Print Farm & Production
Which production tool should I open?
Three tools, three questions. Manager assigns jobs to named printers. Bulk Order Planning turns one large order into plates and hours. Print Farm Capacity asks how much room the whole farm still has.
Multiple Printer Manager is the whiteboard: named printers, hours they actually print, jobs, who is assigned, offline machines that take no work. Auto-fill can place unassigned jobs. It does not talk to the printers or watch them run.
Bulk Order Planning answers “I just got a large order — what does it take to make it?” Plates, extras, printer-hours, days, material, packaging. No selling price. What-if printer counts do not overwrite the main plan.
Print Farm Capacity answers “how much can the farm still produce in this window?” Gross hours, practical hours, committed work, remaining room, optional product throughput. Saved printers are read-only here.
Order Capacity & Deadline (Seller Pro) is the simpler yes/no: pooled hours vs a due date, not a named-printer board.
One printer can still use Bulk Order Planning. Manager and Farm Capacity matter more once you have a roster.
Use this tool
Quick tip
Pricing a batch is Batch Order. Making a batch is Bulk Order Planning. Mixing those two is the usual mix-up.