Prepress

Prinect Digital Print Manager Locks in Quality, Lowers Costs for Heidelberg Linoprint Digital Press Users

Friday 25. April 2014 - Heidelberg's growing installed base of Linoprint digital presses increasingly includes Prinect Digital Press Manager—and for good reason.

Higher quality, lower manufacturing costs, and a better competitive position were the chief objectives driving National Multiple Listing, Inc. (NML)’s decision to install a Linoprint C901 digital printing system from Heidelberg. The Fort Lauderdale, FL-based company uses the new press for runs under 1000 sheets, as well as for longer-run variable data printing. By enabling complete integration of the new Linoprint system into the company’s existing prepress workflow, Prinect Digital Print Manager supports NML’s business goals by ensuring color-consistent, cost-effective hybrid production and maximum productivity, while bringing down costs for its customers, becoming more competitive against non-print media and web-to-print providers.
Prepress Manager Lou Agrella lauds Prinect Digital Print Manager’s labor-saving features and flexibility. “When jobs come in from the client, I color correct and otherwise adjust the PDF, upload it to the Prinect Cockpit, do the layout, choose the stock, add the paper and color profiles, send a proof sheet to the press, review it, and let the job run. Prinect Digital Print Manager does the rest—I rarely have to go out to the press. With Digital Print Manager on my desktop, most of the time I can sit right here while the software tells me if there’s a jam or backup, or if a job is printing the correct color. Once it’s calibrated, the Linoprint C901 prints so close to our 29″ Heidelberg Speedmaster presses, you can’t tell the difference. Occasionally we have an employee monitor our VDP jobs, but typically we don’t need a dedicated operator at press side.”
“No Tweaking Required”
As part of a facility-wide equipment upgrade, the in-plant print shop for Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. in Jackson, MS, recently installed a pair of Linoprint C901+ digital printing systems, including an inline square bookletmaker, offline UV coater and slitter/creaser supplied by Heidelberg. The new additions have helped the company provide more and better services in-house, save the money it previously spent on outsourcing, and effectively target the market for high-quality, short-run, quick-turn printing.
“Prinect Digital Print Manager has helped us achieve color quality and consistency to match the output of our Heidelberg Printmaster PM 74,” said Printing Supervisor Jason Humphrey. “It also controls the inline bookletmaker and sets up the template that impositions jobs precisely to the slitter/creaser with no tweaking required. In terms of time and labor management, we can be much more efficient, and our technicians are free to work on other tasks, as required.”
Multiple Functions for Greater Efficiency
Prinect Digital Print Manager supports the growth in business experienced by printers who install a Linoprint digital printing system as their first-ever digital press, or who upgrade an existing machine. Prinect Digital Print Manager exhibits broad connectivity to multiple digital print systems from a variety of manufacturers via JDF/JMF. It also enables extensive presetting and automation of digital print parameters at the Prinect preprint stage.
With Digital Print Manager, all tasks—from job management and data checking to color management and imposition—can be initiated by the operator at the central control console (Prinect Cockpit). The operator can see at any time how the various components of a job are progressing, as well as preview images that signal any discrepancies.
Prinect Digital Print Manager lets print shops choose flexibly and job-specifically between offset and digital production, select a combination of both technologies, or use the most cost-effective printing method for preliminary runs, main runs or repeat runs. No matter which printing method is selected, all jobs can be managed, planned and produced centrally from within a single workflow system. Operator skills can be leveraged equally for both offset and digital processes.
Prinect Digital Print Manager also enables the printing of personalized documents. With a special, document-oriented user interface, typical digital print products, such as personalized flyers and other print- on-demand applications can be parameterized fast and efficiently from imposition to postpress. Feedback from digital presses is immediately available for job costing and evaluation of machines and jobs.