For signage & sign making
Production and installation —
one plan, no parallel chaos.
Plotter scheduling, layout approval, wrapper assignment, aerial-platform slot: who is doing what right now and what comes next — at a glance, not by phone.
Gantway digital desk — production and installation in one view, machines with utilization
Plotter, printer, laminator, wrapping team, installation crew: workshop and field service in one board. A rush order lands immediately where there is capacity.
A typical signage business
8 employees,
25 parallel orders, 5 machines.
This business doesn't need new accounting software. It needs a plan that maps the production and installation levels at the same time — and makes rush orders visible before they blow up the schedule.
Das Problem
Five realities
every signage business knows.
25 orders, three of them with a red deadline — and no overview.
Wraps, signs, banners, two large projects — all in progress at the same time. Which orders are in production, which are waiting on material, which are waiting on the customer? Anyone who can't say offhand misses deadlines.
The plotter stands idle until the rush order is done — or it runs through until the regular customer is left waiting.
A large-format print occupies the plotter for six hours. At the same time the call comes in: banner for tomorrow morning, trade-show start at nine. Two orders, one machine. Without a schedule the answer is always a guess.
Layout approval pending — and production, material and installation hang on it.
The film is ordered, the print slot scheduled, the installation date communicated. Then the approval only comes on Friday — with change requests. Three steps to re-coordinate, without anyone having it in view.
Wrapper in production, fitter on the road — who does what, and when is who back?
Production and installation are two different planning levels, but one team. When the wrapper has to go to the site this afternoon, they're missing in the workshop. This dependency usually sits only in the owner's head.
Aerial platform not reserved — installation stuck in the parking lot.
The facade sign is finished, the van loaded, the installation team off. Then the aerial platform is at the neighboring business. Three hours' delay, a customer just before their opening on the phone.
Wie Gantway hilft
Six functions
signage really needs.
Station utilization with traffic-light colors in Gantway
Machine scheduling: plotter, printer, laminator at a glance.
The digital desk shows which machine is busy when and for how long. Where can the rush order still be scheduled without pushing another customer? See capacity gaps — before the call comes.
To the digital deskStation overload as a conflict marker
Spot machine conflicts before they arise.
When two orders need the same plotter at the same time, the conflict engine raises the alarm — not only once the first order is left waiting. Rush orders can thus be fed in deliberately, without throwing the rest out of rhythm.
To the conflict engineTasks with status badges inside an order
Layout approval as its own order phase, not as an invisible blocker.
Every order runs through phases: layout approval → production → installation. "Waiting on customer approval" is a visible status — Gantway shows which orders are blocked, since when and what that means for the machine and the installation date.
To order managementOrders with status badges in the list view
Quotes with version history: layout revisions without confusion.
Customer wants variant 3 but with the font from variant 1? Quotes in Gantway store every version — which change when, what was approved and what gets produced from it. No searching through email threads.
To quotes & customer portalPlanned and actual values as KPI tiles in controlling
Pre- and post-costing: capture special formats and rush surcharges cleanly.
Special film, express delivery, night installation — everything has its price. Gantway sets planned effort against actual effort. What did the rush project really cost, and was the surcharge enough?
To pre-/post-costingTime clock with a large clock-in button
Mobile time tracking: the fitter clocks in directly on site.
Installation teams are rarely in the office. The time clock runs on the smartphone — travel time, installation time, rework. No note, no back-entering, no discrepancy between billed and actual hours.
To mobile time trackingWhat sets signage apart from other trades
Two planning levels:
production in the workshop, installation outside.
In no other trade are there two parallel planning levels as consistently as in signage: machine scheduling in the workshop and external jobs with vehicle, aerial platform and specialist qualification. Both levels hang on each other — and that is exactly what most planning tools lack.
Gantway Gantt — orders with layout approval as a phase, production and installation as follow-up tasks
Layout approval controls everything downstream
Production, material ordering, print slot and installation date all hang on the customer approval. Gantway makes the approval an explicit order phase — whoever is waiting sees it immediately, and the impact on the machine calendar is transparent.
Schedule qualifications for work at heights
Aerial platform license, permit for work at heights, vehicle-wrapping experience — not every fitter is allowed to do every job. Gantway knows the team's qualifications and only assigns orders to the fitting employees.
Treat equipment like machines
Aerial platform, van and special tools are bookable and visible — with a conflict alert when two installation teams need the same platform at the same time. No call to the neighboring business just before departure.
Production completion and installation date coupled
If the print date shifts, the installation start shifts too. Gantway links both order steps — changes in production are immediately visible in the installation plan, before the fitter has already set off.
Was das in Zahlen heißt
Marge, Auslastung, Termine —
an einem Ort.
The wrapper at the tablet, the fitter on the road: see tasks, book times, tick off the installation date — without calling back to the office.
- Time clock mobile and tablet-ready
- Personal tasks per employee
- Hours directly on order and phase
Gantway My Work — tablet view for the fitter with time clock and personal tasks
FAQ
Frequently asked questions. Answered briefly.
How do I reliably hit fixed deadlines in signage — trade fair, opening, campaign launch?
Those dates do not move — so the chain before them has to hold. In Gantway, printing, production and installation are linked as tasks with dependencies: if one step slips, you immediately see whether the final date still holds, including a suggested fix.
The conflict engine in detail How fast can I get a quote out?
Calculate, send as PDF, done — and the customer accepts online through a secure portal. Acceptance automatically becomes the order, without anyone retyping anything.
Quotes & customer portal in detail Can we see printing, workshop and installation in one plan?
Yes — all orders and all employees sit on one planning surface with a utilization display. Someone tied up at the router does not appear in the installation plan at the same time.
What does order planning for signage cost?
Three plans by active accounts; schedule-only employees cost nothing. Trial period: 14 days free, no credit card.
See pricing Can we take a look at Gantway without obligation first?
Yes — either test it yourself right away or in a 30-minute demo: we walk through your workflows live in the system, without slides and without follow-up pressure.
Book a demoYour question wasn't answered?
Ask us directly — in a 30-minute demo or by message. A person answers, not a canned reply.
Or by email: kontakt@gantway.com
Less coordination by shouting,
more orders on time at the customer.
In 15 minutes we show you how a typical signage order in Gantway is structured from the layout approval through the print slot to the aerial-platform slot — no scribbled notes, no status calls, no surprises.
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