Workflow

First “JDF Works Print Shop Live! at GRAPH EXPO 2008 End-to-end automated print production lines on show floor

Tuesday 07. October 2008 - The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization and Graphic Arts Show Corporation (GASC) today announced details for the JDF Works Print Shop Live! program at GRAPH EXPO(r) 2008.

The JDF Works Print Shop Live! is designed to show attendees exactly what can be accomplished using today’s print production automation technologies. At this new feature, show goers will follow a live digital print job through production at three different locations on the show floor from online job creation and customization, through order management, scheduling, prepress and imposition, to printing and finishing of the final printed piece. Integrated via JDF data interchange, the JDF Works Print Shop Live! sites will feature equipment from different vendors (just like the real world) in production with minimized processing time and labor, and maximized throughput.

The main JDF Works Print Shop Live! location is Booth 3646 and includes participation by Adobe, FOLDRite, Avanti, Kodak and Duplo. Versions of the “MUST SEE ‘EMS Guide” and a Digital Printing Guide will be created in Adobe’s InDesign Server via a web browser interface with a FOLDRite folding template and the source PDF. JDF job intent, folding parameters and business ordering information will then pass through to Avanti Print MIS where the job is captured and organized, and JDF and JMF are created and passed to Kodak’s Prinergy prepress workflow and Duplo’s DC-645 Slitter/Cutter/Creaser. Kodak Prinergy will prepare the job through multiple prepress operations and send the job to a Kodak NexPress M700 Digital Press. Printed sheets will then be transferred to the Duplo DC-645, which is setup automatically according to the JDF provided by Avanti.

“This workflow is about as automated as possible,” said Mark Egeling, Marketing Manager US & C Region of Kodak. “The entire lifecycle of the job only requires that operators at the NexPress M-700 and Duplo DC-645 move the paper, select the job and press “go”. It’s amazing how streamlined a fully automated workflow using digital printing, automated post-press, web-to-print and JDF technologies can be.”

Two additional JDF Works Print Shop Live! sites are located in the Heidelberg booth (#1200) and the EFI booth (#2000). Each is fully automated end-to-end print production, but with either conventional printing production or a combination of vendors in a digital printing production line.
At the EFI JDF Works Print Shop Live! site, EFI Digital StoreFront operators can submit jobs directly via JDF/JMF for unattended printing and in-line finishing on Canon’s imagePRESS C1 with the imagePRESS Server Q2. For more managed workflows, operators can submit EFI Digital StoreFront jobs through EFI Pace for unattended printing, or submit jobs from Objective Advantage Symbio through automated workflows that include unattended printing, automatic setup and near-line finishing on a Duplo DC-645 Slitter/Cutter/Creaser.

“These live JDF workflows show the clear advantages of JDF-enabled devices and systems, which let customers handle more jobs with the same equipment and operators by enabling operators to focus on more productive tasks, rather than repeatedly manually configuring jobs or entering the same information in multiple workflow steps,” said EFI Senior Product Planning Manager, Mark Ford. “Additionally, production data (time and materials) is automatically collected, providing much more detailed data collection than is feasible in a manual system.”

At the Heidelberg JDF Works Print Shop Live! site a job may be generated by either the Heidelberg Prinect Prinance system or the EFI Hagen OA system. Equally important to actual production is the ability to track jobs and evaluate efficiency, and this is where attendees will see the Job Messaging Format (JMF) in action. The job is transferred via JDF from the MIS to the Prinect Integration Manager, through prepress, pressroom and postpress management. It will follow a path that continues through the Heidelberg demonstration plaza where attendees will observe the JDF file being sent to the Speedmaster XL105 and into the Postpress arena. Throughout production, all systems and operators will continuously deliver production data to the Prinect Integration Manager; the central JDF manager that combines the data and provides it to the JDF-enabled Print Management System. The Heidelberg tour is self-guided and participants should look for the starting point marked with a tall sig
n just behind the main information counter at the front of the Heidelberg booth.

“Print production workflow has changed dramatically over the years,” said Ray Cassino, Director of Prepress Product Management at Heidelberg. “Contemporary printers realize that a workflow is not departmentalized, but is a concept that starts from the moment a job is accepted to the moment it is delivered and invoiced … and everything in between.”

“Given the tight economic market right now, printers need to find ways to steel themselves for the coming months,” said James Harvey, Executive Director of the CIP4 Organization. “Case study after case study of printers that have implemented JDF-enabled process automation has demonstrated tangible savings in labor, waste, and other costs, as well as greatly improved throughput and customer responsiveness.
Implementing JDF-enabled automation now may be the lifeline many printers are looking for and the JDF Works Print Shop Live! program is about as tangible proof of concept as can be.”

In addition to the JDF Works Print Shop Live! program, there are over 60 CIP4 members with exhibits at GRAPH EXPO demonstrating JDF solutions. CIP4 is providing a JDF Roadmap for GRAPH EXPO attendees, detailing all things about JDF at GRAPH EXPO, including the JDF Works Print Shop Live! show floor features, exhibitors showing process automation solutions, “on-the-floor” educational presentations and more. The JDF Roadmap is free and can be picked up at all entrances to the GRAPH EXPO show floor.