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Product category: Printing Pre-Press Systems and Materials (Repro, Platemakers, CTP, Workflow, Document Management, Design Software, etc.)
News Release from: Kodak Graphic Communications Group | Subject: Unified Workflow
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial Team on 06 February 2007

Unified Workflow Will Maximise Printers'
Business

Print now has to compete in this very crowded and aggressive market-place, with radio, SMS, blogs, TV and the mass of new web opportunities that Google and others are going to throw at us.

Print now has to compete in this very crowded and aggressive market-place, with radio, SMS, blogs, TV and the mass of new web opportunities that Google and others are going to throw at us This is a very different world for print to compete and prosper in, according to the Kodak Graphic Communications Group (GCG)

With the introduction of the Kodak Unified Workflow system and Colorflow technology, the Graphic Communications Group at Kodak believes it has started to implement two bold workflow initiatives which, if successful, will have a significant impact on many of printer's businesses, helping them to compete more effectively.

Both Unified Workflow and Colorflow technology aim to touch all points of the workflow, making them a complete workflow system that is easier to use, more efficient and which gives printers the return on investment that they need.

The initiatives complement and increase the range of the existing workflow products.

Over the next two years the industry expect to see a number of additional products join the announced line-up, as well as different Unified Workflow and Colorflow technology installations and configurations around the world, added Kodak GCG.

Kodak said that print has a lot of competition, but it also has some major benefits, such as flexibility, transportability and measurability.

However, those in the printing industry have to change approach and put together a plan to prosper in this new world.

Doing business how the printing industry used to is unlikely to make it successful in the future.

Kodak GCG believes that there are many elements needed in a printing company's plan for success.

One of the elements is automation but not just in production, file checking and producing plates but from a point before the design department creates the job, before the printer receives a request for a quotation, and up until or after the job has been delivered and invoiced.

That way the printer will know exactly how much it cost to produce the job and which departments make money and which lose money.

Many industries automated before printing, and so there are lessons to be learned from them, according to Kodak .

One of the major lessons is that automating the complete supply chain is vital and it is advantageous if a company has already automated part of production by installing, for example, a Prinergy workflow system.

However, if that system is not linked to the business system (MIS) or management system (ERP) the company will not have got as much benefit from it as possible.

To get the major benefits from automation, all the components have to work successfully together.

A company's automation is only as efficient and successful as the weakest link, so if only part of the process is automated, there is a lot more cost to be saved and efficiency introduced.

Kodak GCG said it believes that for the first time in print history the great majority of suppliers (in excess of 300) have agreed to adopt a standard for linking and passing information between systems.

The systems are all going to speak the same language and the organisation behind this language is CIP4 and the language is JDF.

Kodak believes JDF is unique in that it enables the linking of all the system components from a single supplier to all their other system components.

More importantly it enables all companies that already have some of the system components to link other system components to it, be they from the same supplier or a competitor.

Kodak claimed to be one of the early adopters of CIP4 and one of the first to embrace JDF.

Through Creo in 2002 the company formed the networked graphic production group with the aim of using JDF to link to other companies' system components like management information system (MIS), presses and finishing.

They are still a significant contributor within NGP but no longer manage the organisation.

Kodak commented that in this highly competitive world printers need to grasp every opportunity they have to become more competitive, as they never know when the opportunity will next come along.

The universal supplier acceptance that JDF gives is one such great opportunity.

Kodak believes its position is exceptional because it is intimately involved in all of the different parts of the industry - from newspapers to books, commercial printers to packaging.

The company covers the products and technologies that are needed and used in CTP, digital printing, e-printing, MIS, pre-press and consumables and that gives it a good starting point.

Kodak's approach is to unify all of the existing and coming workflow components under the umbrella name of Kodak Unified Workflow systems.

So, Kodak's Unified Workflow is not a product or a technology, it is made up of many different products and technologies, said the company.

Those companies that already have workflow components from Kodak, such as Prinergy, Darwin, Upfront, Insite or Preps software, have the building blocks of a Unified Workflow system.

In Kodak's opinion automating workflow is all about making business more effective and efficient, constantly examining where printers can reduce costs and increase efficiency, so that they can increase profits.

It is also about printers offering a better service to their existing and new customers, and developing their businesses with new profitable services.

That is not easy, nor is it quickly achieved.

It requires planning, reviewing and continuing adjustment.

To start, printers need to know where their bottlenecks and challenges are and, at the same time, how they can potentially change their operations to offer new services and grow.

Today many of the new efficiencies may come from investing in new skills and software - not production hardware, CTP or presses - and this challenges traditional thinking.

The opportunities are there, but for many printers a dramatic change of approach is needed.

In some countries this is well advanced, in some it has started to happen, whilst in others the opportunities are only accepted by a few, added Kodak GCG.

Today the most popular software packages enable better customer communication: online quotations (web2print), detailed monitoring and qualification of all the production processes (MIS/ERP) and advanced personalisation.

They are just a few of the opportunities of workflow automation.

Each print service provider needs to plan and decide which is best suited to their company, or how they want to change their company to compete in the new cross-media world of the web, SMS, blogs and iTunes.

In this 'must-have-it-now world', said Kodak, all customers are looking for an edge, ways to retain their existing customers and up-sell and cross-sell to them.

In addition, they are examining different ways of acquiring new customers and satisfy their needs.

