Swedish print provider transforms operations with GelatoConnect and AI Estimator
Jesper Hammarstrand knew his print business needed a change. As CEO of Ink n Art, a Swedish printing company specializing in signage, large format printing, and packaging, he'd spent years wrestling with a custom-built ERP system that couldn't keep up.
"We had no control on stock levels," Jesper explains. "Profit overall was really hard for us to tell. We needed dashboards to follow production in a better way."
After searching for solutions for three to four years, Jesper discovered GelatoConnect at Drupa. What started as curiosity turned into a complete operational transformation.
From chaos to control in real time
The first breakthrough came from visibility. Within weeks of implementing GelatoConnect, Jesper experienced what he calls a "wow moment" through the mobile app.
"The first wow moment was following our business from the app," he says. "I could see the percentage of orders packed, how packaging stations were going, and paper consumption in real time as the Indigo was printing."
For Jesper, this meant freedom. "I can follow the day-to-day business from anywhere. I don't have to disturb my production manager or call salespeople. The app lets me follow along in all different areas of the company."
Before GelatoConnect, inventory management consumed entire days. "You could take a day to do a full stock take," Jesper notes. "Now it's just a rolling process in real time."
Massive efficiency gains across operations
The efficiency improvements hit every corner of the business. During peak season producing 40,000 calendars in four weeks, the printers initially said they were at capacity.
"Our printers said we were at full capacity," Jesper explains. "But when we needed to produce 40,000 calendars in four weeks, we added just two hours to our shifts and got it done. We can fit so much more into each shift when everything is streamlined."
The packaging operation transformed completely. "We can take someone from the street, teach them in half an hour, and they're good to go with sorting and packaging," Jesper says. "That makes us not so vulnerable when people are sick or can't come to work."
The numbers prove it. "We had no clue how long packing took before," he estimates. "Now we're seeing 30% time savings, sometimes even more. We could never handle 3,000 packages five months ago, but we can do that today."
50% shipping cost savings through GelatoConnect Logistics
Cost reduction became immediately visible through GelatoConnect Logistics. "We thought we had really good shipping prices before," Jesper reveals. "But with GelatoConnect Logistics, we actually now can pay 50% of what we did before."
The procurement module delivered additional savings. "We save tons of money on packaging material," Jesper notes. "With the volumes coming in from GelatoCreate we also lower the cost from the ones that we did order from before."
Estimator transforms quoting from bottleneck to competitive advantage
Perhaps the most dramatic change came from AI Estimator. Traditional quoting took 5 to 10 minutes of work, but customers often waited hours for a response.
Jesper shares a telling example: "I was packing boxes when a printer called needing a quote for 400 posters. I directed him to our AI tool. 30 seconds later, he had his price."
The speed advantage is clear. "From 5 to 10 minutes with hours of waiting could now be 30 seconds instead," Jesper explains.
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When a sales team member left, Ink n Art made an unexpected decision. "We had one person quit from sales and we realized we do not need to hire anyone else," Jesper says. "The AI estimator solved that issue. We're at 75% of our original team but can now offer more quotes in a faster way."
The math is simple. "With three people, we used to be limited to eight hours per person," he explains. "Now we can handle whatever number of quotes come in."
The freed-up time went to relationship building. "Our sales team can now book meetings and build relationships instead of calculating quotes," Jesper explains. "As CEO, I can visit clients with a Christmas gift instead of calculating easy jobs."
New opportunities unlock growth
The combination of Store Link and AI Estimator opened entirely new markets. "We're now looking into the poster market that we weren't in before," Jesper shares. "All the stores we never looked at are now wide open for us."
The global possibilities excite him most. "We can have headquarters in Sweden with everyone ordering through our system, but print locally all around the world through Gelato's network."
The partnership difference
Technical capabilities matter, but Jesper emphasizes the human element. "Every new person I meet at Gelato is better than the last one," he says. "This is a partner, not a supplier. Some software we've been buying for 10 years, I have no idea who those people are. This is a big difference."
What it means for print businesses
For other print service providers considering GelatoConnect and AI Estimator, Jesper's advice is straightforward: "It's given me control. Inventory takes no time because we have real-time data. The AI estimator gives us control on profit. It frees up time and saves money. I hit something really good when I found Gelato."
The transformation at Ink n Art shows what's possible when print businesses move beyond fragmented systems to an integrated, intelligent operating system. From 50% shipping cost savings to handling triple the package volume, from 30-second quotes to global expansion opportunities, the results speak for themselves.
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