Patent ID: 8503015

Claim:
A method for a computer to manage print jobs in a printing system comprising: (i) maintaining a prioritized queue of print jobs, each print job including at least one part to be printed from one print product and a priority that corresponds to a desired ship date and time; (ii) identifying the print jobs in the prioritized queue to be printed during a next cycle, wherein time is divided into cycles and the length of the next cycle specified prior to the end of a previous cycle; (iii) determining a minimum number of printers required to print the identified print jobs during the next cycle; (iv) assigning the determined minimum number of printers to a print value stream, said print value stream including a number of printers capable of printing the at least one part from the at least one print product of each of the identified print jobs; and (v) providing the identified print jobs from the prioritized queue in priority order to the print value stream for printing.