Enterprise production management of a print shop

A computer-controlled printing facility having a plurality of on-premises resources including printers and design stations for processing jobs, comprising:

• a console display having a plurality of icons representing each of said plurality of said resources;
• a profile register for storing the detailed attributes of each of said resources;
• means for receiving jobs to be processed by said resources according to a schedule;
• a queue for storing said jobs until said resources are ready to process said jobs;
• and
• means responsive to said jobs receiving means for consulting said profile register to assign said jobs to appropriate ones of said queues.

In a multistage process where work items are moved through a sequence of production areas, the improvement comprising:

• a computer control system including software means for displaying on a monitor associated with said computer a visual presentation of the real time progress of said work items in said areas, said system being programmed to:
• check the status of each of said production areas periodically,
• determine the instantaneous progress of each of said work items in said production areas, and
• move a visual representation of one of said work items a distance corresponding to said instantaneous progress.

A multistage process where work items are moved through a sequence of production queues, the improvement comprising:

• a computer control system including software means for displaying on a monitor associated with said computer a visual presentation of the real time progress of said work items in said queues, said system having:
• a profile register for storing the detailed attributes of resources at each of said production queues;
• means for receiving jobs to be processed by said resources according to a schedule;
• and
• means responsive to said jobs receiving means for consulting said profile register to assign said jobs to appropriate ones of said production queues.