MaterialsBeta
Build a reusable library of substrates, consumables, and packaging priced per unit — the material side of every Print MIS cost calculation.
Materials are the consumable resources that go into a job — the paper or board it prints on, the ink, laminate, and coatings it uses, and the boxes and packaging it ships in. The Materials library is a per-storefront catalog you maintain once and reference from any configuration. Each material carries a cost per unit, so whenever a process step or option consumes it, Print MIS knows exactly what that consumption costs.
Material properties
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The display name used throughout the admin — for example "14pt C2S Gloss Cover" or "Soft-Touch Laminate". |
| Category | Groups the material as a Substrate, Consumable, or Packaging for organization and filtering. |
| Unit | The unit the cost is measured in — for example MSI (thousand square inches), linear inch, each, impression, or sheet. |
| Cost per Unit | The cost of one unit of the material. This is the value consumption formulas multiply against. |
| Weight / Weight Unit | Optional physical weight per unit, in lb, oz, g, or kg. Used where production or shipping calculations need a job's weight. |
| Thickness | Optional thickness in inches, for formulas and equipment that depend on caliper. |
| Description | Optional notes about the material. |
How materials are consumed
Materials don't carry a price on their own — they're priced by how much of them a job uses. A configuration draws on a material in two ways:
- Process step materials — a process step lists the materials it consumes and a consumption formula for each. The formula resolves to a quantity in the material's unit, which is multiplied by the cost per unit to produce that step's material cost.
- Option items — an order option item can be tied to a material so that selecting it consumes that material according to the option's consumption formula.
Because cost lives on the material and consumption lives in the configuration, updating a material's Cost per Unit re-prices every configuration that references it — no need to touch the formulas.
Import and export
The Materials list includes Excel import and export. Exporting produces a workbook with a single Materials sheet (Id, Name, CostPerUnit, Unit, Description, Category); edit it in Excel and re-upload to apply changes.
Imports are additive and update-only: a row with an existing Id updates that material, a row with a blank Id inserts a new one, and any material in the store that isn't in the workbook is left untouched. Imports never delete — removing a material stays a manual action in the UI. This makes the round-trip a safe way to bulk-edit costs or copy a material catalog to another storefront.
Print MIS materials are separate from the parametric editor's "Material" textures and frame configurations used in Print CAD — they are unrelated catalogs.
Configurations
Build a complete cost-based price for a category — quantities, sizes, options, formula variables, process steps, and margin — using the Print MIS configuration editor.
Equipment
Model your machines, their processes, run speeds, setup times, and volume-tiered click charges — the labor and per-unit cost side of every Print MIS calculation.