Puzzle Magazine Producer's Secure Images

Edited by the Printingtalk editorial team Mar 6, 2006

Megastar, the second largest publisher of word puzzle magazines in France has just switched to Folioswing 5 for automated, secure file production.

Megastar, the second largest publisher of word puzzle magazines in France has just switched to Folioswing 5 for automated, secure file production.

Megastar publishes 70 magazines and is represented in 26 French-speaking countries.

Its publications include arrows crosswords, wordsearches, word-fits, codewords and traditional crosswords.

It also has a foothold in the Sudoku market.

Megastar also publishes two fine arts magazines, Pratique des Arts and Plaisirs de Peindre.

Dominique Logez, technical manager at Megastar, explained the important role played by Dalim Software's Folioswing in the specialist publisher's work.

She said: "It's a secure file transfer server that converts the pages in to secure rasterised image files so that they can be imposed in our imposition software.

This locks down the files and eliminates errors.

Rasterisation produces reliable documents that won't change and that can be analysed by any RIP, but without reinterpretation." Folioswing's ability to produce a fixed image is very important for Megastar as the file goes through several production stages and is moved from one workstation to another.

Logez said: "Previously, a row of text or a figure might be missing despite the correction process upstream.

In our business, one row too many (in terms of the character width spacing) or too few (in solutions or puzzles) has an impact on whether the puzzle can be completed.

Now, once the corrector has approved the document, it is imaged and printed identically on any output device, thanks to Folioswing." The company needs the guarantee that there is no possibility that the files will be reinterpreted in order to ensure the quality of its products, she commented.

"We saw an immediate increase in productivity with Folioswing but it's mainly the guaranteed reliability and improved quality of our products that make the system indispensable in our publishing environment," concluded Dominique Logez.