JDF Link Between Workflow, MIS And Presses

Offset 5020, a full-service sheet-fed offset printer in Siezenheim near Salzburg (Austria) has established a two-way JDF-enabled link between Screen's Trueflow 3 PDF workflow and the Hiflex MIS.

Offset 5020, a full-service sheet-fed offset printer in Siezenheim near Salzburg (Austria) has established a two-way JDF-enabled link between Screen's Trueflow 3 PDF workflow and the Hiflex MIS.

The printer has also used Hiflex print software to enable bi-directional JDF-JMF networking with its Heidelberg presses.

Offset 5020, which is certified for ISO 9001:2002, employs about 60 people and produces print at a very high technical level using several Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 (102 x 72 cm) presses.

For die-cutting, scoring and perforating, a number of cylinder and platen presses are used in formats up to 64cm x 90cm.

Three of the most modern folding machines, up to 78cm wide, complete the production line up.

The products printed by Offset 5020 range from image brochures, catalogues and posters to all kinds of business printing, with special requirements such as foil laminating or varnishing also part of daily production.

A new job at Offset 5020 can be created any time in its Screen Trueflow system via the JDF connection with Hiflex.

The automatic job creation function in pre-press is triggered at Offset 5020 via an interface in the Hiflex order book.

That enables the production planner to decide if and when a job is to be opened in pre-press.

Apart from taking over key data (job number and name, client's name, for instance) several product parts can be distinguished within the job.

Networking ensures that in both systems job number and other parameters are identical, which is important for data archiving and for finding repeat orders said Screen.

The Screen pre-press system reports the status of several functions to the Hiflex system - pre-press in progress, imposition scheme loaded, proof ready, proof sent to client, good to print received from client, plates made and pre-press operation concluded.

Seeing progress reports in the Hiflex order book is very important for the people responsible for the order, as it offers maximum transparency and enables them to answer the queries of clients or internal questions directly added Screen.

For the order planner, the reports of 'good to print' and of plate exposure are especially useful.

According to Screen, linking both systems brings further advantages.

The information about proofs and plates produced is used in the Hiflex system for material and cost calculation for the job in question.

Johann Fuchs, responsible for the technical and organisational management at Offset 5020, said "Post production cost reporting, automatically generated through JDF, makes our actual costing much more precise.

If we have to expose an extra plate today because one was faulty, we can be certain that we will find the cost of this in the post production costing." Offset 5020's decision to upgrade from Trueflow 2 to the latest JDF-enabled Trueflow 3 system was based on its long-standing relationship with Screen and the reliability it had found over five years using Screen's imagesetters, CTP equipment and workflow.

Rene Kirchlechner, head of pre-press at Offset 5020 said: "With Trueflow 3 it is now quicker to create new jobs.

The whole system has resulted in a smoother workflow with fewer mistakes.

Screen's workflow has many benefits, including colour matching, which enables Pantone colours to be mixed and merged exactly and the plate imposition function which makes plate, paper and file positioning easier and a lot faster." Offset 5020 is convinced that integration is the way forward.

Johann Fuchs commented: "We are totally committed to networking and have been using Hiflex printing software for the last nine years.

We expect from the direct connection of our Hiflex system with the production data flow, which we have just completed, significantly improved process control and increased productivity due to a higher degree of automation as well as more flexibility for job changes at short notice." When a job arrives, the job description from Hiflex's preliminary costing is transmitted to the electronic planning board, which is updated with any last changes.

When the scheduling of print jobs has been decided, the production planner sends the job data - job number, job name, client's name, format, colours, paper weight, paper characteristics, print run - with the press of a button to the Prinect data control system, said Screen.

After the job has been selected on the press console, all JDF production data is loaded in to the press for pre-setting.

At the start of printing, data about production progress - printing speed, number of copies, number of good copies and of waste - and the machine status is flowing back to the Hiflex MIS System.

To this end the Prinect data control system sends JDF messages via the HTTP protocol to the Hiflex Proxy Server.

The JDF status information is shown in the Hiflex production planning and recorded as production data in the management information system (MIS).

That enables the production planner and the person responsible for order handling to track any job in real-time.

Fuchs continued: "Electronic production data capture enables significantly greater transparency in the production process, as the production status can be clearly seen from minute to minute.

In addition, we receive complete data for management control, such as post production costing.

In this context, the JDF networking with Screen is also of great importance." For Offset 5020, the network linking the printing department and pre-press is very successful, commented Screen.

And Fuchs explained: "We saw in networking a way to counter the current situation in the printing industry.

But this is not only an opportunity, it is a challenge as well, because electronic cost estimating and the organisational adaptation of internal communication processes are preconditions for successful networking.

JDF as such does not increase productivity.

Rather, all functions necessary for networking taken together achieve that end.

They increase transparency and flexibility in the production process and thus increase productivity in the whole company.

When jobs are processed faster and more reliably the result is an enormous saving in cost and time.".

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