Next-generation networking

Imagine a utopia where your client submits a job file via a Web portal. Your management-information system (MIS) begins processing the job, alerting customer service and prepress, and automatically filling in the job ticket. Ink keys on your press are automatically preset based on data from the job ticket. Similar automation continues through to postpress, fulfillment and delivery. Data need not be re-entered at any point in the workflow.

Meanwhile, your MIS collects statistics on what happens during production. You're able to generate an accurate invoice, based on the materials and time actually spent on the job. You know which consumables are running low, and you have a reliable picture of your operation's efficiency.

At its core, that's what networking is about: making sure all the products in your plant can talk to one another. Thanks to some industry developments, many of the networking possibilities are becoming a reality. Vendors have put out MISs that help automate scheduling, presses that automatically download ink-key presets for each job, and finishing systems that makeready according to job specs downloaded from the original prepress file.

Now, many graphic-arts manufacturers are striving to create fully open systems that can operate, without problem, inline with other vendors' equipment. Should that happen, suppliers say, printers will enjoy greater automation in their production process and gain a precise picture of their operation's efficiency. Printers will purportedly reach that pinnacle of operational efficiency, computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM).

PPF, JDF and CIP4

“The only way to increase printer margins now is to reduce costs. To do that, you have to find ways to cut down on downtime and automate as much as possible,” explains Christian Cerfontaine, director of marketing for MAN Roland (Westmont, IL). “The idea of CIM is to capture and store all production information and make it available at any time, to all the other elements in the network. You [can] reduce the redundancy of entering information, get rid of handwritten job tickets, the 24-hour estimates.”

Cerfontaine notes that every vendor has worked to automate the different parts of the printing process, through innovations such as CTP or new technology on presses. “But there's no integration between all these automated systems,” he notes. “That's where networking is important — it connects all the islands of automation.”

Early on, CIP3, the predecessor to the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4), offered a common specification for vendors to use in manufacturing their equipment. The Print Production Format (PPF) is an open, standard format that allows data to be exchanged between systems from different suppliers, according to Jim Mauro, product manager for Prinect press products at Heidelberg (Kennesaw, GA). “PPF's success lies in its ability to communicate prepress data to presses and finishing equipment,” he explains. “But its limitation is that it can't collect [production] data and report it to an MIS.”

Mauro defines networking as “the ability to connect various applications and machines on a common communication protocol — the network — with the intention that all of these systems can easily and bidirectionally exchange data.” The exec notes that while networks have existed in the graphic arts since the early 1980s, the early systems were closed and proprietary.

Enter the Job Definition Format (JDF), introduced jointly by Adobe, Agfa, Heidelberg and MAN Roland during Seybold Boston 2000. The new electronic job-ticket specification is an open, scaleable, object-oriented, XML framework for passing information or metadata about a job from one set of systems to another. Mauro says the format enables a seamless workflow from MIS to production and delivery. “JDF will allow the integration of heterogeneous products from diverse vendors,” he explains, adding that it is intended to allow printers to implement and work with individual workflow solutions.

CIP3 ultimately adopted the format and became CIP4. The nonpartisan CIP4 organization has since been holding interoperability meetings with its members to test how well systems work together. More than 150 suppliers and printers worldwide are members of the organization.

Emphasis on CIM

If Graph Expo 2002 was any indication, expect to hear a lot more about JDF and CIM in the future. At the show, Heidelberg highlighted its Prinect suite of prepress, press, postpress and process products based on CIP4 JDF. In MAN Roland's booth, a bidirectional interface between a Printcafe (Pittsburgh) MIS and a Roland 500 press was set up, with JDF files from the MIS supplying job parameters and presetting color on the press. The press' PECOM (Process Electronic Control, Organization and Management) system then reported on its production progress to Printcafe via Job Messaging Format (JMF) files.

Komori (Rolling Meadows, IL), too, demonstrated how the Printcafe Hagen OA job-management system can transfer job data through the Komori K-Station job-data-collection software to its presses on the show floor.

