Catalog Production in the Digital Age

Spindler offers an example: “If I place an order for something on Amazon.com, I receive a confirmation of my order that may include a link to the shipping agent’s systems, where I can check on the status of my order real-time. We, as customers, have a direct window into distribution, in this case.

“Up until now,” she continues, “the print buyer has had zero visibility into the manufacturer’s processes. Once they submitted a file to the printer and it went into prepress, publishers had little to no awareness of the job’s status unless they got a call from a CSR alerting them to problems,” Spindler concludes.