Workflow

Workflow saves time and money

Tuesday 31. March 2009 - HIFLEX MIS and Esko BackStage team up in an efficient networking solution for the packaging sector at P. H. Keim GmbH

Workflow accelerated by the factor 3.5 times. That is the productivity boost achieved by packaging specialists Ph. Hch. Keim GmbH through implementation of their networking project linking up HIFLEX MIS and Esko BackStage. The enhanced efficiency of production and a broad scope of automatic routines speed up job throughput and cuts costs accordingly.
It is nowadays hardly necessary to spend time explaining the general benefits of JDF – after all, JDF has long since demonstrated its practical merits in the world of digital integration, networking and process automation. HIFLEX customers were involved in corresponding projects from the very beginning, including both full service printing companies and classic prepress and packaging specialists.
No other field of the print industry sees itself faced with as many product variants as the packaging sector: A sheer boundless multitude of forms, sizes, colours and codes. But it is not only a question of content and geometrical diversity – the variety of required print technologies further raises the complexity of packaging production.
Ph. Hch. Keim GmbH in the city of Langen near Frankfurt is a service provider for complete prepress and production management in the fields of offset and flexo packaging printing. The technologically demanding flexo process, in particular, combines ultimate design sophistication and advanced print equipment. In this context, Keim describes itself as a solution partner for industrial customers, agencies, retailers and printing companies and is a sought-after international specialist for packaging prepress services of all kinds.
From repro studio to packaging pros
The comprehensive know-how of the company, which was founded in 1926 and today counts around 100 employees, is built upon decades of experience in the reproduction business and first-hand contact with all the technological developments which have accompanied the evolution from a manual craft to digital production. Keim provides for integration of all the processes involved in print production, right through to print data management or fully outsourced process chains. The tour de force for packaging printers, namely consistent and matched colour, has been perfected at Keim. Sound practical knowledge in the handling of the different technologies, proofing on production paper, metallised PE substrates and the use of special and UV inks are further aspects of Keim’s specialist profile. The company has been certified to the ISO quality standard since 1999, and supports its industrial, agency and retailer customers directly in matters of brand management for their products.
Raising efficiency
Given the diversity of product variants in the packaging sector, the processes of data archiving, corresponding data administration and fast retrieval of the production data from the archives are challenges which are not to be underestimated. And especially not where the order structure typically reveals 400 repeat jobs out of a total of 600 jobs per month. An efficient workflow must thus be equipped with different routines to find the archived production data quickly and simply. For a long time, automation was only possible to a very limited extent. It was not unusual for the manual retrieval of data from hard drive disk archives, tapes and other storage media to occupy a job coordinator for a good hour of each day.
Keim was thus interested in a solution which would enhance efficiency and automation with regard to administration and production, while at the same time promoting improvements in quality and process reliability. It was furthermore necessary to incorporate the existing EskoArtwork production system and to implement JDF connectivity via an MIS.
After extensive project and market studies, a decision was taken in favor of the HIFLEX MIS, not least thanks to the supplier’s broad practical experience with JDF projects. The user-friendly interface and the flexibility of the order management functionality were further decisive factors. “It could be tailored perfectly to our individual needs,” explains managing director Thomas Keim.
Bidirectional networking
In October 2005, Keim installed the HIFLEX MIS – initially as an administrative tool with a customer database and flexible document management for order processing. This first step already delivered considerable improvements. The creative aspects of the work process in packaging prepress call for close interactions between the customer, job coordinator and operator, and the new organisational structure introduced together with the HIFLEX MIS provided for significantly faster response to questions from other process participants. When an order is entered, the system creates a container with an order number, as an unambiguous storage location for all later production data, e-mail communication or JDF files.
Implementation of the connectivity between the HIFLEX MIS and Esko BackStage Scope 3, on the basis of the JDF Specification 1.2, began in August 2006. Each production instance is now initiated through the HIFLEX MIS. The system accesses the customer and job data stored in the database and aligns these data to those on the prepress server. Subsequently, both systems (MIS and production system) are able to work with the same file structure. HIFLEX and Esko BackStage are linked bidirectionally via JDF/JMF.
As soon as the content file is loaded in BackStage, Esko creates a preview PDF, which is automatically sent to the HIFLEX MIS with information on the storage location of the job. On the basis of this PDF, the MIS generates its own preview image to be used in the HIFLEX order book and in all search tables. Mix-ups are thus practically impossible, and it is much easier to identify the desired production data for retrieval.
Automatic archiving
Functionality for automatic weekly archiving of the completed jobs was added to the system in August 2007, and the next step is to address a further refinement of job status tracking. Thanks to the archiving routine, Keim no longer needs to worry about manual data archiving. The archive has space for 14 terabytes of data, and so it is also no longer necessary to compress the data before storage. Elegant search functions have been integrated into the system to permit retrieval on the basis of the most varied criteria, such as job name, order number, customer, delivery date, etc. Stored jobs are also found much faster. A mouse-click in the HIFLEX order book is all it takes to locate the archived data directly – complex file structures are thus a thing of the past.
The introduction of digital job administration and production scheduling, together with the linking to the prepress workflow, has brought significant benefits for Keim:
? Customer enquiries can be answered immediately
? Enhanced production efficiency
? Automatic job creation in the HIFLEX MIS and thus no repeated data input
? Fast searching and improved access to archived data
? Automatic archiving and reliable retrieval of the correct data
? Higher process reliability and shorter delivery times
According to Keim’s experience, the time spent on the administrative aspects of job creation is reduced from 16 to 5 minutes. Where order management processes previously took 26 minutes, the job coordinator is now finished after just 8 minutes- a reduction by a factor of 3.25. A further 7 minutes are saved thanks to the automatic archiving.
Overall, 2,160 hours of working time are saved per year. Taking an hourly internal cost rate of EUR 60.00 for the job coordinator, this adds up to a total cost saving of EUR 129,600 per year. And that in addition to another almost priceless gain: Faster feedback on enquiries is guaranteed to increase customer satisfaction!