Komori also partnered with Creo (Vancouver, BC) and Printcafe to host a media visit to the CIM operation at JohnsByrne Co. (Niles, IL). The $20 million commercial printer had upgraded its operations in 2002 to incorporate a fully integrated system that ties estimating, scheduling, the creative desktop, digital halftone proofing, CTP, prepress production data, press and the finishing process to the MIS in a single workflow. The network, built on open standards, including PDF, ICC profiles and JDF, features Web-based job submission through Creo Synapse InSite Internet portal; workflow integration into the Prinergy workflow-management system; Printcafe Hagen OA MIS; and transfer of job-ticket information to Komori presses through a CIP4 JDF interface.

Going it alone?

In store for printers with a travel budget: Seybold San Francisco 2003 in September will hold a live JDF workflow tour. The event will simulate a real production workflow environment — from creative all the way through the print facility — working with JDF files. Graph Expo this fall will reportedly highlight all the product offerings that are JDF-compliant.

Ultimately, however, “Drupa 2004 will be the big coming-out party for JDF,” says Jackie Hudmon, general manager of Komori Imaging Systems. According to her and other sources, vendors are busy making sure their products will be JDF-compatible in time for the international show.

That is certainly Heidelberg's priority, according to Mauro. Dennis Ryan, Prinect prepress product manager for Heidelberg, points out that many vendors only address one part of the workflow with their products. For those companies, “if they're going to do anything with JDF, they immediately need to start having some interoperability testing with other companies,” Ryan notes.

“Heidelberg, on the other hand, has everything from prepress through postpress,” says the exec. “Our focus right now is to get all of our products to work in a JDF workflow. And then we will begin working with other companies as well. And you may see some press announcements between now and then that show our cooperation with other vendors. But we have a very ambitious project ahead of us, to get the scope of our products connected using JDF.”

Ryan says the advantage of having this breadth of products is that Heidelberg can immediately start working on getting its entire workflow JDF-compatible. “We don't have to be waiting on any other vendors — we can ensure that it will happen,” he observes.

Heidelberg Prinect

Heidelberg's Prinect suite of products provides an integrated workflow “for the entire print process,” according to Ryan. “All data required for order planning, order processing, job tracking and product processing are exchanged throughout the Prinect system.” Individual products from the Prinect line have been continuously released since Drupa 2000.

Prinect pieces include: the Prinance management system; Signastation; Prinect Printready system; MetaDimension RIP; PrepressInterface, which offers online CIP3 PPF connection to digital prepress for ink-key presets; the CP2000 Center press console; AutoRegister; ImageControl, for spectrophotometric measurement of a printed area of a sheet, and AxisControl, for spectrophotometric color measurement of the color bar; CompuCut; FCS100/CompuFold; FCS100/CompuStitch; and ImageSmart/SmartBoard.

“Each piece is as important as the other for system integration” within a Heidelberg workflow, says Mauro. “Prinect is a viable workflow today.” Once all the Heidelberg products are JDF-enabled, other companies' JDF-compliant products will be able to interface interchangeably with Heidelberg's.

At Graph Expo 2002, the company highlighted its Prinect Printready system, touted as the first-ever PDF-workflow system built on the JDF standard. Printready uses a client/server architecture to direct and automate the workflow, based on templates that outline what functions should be performed once a job comes in. While preset templates for standard jobs are supplied with the Printready system, users can modify and customize the steps for processing each job. Process steps for a job are then performed automatically by the server, according to those rules.

Trapping, color management, screening and other functions come prepackaged within the Printready system. A MetaDimension RIP is required to process files from Printready; the workflow can be used with Delta as well. It is possible for Printready with MetaDimension to make and export one-bit TIFFs or fully imposed PDF flats to be processed on a non-Heidelberg RIP that can process TIFF or PDF.

MAN Roland PECOM

MAN Roland, like the other major industry vendors, is part of the CIP4 organization and working to make its products JDF-compatible. Cerfontaine describes the PECOM system as the network that connects all the MAN Roland pieces of the production puzzle. The modular system can network MAN Roland presses together to trade job data and more.

