Start here: what belongs in Shop Management

Welcome to the Shop Management board — scheduling, workflow, automation, hiring, and the back-office work that decides whether a shop grows or just gets busier. If it's about running the business instead of running the press, it's home here.

Ideas worth stealing on day one:

• Update job statuses in real time, not from memory. The whole shop should be able to see where any job stands without asking you. A five-minute end-of-day status pass kills morning chaos.
• Automate the "where's my order?" call away. A couple of automated status emails (in production, ready for pickup) cut inbound calls dramatically and get you paid faster.
• Schedule by fit, not just by what's open. Route the 6-color job to the press with the most heads; keep a fast press free for rush and simple work. Matching job to press cuts setup time.
• Reduce setup, not print speed. Setup is where most shops actually bleed hours. Pre-register screens, batch similar jobs, and watch throughput climb.

How to ask a good question: describe your shop size, your current process, and the specific bottleneck. The more concrete ("we lose an hour every morning figuring out what to print"), the better the answers. Attach a photo or screenshot of your board or schedule on the thread — seeing your actual setup helps.