Global Publisher Easily Manages High-Volume POD Book Orders with Select

Situation (Challenge)

Publishing over 13,000 books annually, and keeping an extensive backlist of book titles available for print, Springer Nature sought a U.S. print vendor who was capable of consistently producing one-off book orders within days, and at scale, to keep up with the demands of consumers.

With the majority of orders being produced on demand, Springer Nature needed a partner that could provide reliable turnaround and achieve the initial goal of having tens of thousands of their backlist book titles available for print orders. Therefore, it was imperative that the partner have the technology and systems in place to integrate with Springer Nature’s current content and ordering systems and be able to support their large backlist and highly transactional order volume.

Solution

As a long-time journal customer of Sheridan, and a current user of Sheridan’s central product management system, Select, for on-demand journal orders, Springer Nature asked Sheridan how they could leverage the Select platform to provide a truly automated process for content ingestion and order management for book orders.

Sheridan worked with Springer Nature to integrate their book content feed and core business system with Select so the transfer of files, orders, and acknowledgements between the companies could be automated. The new workflow model created for books is very similar to what Springer Nature has used for journals with Sheridan for over 10 years.

Content Ingestion

With tens of thousands of book titles to be loaded into Select’s Electronic Warehouse (SEW), Springer Nature sends titles in seven days a week through data feeds from their content management system. This content system is linked to Select, which receives the files, reads the metadata, prefights the files against the supplied metadata, and adds them to the SEW around the clock in a completely touch-free process. Select also sends a weekly report of any issues detected during preflight and a daily title catalog updated with titles that were loaded into the SEW. The daily report triggers updates to Springer Nature’s core business system, indicating new titles that are now available for ordering.

Automated Ordering and Fulfillment

Select processes different types of orders for Springer Nature, from zero warehousing single-copy orders that ship directly to the consumer, to short-run warehouse replenishment orders and large-run offset orders that are consolidated and shipped back to the warehouse. When an order is sent from Springer Nature’s core business system to Select, Select processes the order and sends a print order acknowledgement notification back to Springer Nature. The order is then printed, bound, and shipped. Upon shipment of the order from Sheridan, an automated shipment notification signal is sent back to the core business system, and the system is automatically updated with the shipment information.

Results

Sheridan’s unique ability to integrate its Select platform with Springer Nature’s content and ordering systems has provided Springer Nature with a U.S. print partner that is able to accommodate the high volume of content ingestion and order production, along with the on-time fulfillment that they require, in a fully automated fashion.

From zero warehousing single-copy orders, to short-run warehouse replenishment orders, to large offset orders, Sheridan is able to meet the quick turnaround for Springer Nature’s orders—keeping their inventory and warehouse costs down and providing faster turnaround time to market with their products.

Products and Services Used

• Select
• Select Electronic Warehouse
• Sheridan Print

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