Within PECOM, the JobPilot module creates, edits and organizes electronic job tickets, allowing printers to preset more than 100 automated functions on their MAN Roland press, while the press prints the previous job. Through JobPilot, users can also use job-ticket information to create house standards on every job type that comes through the operation.

PressMonitor, meanwhile, offers a remote and real-time window into the press. Users can access the working status of jobs currently in production, as well as call up print-production data on completed work. JobPilot and PressMonitor received a 2002 InterTech Technology Award from GATF (Sewickley, PA).

PECOM also features the PrepressLink module, which automatically downloads CIP3 PPF ink-key settings to a press while another job is running.

Komori K-Station

Komori presses are packaged together with the Komori Management System, which is network-enabled to connect directly to the press console. At the simplest level, that means printers can download digital ink-key data to the press console in CIP3 PPF format. Hudmon says, however, that Komori's K-Station PC-based software, which offers an “immediate window into the pressroom,” is already JDF-compatible. The K-Station reportedly can connect up to 16 Komori presses at any one time and provide detailed data on each press' level of production.

The software will also take the original job-ticket information entered by the customer-service rep and automatically send an ink-key file to the Komori press along with a JPEG preview of the job. Hudmon explains the latter file is sent as extra insurance to ensure that press operators are printing the same job as in the ink-key profiles. As the press runs, the JDF-enabled K-Station is said to report production information back to the printer's MIS via JMF.

The Komori K-Station has been tested with Printcafe and its JDF capability is available today, according to the exec. Komori is currently working with other MIS companies to ensure interoperability with their systems as well.

Also expect to see a more robust K-Station by Drupa, says Hudmon. She notes there are several ways Komori can automate its presses further. One likely function will involve the software automatically finding the proper ink-key profile for a job, attaching it to the job ticket — without requiring an operator to physically attach an electronic file to the ticket — and sending it to press.

MLP ColorLink, KBA Logotronic

“Ideally what we'd like to have is an extremely open architecture that, no matter what type of MIS our customers might be using, our presses can connect to it,” says John Santie, product manager, sheetfed presses, at Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP) (Lincolnshire, IL).

Santie says networking gives printers a better handle on their production values: “Oftentimes what happens in print shops is that the owner relies on the press operators to input production data, but they may be busy and may not get around to it,” he points out. He says networking across the entire plant also allows salespeople to get quotes to customers quickly — and with greater information at their disposal, they can make a better educated guess as to what a job will really cost.

Hudmon agrees: “Printers need to operate as efficiently as possible, but it's not always easy to find out where they're losing money on a job. They have hunches, but they don't have empirical data. By networking everything together, they can quickly glean where inefficiencies are in their operation.”

As with other press manufacturers' equipment, MLP's presses integrate easily with other MLP models. Its JobLink production tool allows users to input job-production data, network multiple presses and schedule jobs to each press. According to Santie, the system gathers information from the electronics on the presses, such as how long it took to run a job, whether there was a press wash and more. ColorLink, another feature of MLP's electronic press-control system, offers CIP3 compatibility and advanced closed-loop color management. Because ColorLink acts as a PPF file converter, prepress data fed from any CIP3-compliant front-end system will reportedly enable operators to preset ink control, register control, color specification and other makeready adjustments. Real-time production data can then be downloaded to a standard MIS for use in estimating, billing, cost accounting, scheduling and other business-related functions. The server can interface with up to five Mitsubishi presses.

MLP is working with another company to make its presses and consoles interoperable with other vendors' prepress and postpress systems. “Drupa would probably be our target [for accomplishing this],” says Santie.

