questions about print shop software
Answers to the questions we get asked most often about custom software for print shops.
Print shop software is a printer's internal management information system (MIS): the system you use to calculate quotes, take orders, schedule production across prepress, press and finishing, issue job tickets, purchase paper and materials, record hours, and ultimately post-calculate and invoice. It works out a print job by paper, format and waste, print run, number of press passes and colours, ink and finishing, so you can quote a well-founded price and a realistic lead time. Custom software lets you set this up around your own costing model and press floor, rather than forcing your way of working into an off-the-shelf package.
Pre-calculation is the estimate made upfront: based on format, run length, paper type, press passes, colours, make-ready and finishing, the software determines the expected costs and therefore the quoted price. Post-calculation is the measurement afterwards: the hours actually used, the paper actually consumed and the material costs incurred are set against the pre-calculation. The difference between the two is your margin analysis per job. By consistently reviewing pre- and post-calculation side by side, you can see which job types, machines or customers are making a loss, and adjust your cost prices and standard times accordingly.
No. This page is about the print shop's internal costing and production system: pre- and post-calculation, planning, job tickets and invoicing. An online ordering portal where customers configure, design and order print themselves is web-to-print, a separate solution that can connect to the MIS. Managing a fleet of printers and multifunctionals at end-user sites, with meter readings and toner, is print management. We build all three as custom solutions and refer you to the relevant pages for the adjacent topics, so that each system does what it is meant to do.
We build custom software. No two print shops cost the same job: machine run rates, make-ready and spoilage percentages, paper stock sizes, finishing operations, and how rush and long-run work are priced all differ widely. A standard MIS often forces you into a fixed costing model, with the real calculation still done in spreadsheets alongside the system. Custom software records your own costing logic in the system, so the price it produces matches your actual cost price and your team no longer has to calculate twice.
A MIS rarely stands alone. Where it makes sense, we connect to the shop floor using the graphic arts standards JDF and JMF (CIP4), so job tickets and status updates can be exchanged between the MIS and prepress, press and finishing equipment. For files we work with PDF/X and preflight, and on the office side we integrate with your accounting or ERP package such as Exact Online, AFAS or Twinfield. Invoices can be sent as UBL or via Peppol, and for packaging print we can include GS1 barcodes. We determine which integrations are needed based on your machinery and administration.
The costing translates the finished format and print run into the number of sheets on the press sheet size. In doing so, the system takes into account the number of pages per sheet, the layout and the trim waste at the edges. For make-ready, a set-up and start-up loss is calculated per machine and operation, and for finishing a separate spoilage percentage applies. You define those percentages yourself per press, paper type and operation. This way the software carries actual paper consumption through to purchasing and cost price, rather than relying on a rule of thumb that consistently misses on difficult jobs.
We build for a range of graphic businesses: sheet-fed offset and digital print shops, screen printing and large-format companies, packaging printers and repro and print firms, plus advertising and marketing agencies with their own production department. The common thread is the same, but the costing differs: large format calculates in square metres and material rolls, packaging works with die-cutting tools and several finishing steps, and digital works with click costs per impression. We tailor the costing model and scheduling to the type of work and the machines you run.
Yes. We regularly take over existing applications, including those built by another party or where costing currently sits in a combination of an old package and loose spreadsheets. We first map out your calculation model, standard times and integrations and document the current situation. From there we can extend targeted parts, add missing integrations or migrate step by step to a maintainable custom system, without production grinding to a halt during the transition.
Ready to build your print shop software?
Tell us how you cost and produce, and where you run into trouble, from pre-costing and planning through to post-costing and invoicing. We're happy to think along with you about your calculation model, integrations with prepress, press and accounting, and the margin analysis you're looking for. In a no-obligation first conversation you'll get a clear picture of what's possible for a custom MIS that suits your print shop.