Phase 3: Transforming Operations Through Automation

Fifteen years ago, if Phase 3 Marketing and Communications needed to increase capacity, Troy McGinnis, the executive VP of print services, says they would just throw money at equipment. And believe it or not, there was even a time when McGinnis says they’d physically touch every single file that came into production.

Today that is no longer the case. Phase 3 has taken the path of automation and technology, and is working with OneVision to implement workflow automation solutions that will reduce manual touchpoints.

“There are days where we process 3,000-4,000 orders in a day, now OneVision takes those orders and we don’t even have to touch them anymore,” McGinnis says.

Phase 3 is a marketing services company that celebrated its 20th year in business in 2021. It integrates marketing services and provides solutions across the print and marketing spectrum, from ideation to execution. It’s headquartered in Atlanta with other offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and the New York City metropolitan area.

“I’m a huge proponent of efficiencies and technologies, so about three years ago I decided that we were going to completely change the course of our printing division,” says McGinnis.

Because Phase 3 has full agency services, McGinnis notes that the company’s front-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are “pretty state of the art.” However, it was the back end that needed a little TLC.

“It seemed like we were treating the back end of the house a little bit more like old school printing, so the question became why weren’t we using technology to make our back end more efficient?” McGinnis says.
So McGinnis got to work. He decided that he was going to completely rebuild the company’s ERP and redesign it so there was no front end or back end, it would be just one system for everything from processing orders, to web-to-print portals for clients and print production software.

McGinnis says he and his team did a lot of research, and spent time with a lot of companies before ultimately deciding to go with OneVision.

“We wanted the flexibility to build something that was unique to our business, because we’re definitely unique. We’re not your standard ‘Hey, here’s some business cards, throw them on the press and let’s go,’” McGinnis says. “Everything we do is custom and weird and funky. So, we needed a company that would be flexible, and help us adapt and build to our needs, and OneVision was in the running, and at the end of the day, they convinced us that they could partner with us and help us build that system.”

Over the course of the last year, McGinnis says they’ve been implementing this new system, and he notes that it’s going to change the way they work for the better; the shop even got to test the new system with one of its larger retail clients.

McGinnis notes the test run was for a job that once took them seven-eight hours to process from order entry to printing, and the interim steps in between like setting up the files, checking colors, etc. It now gets processed in just 12-15 minutes.

“We’ve completely been able to transform our entire front end, and that’s really, really critical because the production time still takes about the same amount of time because presses print as fast as they print, but we’re gaining that front-end time, so we can be faster to market and service our clients without any change in service level,” McGinnis says.

Of course, implementing and building this system didn’t come without growing pains. McGinnis notes that at the time, OneVision — while well on its way to really getting a handle on wide format — was newer to the market, and dealing with so many different equipment and RIPs between their New Jersey, Atlanta, and Dallas facilities was no walk in the park.

However, over time, McGinnis says the two companies have been able to benefit from each other. Phase 3 helped OneVision become better versed in wide-format, and OneVision allowed Phase 3 to better understand the possibilities and benefits of automation.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years — we’ve implemented a lot of technology, a lot of presses, a lot of front end services, all this kind of stuff. This has probably been the most daunting technology implementation, but it’s also going to turn out to be probably the most rewarding,” McGinnis says. He estimates that their new ERP system will fully be up and running by December.

For PSPs concerned that automation means losing the human aspect, McGinnis offers, “Technology doesn’t replace experience or people. The only reason we’re successful is because of all the great people we have, it’s giving them more tools so they can work better and more efficiently, but that consultation on the front end, it’s never replaced,” McGinnis says. “It takes both — you still have to have great people with great minds, and that’s what has always been at the core of this company, but then you also have to be smart and bring in the technology. You don’t replace one with the other.”