KBA (Williston, VT), for its part, recently introduced the Logotronic Professional system, an integrated computerized data-exchange system for sheetfed and web printers. The Logotronic Professional is built around an integrated Web server — made up of a powerful PC with database, basic software and an integrated Web server — that can provide data exchange between individual components within the printing company. This reportedly allows all systems, including the press consoles, CTP system, plate scanner and the existing MIS, to be networked. It is a key component of KBA's modular automation system, OPERA (Open Ergonomic Automation system). The Logotronic Professional server is CIP3 PPF-compliant. It can network with all KBA presses and, says vice president of marketing Eric Frank, can connect with non-KBA presses as well.

Networked Graphic Production

On the prepress end, Creo (Vancouver, BC) has taken up the networking call through its Networked Graphic Production (NGP) program, introduced at Print 01. While the NGP name is trademarked by Creo, the initiative is said to be a multivendor effort to streamline and automate every part of the print-production process. With the goal of fostering a collaborative environment for printers, print buyers and creative professionals by extending the production workflow out to the printer's customer, the program is arguably more ambitious than simply networking across the plant.

“There's a need for our customers to… automate as many parts of the workflow as possible, from creative all the way through to delivery,” explains Christine Krause, workflow product manager for Creo. “Of course you need the hardware infrastructure, but how do you also incorporate the stakeholders in what you're doing and give them the information they need? NGP entails having a network between everyone engaged in the process — the creative person, the CFO, the press operator, the bindery department — with everyone accessing the same network.”

Vendors who agree to partner in the NGP program will eventually offer products that help link printers to their customers at the creative stage and vice versa, Krause explains. “The whole point is, how can you streamline and how can you automate [the printer's workflow]?” she says. “The key is an open standard, with information flowing through from one point to the next. Partner vendors commit to dedicating development resources to open standards in communication, so when you click all the pieces into the system, it will work. To date there have been some really good tools, and the point of NGP is that printers have never been able to address the complete system, end to end, from creation through delivery, before. We're looking at really hooking the printer's MIS across the production process.”

The NGP pieces

To date, participants in Creo's NGP include Adobe, Printcafe, Xerox, Prism, Komori and KBA. Cerfontaine says MAN Roland will soon formally join the initiative as well.

Creo's emphasis within NGP appears to be its Synapse software line. The Synapse InSite Internet portal reportedly allows print buyers to upload job files to their printer's secure website, where the files are automatically processed by the Prinergy or Brisque workflow-management system and immediately made available for proofing. Synapse Link enables production data and job-status information to be exchanged between prepress workflow systems and MISs, via the JDF protocol. This MIS integration program reportedly provides immediate access to production data, such as prepress workflow events, material usage, machine time and content alterations. Both Printcafe and Prism (Plymouth, MA) have JDF interfaces that integrate with Synapse Link.

Adobe's (San Jose, CA) PDF-based workflows are said to work with Synapse Prepare, which enables users to create production-ready PDF files that meet their printer's requirements. Adobe's PDF products also work with the Prinergy workflow-management system. (Prinergy 2.2, released in May after Creo's Prinergy joint venture with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG expired, reportedly provides greater functional, integrated support of JDF than before.)

Xerox (Rochester, NY) will focus on integrating workflow processes for offset and digital printing. At the On Demand Show in New York City this spring, the two companies demonstrated a prototype integration of the Creo Spire color server driving several Xerox DocuColor printers and presses, with Xerox DigiPath production software. The software provides scanning and makeready, archiving and Web-based communications services.

Networking and the smaller printer

Companies like JohnsByrne and Motheral Printing (Ft. Worth, TX) — a 66-year-old commercial printer that Krause says proactively pursued the idea of having its Prinergy workflow feed into its Printcafe MIS — can likely afford the costs of implementing an integrated system with heavy automation. But can smaller and midsize printers afford to do the same?

The answer is “yes.” Rapid Impressions (Broadview, IL), a $4 million, 25-employee operation, has only one press, a Roland 700, but vice president Jim Kosowski credits the press' PECOM modules PrepressLink, JobPilot and PressMonitor for creating a more efficient operation. The printer's prepress and press are reportedly tightly integrated at this point, and Rapid Impressions is now tackling the postpress end, as well as getting started with Creo's Synapse.

