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Printing

ERP software for printing presses and label printers

Quote every job with paper, printing and finishing on separate lines, follow up until it is won, keep paper and ink stock honest, and invoice with the right HSN or SAC code.

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In short

SimpleERP is ERP software for printing presses and label printers in India. Job quotations convert to orders and GST invoices, the CRM keeps follow-ups on time, paper and ink stock sit in one ledger, and payroll runs from attendance.

Illustration of the CRM pipeline with four stages and a list of follow-ups due today.

A day in a printing business

A press lives on quotes: most of the day goes into pricing jobs, chasing answers and then printing the ones that come back.

The morning starts with three enquiries. Annapoorna Sweets wants 5,000 brochures for Deepavali, a pharma distributor needs carton labels, and a school wants its annual diary repriced. Each quote is worked out on a calculator and sent as a photo.

By evening two quotes have gone quiet, one customer says yes on the phone, and nobody is sure whether the 130 gsm art paper in the godown will cover the run. The ink is short again, and the binding staff want an advance.

SimpleERP puts the job on two documents that carry it through: a quotation that lists paper, printing and finishing as lines and converts to an order or invoice without retyping, and a GST invoice that applies the HSN or SAC code and the right tax from the customer's state.

Quotations

Quote a job line by line and convert it when it is won

A quotation in SimpleERP lists every cost of the job as its own line, and once the customer accepts, it converts to a sales order or an invoice with every line carried over.

  • Free-text lines for plates, printing and finishing that are not stock items.
  • Expiry date on each quote, so a paper rate quoted in June is not honoured in October.
  • Revise copies a sent quote into a new draft for the changed quantity.
LineQuantityAmount
Art paper 130 gsm2,600 sheets @ ₹6.50₹16,900
Plates, four colour4 @ ₹450₹1,800
Printing, four colourlump sum₹6,500
Folding and trimming5,000 @ ₹0.40₹2,000
Job total₹5.44 per brochure₹27,200
Quotation for 5,000 A4 brochures, four colour, folded (before GST)

CRM

Every open quote has a follow-up with a date on it

Enquiries go into a pipeline as leads and deals, and each follow-up is a dated task that shows up in the salesperson's inbox on the day it is due.

  • Kanban board of deals by stage, with the value of each column.
  • Log calls and visits against the lead, deal or customer.
  • Duplicate warning when an enquiry's phone number is already a lead.

Illustration of the CRM pipeline with four stages and a list of follow-ups due today.

Print enquiries by stage, with follow-ups due today.

Purchase and inventory

Paper and ink stock you can quote against

Paper, board, ink and plates are stock products valued at weighted average cost by godown, so you know how many sheets of 130 gsm art are on hand before you promise a delivery date.

  • One unit per product. Count art paper in sheets and board in kg, or add a ream unit in settings.
  • Purchase orders and supplier bills bring paper into the godown at the bill cost.
  • Low stock list from reorder levels, grouped by supplier for the next order.
  • Stock adjustments with a reason record paper issued to a one-off job or spoiled in make-ready.

Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.

Paper, board and ink on hand by godown, with low-stock rows flagged.

Manufacturing

Repeat jobs costed once and made from stock

For jobs you print again and again, such as a customer's carton labels or a standard letterhead, a bill of materials fixes the paper, ink and labour per batch, and a work order uses the stock and adds the finished labels at actual cost.

  • Scrap percentage on paper covers make-ready and trimming waste.
  • Additional cost per batch for printing labour and power.
  • Work order from the sales order line, with the quantity still needed filled in.

Illustration of a bill of materials with cost roll-up and a work order moving from planned to in progress to completed.

A work order for 10,000 product labels with paper and ink consumed.

GST billing and payroll

Invoices with the right code, and wages from attendance

Each line on the invoice carries its own HSN or SAC code and tax rate, so printed goods and printing services can go on one bill, with CGST and SGST or IGST chosen from the place of supply. Payroll for machine operators and binding staff runs from the attendance you mark.

  • HSN summary on the A4 print, with your bank details and a UPI QR.
  • Receipts allocated to invoices, with ageing and statements per customer.
  • Payslips with PF, PT and TDS, and advances recovered month by month.

Illustration of GST tax invoice INV-2026-27-0213 to Ravi Stores with CGST 9% and SGST 9%, round off, a UPI QR code and the amount in words.

A tax invoice for printed brochures with CGST and SGST.

Ready on day one

What you don't have to set up

SimpleERP seeds the general parts when you sign up, so your first day is about entering paper and customers, not configuring software.

  • A chart of accounts with stock, cost of goods sold and a manufacturing overhead account mapped.
  • GST rates split into CGST, SGST and IGST, ready to pick on a product or service.
  • Units such as pieces, kilograms, boxes and sets, and document numbering on the April to March year.
  • Seven ready-made roles, from Owner to Employee self-service, to copy and adjust later.

One system

The modules that do this work

A quotation becomes an order and an invoice; the invoice writes the sale, the GST, the receivable and any stock issue in the same step.

Honest limits

What SimpleERP does not do for printing presses yet

Better to know these before you move your jobs over.

  • An estimation calculator. Work out the paper, plates and run cost yourself and enter them as quotation lines.
  • Job costing beyond a BOM and work order. There is no job-wise profit report for one-off jobs.
  • Job-work challans for paper sent to a binder or laminator. Use a stock transfer to a warehouse named for them.
  • Unit conversion between reams and sheets. Each product keeps one unit.
  • E-way bill generation or e-invoice (IRN) through the government APIs.

Getting started

Start with your first invoice

  1. Sign up with your phone

    Name, phone number and a password. No card for the seven-day trial, and email is optional.

  2. Tell us about the business

    Type your GSTIN and the state fills itself. Accounts, GST rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for you.

  3. Add what you sell

    Import your paper, board and ink from a CSV file with opening stock, and add your printing and finishing work as services with their SAC code.

  4. Post your first GST invoice

    Pick the customer, add lines and save. Your first GST invoice can be out within 10 minutes of signing up.

FAQ

Questions, answered

What GST rate applies to printing jobs?

It depends on whether the job is a supply of printed goods or a printing service, which turns on who supplies the paper and the content. Printed goods take an HSN code such as 4911 for printed matter or 4821 for paper labels, and printing services take a SAC code under 9989. In SimpleERP you set the code and rate on each product or service, and the invoice applies CGST and SGST or IGST from the place of supply. Rates change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your CA or the GST portal before you rely on it.

Does SimpleERP calculate the price of a print job for me?

No. There is no estimation calculator for sheets, plates or impressions. Work it out from your rate card and enter it as quotation lines for paper, printing and finishing.

Is it suitable for a small press with five or six people?

Yes. Every member you invite is included, a single-location press never sees branches or warehouses until it needs them.

We keep jobs in a register and accounts in Tally. How do we move?

Import your paper and ink as products from a CSV file with opening stock, enter customers and suppliers on screen with their GSTIN, and post opening balances. Start new quotations and invoices in SimpleERP from the first day of a month so the registers line up.

Can I track paper used on a single job?

For repeat jobs, yes: a work order consumes paper and ink from stock and puts the cost on the finished product. For a one-off job billed as a service, record the paper issued with a stock adjustment and a note naming the job.

Related

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