From file to finished, on one record.
Commercial printers, wide-format shops, promo-product suppliers. SKU-aware estimating, bleed-checked proofs, press + bindery queues, and multi-shipment orders — all tied to one customer record per run.
Three things that slow every print shop down.
Estimating, proofing, and finishing — in different tools, in different places. It doesn't have to be.
Run of 5,000 business cards plus a banner plus a 250-piece flyer reorder. Different cost models per line, stitched by hand every time.
Round 1 is in email. Round 2 is a DM. Round 3 is "the PDF on the shared drive". Who approved what? Nobody is totally sure.
The bindery schedule is on a whiteboard. Shipping labels come from a third tool. Tracking numbers get emailed to the customer by hand.
Catalog → quote → proof → press → bindery → ship.
Six steps, one record. From the SKU that kicks off the quote to the tracking number that hits the customer's inbox, every handoff is the same thread.
Start from a SKU, not a blank quote.
House products with size, stock, and finishing variants, priced by break-point. CSRs pick the SKU, fill the options, and the quote is 80% done.
- Variants (size, stock, finish) under one SKU
- Break-point tiers priced automatically
- Reorder templates saved per customer
Mix sheet, roll, piece — in one proposal.
Each line item brings its own cost model. The customer sees a clean proposal with an approve button; the order lands on the production side in seconds.
- Per-line pricing models
- Quantity ladder visible on the proposal
- One-click approval + deposit
Prepress flags the issues before the customer sees a round.
Upload artwork, get bleed + resolution flags, send the round. Every revision is archived with audit trail; hard rejections block a proof from being sent.
- Automated bleed + resolution checks
- Markup + pin comments in the browser
- Typed e-signature with audit log
Assign the press, track the run, log the waste.
Operators clock into the run, the progress bar updates as sheets finish, and waste + substrate pulled are reconciled against the estimate.
- Press-level queue + time tracking
- Substrate pulled + waste reconciled
- Operator-level productivity visible
Trim, score, stitch — every station knows what's next.
Finishing queues are department-aware. A saddle-stitched booklet knows it needs the folder first, then the stitcher, then the trim — in that order, gated by QC.
- Department-routed finishing
- Per-station checklists + QC
- Ready-to-ship trigger on completion
Multi-shipment, tracked, auto-notified.
An order can have many shipments — drop-ship, kitting, pickup. Each gets a carrier, a tracking number, and an automatic email to the recipient when it's dropped.
- Carrier integration with label print
- Multi-shipment per order
- Push-to-bill on final shipment
What one print shop's week looks like on Flowtora.
Beacon Print Works
Beacon is a representative 14-person commercial printer. Before Flowtora, SKUs lived in a legacy MIS, proofs in email, and bindery schedule on a whiteboard. Reorders meant rebuilding the quote.
With Flowtora, CSRs start from SKUs, proofs carry bleed checks, press runs log waste, and a third of their revenue now comes from one-click reorders triggered by the customer portal.
- Legacy MIS for SKUs
- Email proof threads
- Whiteboard finishing schedule
- Manual carrier labels
- One customer record from lead to last dollar
- Deposits + balance on the same order
- Production + install in one record
Six things generic SaaS won't have on day one.
We built quoting, production, and billing for shops that think in press time and break-point pricing — not in sales-rep pipelines.
House products with size / stock / finish variants. One SKU, many variants, priced by break-point tier. Reorders start from the last spec.
The customer's last run — size, stock, quantity, bleed — saved as a template. Reorder is literally one click from the portal.
Coated, uncoated, gloss, matte, synthetics — priced once with waste factors. New stock adds in seconds, flows into every quote.
Automatic break-point logic. 500 / 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 each with their own price per piece. Customers see the full ladder on the quote.
Trim, score, saddle-stitch, perfect-bind, laminate, die-cut. Option groups attached to the product so estimators don't rebuild them each time.
One order, many shipments — drop-ship to ten offices, kitting to a warehouse, pickup for the rest. Tracking per box, all on the record.
What a print shop gains by moving off the legacy stack.
| Capability | Flowtora One platform | Legacy MIS + email | Generic CRM |
|---|---|---|---|
SKU catalog with break-point pricing 500 / 1,000 / 2,500 priced automatically. | ✓ Built-in tiered pricing. | ~ A spreadsheet tab. | ✗ Generic line items. |
Bleed-aware proofing Preflight + bleed check visible on the proof. | ✓ Flagged before the round is sent. | ✗ Prepress emails the customer. | ✗ Not a CRM feature. |
Press + bindery queues Department routing with time tracking per run. | ✓ Per-press, per-station. | ✗ A whiteboard in prepress. | ~ Generic Kanban. |
Reorder templates Customer's last spec, saved and one-click. | ✓ From portal or office. | ~ Copy the old email. | ✗ Rebuild every time. |
Multi-shipment per order Drop-ship + kitting + pickup on one record. | ✓ Tracking per box. | ✗ A separate spreadsheet. | ✗ One address per quote. |
Deposit + balance invoicing Deposit at approval, balance at shipping. | ✓ One-click invoice. | ~ Manual in QuickBooks. | ~ Separate billing module. |
The six questions every print-shop owner asks on a demo.
How do I price a job that mixes sheet, roll, and piece?
Each line item picks its own pricing model. A postcard run uses per-piece break points; a banner uses linear-ft; a saddle-stitched booklet uses piece + finishing labor. The total rolls up cleanly even when the lines think in different units.
Can customers reorder from a portal?
Yes. Every completed order becomes a one-click reorder template on the customer's portal — same stock, same finishing, same quantity ladder. They click Reorder, they pick a ship-to, you see it in the pipeline.
How does bleed checking work?
When prepress uploads artwork to a proof round, Flowtora flags missing bleed or low resolution on the proof itself — so the customer sees the concern before they sign off. Hard rejections block the proof from going out.
Can I track multiple shipments per order?
Yes. An order can have N shipments, each with its own ship-to, carrier, tracking number, and drop date. Mix a bulk drop-ship to a warehouse with individual office shipments on the same order; every box lives on the record.
Do you support kitting and mail-merge runs?
Variable-data runs are supported via CSV upload against the order. Kitting is modeled as a multi-shipment order with a packing slip per destination. We're not a full mail- merge engine, so very deep mailings still pair us with a dedicated tool — most shops don't need one.
What about trade print partners and outsourced runs?
Outsourced lines are first-class. Mark the line as trade-print, attach the partner's PO, and Flowtora tracks it through the press-partner's promised ship date so your CSR doesn't lose visibility.
Set up your print shop in an afternoon.
Import customers, seed your SKU catalog, send your first reorder — today.