Rapid Press (Tallahassee, FL) is another smaller printer that's enjoying the benefits of networking. The $3.5 million printer has networked its entire operation, from order-entry all the way through delivery, to its advantage. (For more on Rapid Press and Rapid Impressions, visit americanprinter.com.)

But networking isn't necessarily for everybody, notes MLP's Santie. “Does it make sense for a printer that maybe has one halfsize or 40-inch sheetfed press in their shop? [Not necessarily.] Smaller printers may not even have an MIS in house.”

Agrees Heidelberg's Mauro, “If printers don't need a lot of automation on their presses, they don't really need JDF. If they're happy with their workflow right now, then they don't need [networking].” He points out, however, that as printers grow, they'll have to invest in new equipment to keep up. “We recommend buying equipment that is JDF-compatible now or has a clear roadmap to becoming JDF-compliant. Then you can custom-design your own systems using components from various vendors,” he says.

Krause notes that individual printers will pick and choose what pieces they want to implement. “Every single printer is at a different phase for automation and for what they might want to focus on to differentiate their business,” she explains. “NGP is modular. If you add the things that make sense for the way you want to grow and differentiate your business, it can add huge value.”

CIM doesn't end

At this point, though, vendors say full networking is far from reality. “There's a misnomer about JDF — it's not plug-and-play at this point,” Hudmon says. “Vendors still have to sit down and make sure [their products work together]. The other problem is we kind of have to wait for other companies as well. We have customers who have purchased our portion of the JDF workflow but are waiting for connections on the MIS end.”

Many MIS vendors, for their part, have joined PrintTalk (Reston, VA) to facilitate MIS interfacing to third-party e-commerce systems. PrintTalk, a nonprofit consortium of MIS and e-commerce vendors, was formed several years ago to create an open standard for the direct communication of data between e-commerce applications and business-management systems. Printcafe uses its own PCX JDF-interfacing tool for e-commerce/MIS integration — other vendors also have their own tool sets. (See “Making the best MIS choice,” February 2002.)

According to some pundits, you'll eventually need to have a fully networked printing plant to survive. “Bear in mind that… CIM doesn't end with the press, or even with postpress,” contends Mauro of Heidelberg. “Nowadays, printers are facing competition from different kinds of media, so a lot of printers are getting into fulfillment and other services where printing becomes only a part of their job.

“At some point, a printer will be printing brochures for a company, but the company will want a little piece of plastic to be put in the brochure, then packaged. They won't want 100,000 copies to be shipped to their warehouse; instead, they'll want you to store those copies and ship 10,000 a month — but not to the print buyer, to their own customers.”

Mauro concludes: “Printing will just be a component of the service that they provide. And that's a part of CIM too — you'll have to be able to manage the inventory, manage the mailing systems and more. It's almost exponentially unfathomable to think about what ties into each other.”

Free booklet on JDF

Vio Inc. (Roseland, NJ) has released a free educational booklet, “Process Automation in Printing & Publishing,” for the graphic-arts industry. The resource provides a comprehensive overview of the standards based on the Job Definition Format (JDF) that are making true process automation a reality. Author James Harvey, executive director of the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4), explains the challenges and benefits associated with the implementation of JDF-based software.

To download a copy, visit vio.com/whitepapers _index.htm or e-mail marketing@vio.com.

How real is CIM?

At VUE/Point 2003, panelists gathered to talk about whether computer-integrated manufacturing CIM) works. Check out the highlights at americanprinter.com.

Networking advice

Hank Madsen, owner and president of Rapid Press (Tallahassee, FL), offers the following advice for printers interested in networking their plant:

No one formula fits all plants

Madsen advises using your clients' needs to tailor your business. “In these times, the real question is ROI,” he points out. “Just because it is trendy to have a certain technology does not mean it is profitable.”

Find a good vendor partner

“Some vendors know the buzz words, but let the buyer beware! Check references carefully to make sure you aren't the R&D for what a vendor thinks will be a good networking system,” says Madsen.