As You Like It
“We manage what we call their ARP [automatic replenishment program] program, keeping those titles [in stock] that you only turn 50 or 100 of a year, or every few months,” Williams explains. “That’s a major advantage for using digital print to keep the runs short and their inventory low as well.”
Williams says the automated system OPM uses allows the company to turn titles around in a matter of hours. “We probably have about 20,000 titles in our content management system in the ARP program, and … every morning we’ll receive an order [from Pearson, for example], and they’ll get put through a filter that opens … and checks the files to the specifications to verify that the order is correct. [The filter] will drop the files into [the appropriate] ‘hot directory’ on the digital press, whether it be our [Xerox] iGen or our web presses.”