Our Sincerest Apologies To The Status Quo.
Introducing New Technology That Is Setting New Standards
Nexgen’s Sign Production System Version 2.0 (SPSv2), is at the heart of our highly flexible time and money saving program. It is designed to reliably and quickly process a retailers assets and data, helping them reap tremendous benefits of streamlined retail shelf signage. Retailers begin the process by providing sign sizes, original art files, and details from their overall marketing plan. Nexgen creates signs according to your specifications and then begins the detailed coding work governing each sign’s variable data elements.
Within a week, new customers will begin to review proof samples of signs – printed on the sign’s actual stock – to ensure color and in-store installation requirements. Working with technology partners for automated web-to-print order entry, and for back-end print engine throughput, our Sign Production System manages the data pipeline that allows for fully customized, planogram ordered weekly shelf signs/tags.
Our solution alleviates one of the biggest challenges large retailers’ face, of using up to 100 hours each week, sorting and hanging signs printed using traditional methods. The Nexgen extensive and robust IT framework works seamlessly with retailers’ data and brand assets, to quickly and efficiently create fully customized signage that is collated to reflect a retailer’s exact planogram. Our innovative retail signage workflow, along with the high-end digital color print capabilities of our nationwide printing network, can accommodate a wide range of size and format options. Plus, retailers have the ability to incorporate adhesive-based signage, paper signage for use in plastic holders, or a combination of both, solely on each store’s specific needs.
Nationwide Print Network
In 2009, Grandville Printing Co. launched the Nexgen National Print Network, a group of select printing companies that all share HP Indigo digital printing capacity and meet Grandville's stringent requirements for capacity, quality, and fast turnaround. With 17 printing locations in the U.S. and two in Canada, these 17 partner facilities are able to print and deliver the retailers' time-sensitive printed materials. Signage printed by Grandville and its Nexgen National Print Network partners helps retailers minimize one of their significant expenses: the up to 100 hours per week spent installing signage. Nexgen signage is fully customizable and is delivered collated in order based on a retail location's specific aisle layout. The signage also does not require bursting at delivery.
A Picture Is Worth More Than A Thousand Words.
GPC’s own proprietary retail product and logo image library is a collection of over 180,000 images pulled from thousands of sources, including manufacturers like Unilever and Proctor & Gamble. The images are managed by a dedicated editorial team and the library is updated quarterly. Each image is classified by UPC code and includes meta-data (descriptions like source, date, size, product name, manufacturer). The images are stored in a common database format. Also, each image is sized to fit typical shelf and aisle signs and optimized for use with our SPS v2.1 software system. This enables the rapid and automated creation of shelf and aisle signs to include four color logos and product pictures based on UPC code reference.
Retailers already use images for their ads or newspaper inserts. Why not transfer those images to your shelf edge as well? This creates consistency “from the door through the store.” Also, images save labor because they make it easy to see which sign hangs by which product on the shelf.
Example: Grandco ROI Analysis
Grandco, a grocery chain with 500 stores that hangs a total of 1800 signs per store per week, the traditional way. Each store takes 16 hours per week to hang their signs using their current method. With Grandville Printing and its Nexgen technology, Grandco has saved 100% of their perf/sort time. Grandco has also saved money in labor costs by cutting 50% of the time off the 12 hours it usually takes to set each store weekly due to the help of images on the signs and having the signs in planogram order.
Sign Production System v2.1
Nexgen's sign production system, version 2.0, is at the heart of our highly flexible time- and money-saving offerings. It is designed to reliably and quickly process our customer assets and data, helping them reap tremendous benefits in streamlined retail signage and marketing. Working with technology partners Access Via for automated web-to-print order entry, and Printable for back-end print engine throughput, our Sign Production System manages the data pipeline that allows for fully customized, sequentially ordered signage.
The sequential ordering of signage available through Nexgen means that signage is delivered fully collated in a sequence that reflects the aisle layout of a specific retail location, significantly reducing labor costs for sign installation. The solution alleviates one of the biggest challenges large retailers face: the up to 100 hours they spend each week sorting and hanging signs printed using traditional methods. Nexgen extensive and robust IT framework works seamlessly with retailers' data and brand assets to quickly and efficiently create fully customizable signage that is collated to reflect a retailer's exact floor plan. Our innovative retail signage workflow, along with the high-end digital color print capabilities of our nationwide printing network, can accommodate a wide range of size and format options. Plus, customers have the ability to incorporate adhesive-based signage, signage for use in plastic holders, or a combination of both based solely on a store's specific layout.
Complex Process. Simple Results
SPS is a comprehensive client/server database software application, written and designed by the GPC software development team. It includes the ability to manage, track, sort and produce variable data full color signage, in a high speed data processing environment. The system is fully scalable, multi-threaded and load balanced and currently runs in a multi-server virtualized data processing center. It includes several components for managing weekly production and rapid changes to template and business rule logic. The system runs primarily on top of Microsoft SQL Server Database and integrates PDF print engine technology from AccessVia. Certain aspects of the SPS v2.1 system are patent pending and GPC is continuously adding new capabilities.
Redundant Capacity for IT Disaster Recovery and Backup
Our primary objective was to continue to process client data and produce print-ready PDF's even if GPC loses power. We now have the ability to re-route our workflow to our new Digital Data Center in Chicago. In addition, both our Grand Rapids data center and Chicago are connected, offering additional capacity when needed during the peak holiday season.
Template Process
Retailers begin the process by providing sign sizes, original art files and details from their overall marketing plan. Nexgen creates signs according to the customer's specifications and then begins the detailed coding work governing each sign's variable-data elements. In addition to their own images, retailers can use Nexgen's large selection of royalty-free images.
Within a week, new customers will begin to review proof samples of signs - printed on the sign's actual stock -- to ensure color and in-store installation requirements. Nexgen accepts most standard image and database file formats.
