Patent ID: 7125179

Claim:
A method of evaluating consolidation configurations of distributed print shops in an enterprise comprising: identifying a plurality of said distributed print shops, determining job data for any print job(s) for each print shop, calculating the initial operating capacities of at least one production function for each print shop on the basis of said job(s) originating from and being processed at the same print shop, calculating modified operating capacities of the production function(s) for each print shop on the basis of each print shop processing said job(s) originating from each of the other of said print shops, determining configurations of consolidating said plurality of print shops together into a number of consolidated print shops, and evaluating said operating capacities for each of said consolidation configurations for each production function to determine at least one consolidation configuration in which the operating capacities at each other print shop can be allocated to said consolidated print shop(s) such that the required operating capacity of the production function(s) for processing of said job(s) is minimized.