Step 1 (You send us a computer file):
Send us your computer file with all the items you want to appear in your catalog. Our clients find it
easiest to go through the products they have in their computer system and enter a code in one of the fields to identify that item as one that should be exported to their catalog file list. This way they only need to do this step once. Identifying products can take a few days the first time, but once done new products are easily identified for inclusion in future catalogs.
We can accept a wide variety of exported files that contain the information required for the merge process including Excel, dBase and tab delimited ASCII files. The information we need in your file for each item is as follows: the manufacturer's name or code; the product name; the manufacturer's number; your order code; and your price including quantity pricing, e.g. $9.99, 3 @ $9.49, 6 @ $9.19. Including prices in your catalog is optional. If you do not have the ability to export a computer file of products, we can provide one for you to edit.
Step 2 (We send you a rough draft in 24 hours):
An unformatted rough draft
When we receive your file we merge the information in your file with the catalog product information in our database using custom software developed by us. The resulting catalog layout file contains your products, your order numbers and your prices along with complete catalog information including product categories, descriptions, images, indexing references, etc. This step also identifies those products we may not have in our database that we need to add prior to running your final layout.
When the merge is complete, we take the catalog layout file and run it through our custom layout software that creates an unformatted rough draft like the example above. Every rough draft starts out as a blank page. Our software lays out and formats your catalog paragraph by paragraph, section by section. The resulting rough draft is similar in appearance to the final layout with the exception that there is no cover, the ads are not placed, the product charts are in a separate file, the images have not been sized and there is no index. (There is no point in producing an index when the pages numbers are going to change.) We then turn the rough draft into an Adobe Acrobat® file for you to proof.
While you are proofing your first rough draft, we will add any items you had in your file we do not have in our database, including private label items you may have. If you have a lot of private label items or items not already in our database, we may need extra time before we can do step 3. If you see you included or omitted items you want or do not want in your catalog, you can add or delete them from your next file. We will repeat steps 1 & 2 until you are satisfied with your catalog content and are ready to give us your final file. Repeating steps 1 & 2 are determined by you and may take one to several weeks. While you are proofing, we will use this time to create your cover, border design and go over your font and category color selections.
Step 3 (We send your final layout in 24 working days):
Formatted final layout - Disposables
Formatted final layout - Burs
Formatted final layout - Surgical Products
When you are satisfied with your product mix and have all of your prices current in your computer system, you will send us a new file that will become the final layout. When we receive this file we will repeat steps 1 & 2 (you do not need to proof the rough draft unless you want to). We will then perform step 3 which is where we will resize the product images and perform any remaining manual formatting; add your cover; insert the product charts, the ads and any other custom pages; utilize your selection of fonts and border design; and generate the product index. The images above are examples of a formatted layout. You will then check this final proof for any last minute corrections before we send the layout to the printer. Printing and press proofing typically takes another three to four weeks.
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