Offset Printing
Leading through networking
Thursday 22. April 2010 - If you save only one minute per job, with 2000 jobs this adds up to no less than 33 hours - time that can be used for other tasks or additional jobs. But how does one manage to work more efficiently? There is enormous potential in networking of processes. printnet products from manroland link all worksteps from administration right up to the press.
A networked operation lives from fully-automated or at least semi-automated processes. This relieves the strain on staff members, reduces errors and costs, saves valuable time and improves the information flow. The goal is thorough and transparent job planning and execution. A networked printing plant cannot be built overnight nor is it an off-the-shelf item. The successful way runs over several stages, individually planned for each specific case.
The first steps have mostly already been taken: ink slide presettings calculated from prepress data are made available for the press which in itself is a considerable makeready time saving.
Whats needed now is cross-departmental thinking. Besides networking of technical equipment in the production area, a prerequisite for streamlined processes is networking in job management and in the administrative area. Therefore, work preparation must be linked with the pressroom. Central work preparation is the junction where the print job is created and where ink slide presettings from prepress data along with numerous individual press settings are added. One-time data acquisition avoids time-consuming and error-prone double handling, and all departments and functions have access to one and the same data file.
A downstream MIS (Management Information System) links all administrative areas such as job generation, costing, materials management, bookkeeping, controlling and logistics.
Common language. A prerequisite for networking is a common language. The printnet networking software PressManager perfect 2.0 works with a common data basis for central work preparation and for the pressroom and offers the open interface to an MIS using the CIP4/JDF standard.
This continues with production data acquisition. IntegrationPilot offers operating comfort: with a simplified user interface it permits checking and editing of automatically generated print jobs directly at the press or in an office. It supports all workflows in a printing company and offers functions for fine planning and optimizing job sequences. The new IntegrationPilot plus supplements job preparation with an automatic and detailed production data acquisition system for the pressroom that can be used for analysis purposes.
Open interfaces. The networking software from manroland for the pressroom and work preparation is flexible. It communicates through open interfaces with other areas – also with Management Information Systems from other providers.