So, why should a printer opt for unified workflow.

Kodak said its Unified Workflow is not just the linking of an offset or digital workflow, it goes far far beyond that.

Unified Workflow is a 'ground up' approach to automating the complete business, production, colour and data workflow, using the principle that printers have to automate the complete workflow to get all the benefits.

That means that just automating pieces is only likely to give a small, or one-off improvement.

It is not until printers link all the workflow components together that the major benefits, cost savings and new opportunities appear.

So, ultimately, as with other industries, printers have to automate the complete workflow or supply chain, and even then continue to look for improvements.

Ten years from now this discussion will look as ridiculous as the question of CTP viability was in the 1990s, added Kodak.

Kodak said it has divided this approach, as there are many tasks involved, and not all will be needed by all printers.

The company has divided workflow in to four areas: business, production, colour and data.

The division is done to explain and simplify what at first appears a confusing mix of many products and technologies.

Kodak added that its position as supplier and developer of many of the components gives it a broad but detailed perspective and a very good chance of automating many companies.

In the area of business, as the term suggests, it includes many of the back office administration, invoicing and accounting capabilities.

It includes tasks like quoting or estimating, inventory, shipping, tracking a job and invoicing, MIS/ERP.

In addition, a number of the other customer facing capabilities, such as automating the quotations for account customers and enabling customers to estimate and track jobs even late at night, or when the relevant staff are busy.

Management capabilities include the ability to track departmental costs and time versus the quotation and enable printers to see exactly where their production is working well and where it needs improvement.

Business is probably the sector printers think least about but itr is an area where many savings, such as pin-pointing exactly where money is made and lost on a job can happen.

The production area is the one printers probably know best and it includes receiving, pre-flight checking, proofing, collaborating on projects with customers and passing information via JDF to the MIS or business systems.

In an ideal world, said Kodak, parts of the production process should also be available to both offset and digital printing departments, as many of the elements in job and PDF checking are the same.

Consistency, quality and ease of use of colour are still some of the major concerns for many of printers, commented Kodak GCG.

Making this happen in a world of changing expectations, across different printing processes and in a multi-media world requires significant determination, as well as the knowledge.

Kodak said it believes it is forward-thinking to also include its Colorflow technology throughout Unified Workflow.

Colorflow is a colour management architecture that allows users to improve their processes by communicating, confirming and controlling colour requirements effectively.

In highlighting the importance of data, Kodak said it is pointing at one area that most of printers do not have much knowledge of or get involved with.

In some areas of the business it is vital that printers understand the importance of correct data, explained the company.

One such area is digital print and in particular personalisation.

If, for example, a company prints on a Nexpress digital press using Darwin software, then that user already knows how important it is to have the correct data before starting the print run.

The data for personalised jobs is often held in at least two separate databases.

One that holds the text, names, addresses and logic and the other for pictures and graphics.

Prior to starting to assemble the data, all the databases must be checked for duplication, quality and cleaning.

In some countries it is also good to be able to do mail sorts by post code.

As the Unified Workflow system is new, Kodak believes it is vital that it has a clear set of values to build upon, particularly as the number of systems starts to increase.

The ground rules are the values against which companies are measured.

They often include an open system approach and an adoption of standards like PDF, JDF and ICC, for instance.

In many cases they emphasise partnerships with third party suppliers and service and support.

Kodak's GCG claimed that its value proposition is about helping printers to grow their businesses profitably.

To automate the complete print workflow is going to require considerable investment and the return on this investment must be obvious.

By automating workflow Kodak believes that printers greatly increase potential profitability.

That is achieved either by eliminating duplication of data input, reducing errors, having less human involvement (what some call a hands-free approach) and better inventory control.

That could also enable printers to grow business by offering new services, such as personalisation, asset management, online quotations and invoicing.

To be viable, the Kodak Unified Workflow must encompass all the workflow components, either using Kodak products or partner's products.

Ideally they must either be process improvement or business development systems, or both, said the company.

The existing Kodak products that are included in Unified Workflow encompass business, colour, data, and production systems.

Kodak added that its Unified Workflow has an open system approach, since every printer has existing systems and requires inter-operability across Kodak and non-Kodak tools, components and workflows.

The openness of Unified Workflow reflects Kodak's position and its willingness to collaborate with other vendors, either one-on-one or through industry groups like the Network Graphic Production (NGP) Partnership.

Jon Bracken, vice president of marketing for workflow and pre-press equipment, has publicly stated that Kodak will discuss with other suppliers the integration of workflow components.

Kodak explained that modularity is essential.

Given the variety of print service providers, it is clear that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' workflow system.

A printer must be able to purchase only those components required, with the assurance that more can be easily added at a reasonable cost, as business needs change.

The Kodak Unified Workflow is claimed to build on some of the existing modular products, such as Prinergy, the Insite web portal system and Link software.

Those printers who already have those modular systems will be able to continue with them.

Those with other systems will be able to add the products they need, to gradually build their automated, 'intelligent', unified workflow in manageable steps.

Kodak also emphasised that its Unified Workflow is designed to expand as a printer's business grows.

For example, as conventional sheetfed or web offset printers expand in to digital printing, they will be able to easily workflow, which enables later decision making.

The cost of all the products and their integration will define how many of printers are able to afford them and how many of believe that the return on investment is worthwhile.

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