News & opinions from around the world from Dalim Software ... · ing at the print site. Once CWP had created the flatplan, the PR agencies could submit approved copy, images and graphics

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On The Same PageVertis "Hub & Spoke" web workfl ows

Issue V

In With The NewGravure production with Prinovis

Can You Trust Your Monitor?Hal Hinderliter states the case against

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NewsUpdates on Dalim Software products, events and applications.

Distributed Digital Production - The Vertis StoryVertis Inc are one of the largest direct marketing organisations in the world. Read how they deployed a radical “hub-and-spoke’ production system, built using DALiM TWiST servers.

Open To InterpretationYour softproofing system may be colour-accurate, but is it content-accurate? Gee Ranasinha poses the question regarding RIPs and softproofing systems.

Fast Food!Nestlé is the world’s biggest food and beverage company, employing nearly a quarter of a million staff. Read how Nestlé prepress supplier Zuliani installed DALiM MiSTRAL Pack, a packaging-specific version of Dalim Software’s online production management system.

21st Century ServiceGareth Ward, from The Print Business, examines the change in business practices required for print companies to succeed in the future.

Dalim Software SolutionsA guide to Dalim Software’s award-winning product line.

Can You Trust Your Monitor?Hal Hinderliter casts doubt on the validity of current monitor colour calibration tests.

Prinovis - Gravure printing with DALiM TWiSTThe new company created from the gravure printing divisions of maul-belser, Gruner + Jahr and Axel Springer use DALiM TWiST to ensure a fast, seamless production workflow.

Save Money using JDFJames Harvey, Executive Director of the CIP4 Organisation, urges you to “think JDF” when investing in new equipment.

With A Little Help From My FriendsHow Continental Web Press helped us in attaining SWOP® certification for DALiM DiALOGUE.

CTP Investment TrendsBarry Happe from Vantage Strategic Marketing looks that the global uptake of Computer-To-Plate systems.

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Dalim Software GmbH

Strassburger Strasse 6

77694 Kehl

Germany

t: +49 (0) 7851 91 96 0

f: +49 (0) 7851 73 57 6

www.dalim.com

EDITORIAL

Gee Ranasinha - [email protected]

Irv Press - [email protected]

Ruth Clark - [email protected]

DESIGN

Franck Stoll - [email protected]

PRINTING

Our sincere thanks to Continental Web Press,

Itasca, IL

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Cover photography by Geyza

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Welcome to THEMAGAZiNE, our own publication designed for industry innovators in all areas of print production. THEMAGAZiNE has gone some way since our first issue was published back in 2003. This issue is our biggest to date. It features news and opinions on a wide range of topics concerning graphic arts professionals today. It follows a multilingual Central Europe Edition of 20,000 copies and last year’s DRUPA edition of 25,000 copies in 3 languages (German, English and French). Raising interest at all levels of the supply chain, THEMAGAZINE is becoming the eyes and the ears of our customers and many industry specialists around the world. This issue of THEMAGAZiNE brings contributions from some of the foremost industry professionals. We are very pleased to feature articles from James Harvey, Gareth Ward, Hal Hinderliter and Barry Happe and thank them for their support. In the last issue of the Magazine, I mentioned that much of our product development originates from direct feedback from our customers; originating from information harvested by their own technical infrastructure, their staff and, more importantly, their own customers. Aside from prestigious contributions, the stories in this issue revolve around global brands (for example, did you know that the majority of CD and DVD covers from around the world are produced using DALiM TWIST?). Other stories feature Nestlé supplier Zuliani and Bertelsmann - a large shareholder in gravure print group Prinovis, making it the largest Dalim Software user in the Gravure environment in Europe. It is a fact that more and more global organisations today entrust small teams of smart people to produce their work using the latest server-based technologies that make production look local and centralized, even though it is often subcontracted nationally or offshore. With two Dalim Software User Organization meetings - in Europe and in the USA - both enjoying record attendances, we continue sharing our vision for the future of our industry. So that “your imagination becomes your only limit”. We hope you enjoy this issue, and hope you find it the usual entertaining and instructive read.

Regards,

Dr. Carol WerléCEO, Dalim Software

A message from Carol Werlé

Dr. Carol WerléCEO, Dalim Software GmbH

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DALiM DiALOGUE, the award-winning online softproofing system, has received SWOP® (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) Certification, independently confirming that DALiM DiALOGUE will consistently render colour accurately on a monitor—hard copy proofs will match those viewed on screen, even for colour-critical projects. Based on qualified testing, DALiM DiALOGUE is SWOP® Certified for use with the GTI SOFV-1ex viewing booth and the GretagMacbeth EyeOne Pro spectropho-tometer, viewed on either the 23-inch Apple Cinema Display HD, the 30-inch Apple Cinema Display HD, or the 20-inch iMac.

DALiM DiALOGUE is unique amongst online softproofing systems in that it is the

only system that combines JDF-compatibil-ity, SWOP® Certification and unlimited client

access. Furthermore DALiM DiALOGUE is a stan-dalone system that doesn’t charge “per click” as competi-

tive ASP-based systems do. Users require nothing more that a browser - there is no client software download or web browser plug-in to install.<

More details at www.dalim.com/dalimdialogue

Dalim Software at ChinaPrint ExpoAs part of Dalim Software’s growing international presence, our Hong Kong / China channel partners Workflow Integrator (www.workflowintegrator.com.hk) invited us to participate on their exhibition booth at the 2005 ChinaPrint tradeshow. A first for Dalim Software, ChinaPrint proved to be an exceptionally good show with a great many small-to-medium sized print companies from all over the Asia/Pacific region expressing an interest in our products. With the ongoing growth in high-speed data communications, the Far East and Asia are emerging markets for the Graphic Arts industries with many Western companies already partnering with Asian companies. Our plan is to continue to monitor the developing markets, with the support of our channel partners, to be best positioned to take advantage of the emerging commercial opportunities.<

Don’t Miss Out!

DUO 2006Make sure that your company is represented at the 2006 Dalim Software Users Organization (“DUO”) Annual Conference!

Attracting over 100 attendees, DUO gives Dalim Software users the opportunity to learn about the company’s most recent developments and future plans, the chance to meet with other Dalim Software users from various business sectors, plus the opportunity to discuss with Dalim Software technical and sales staff.

DUO will be held in Barcelona, Spain and Scottsdale AZ in early 2006. More details will be available nearer the time!<

DALiM DiALOGUE, the award-winning online

DALiM DiALOGUE Now SWOP® Certifi ed

Already attracting attention for its ease-of-use and stunning

client user interface, DALiM DiALOGUE now features SWOP® Certification.

Attracting over 100 attendees, DUO gives Dalim Software users the opportunity

More details will be available nearer the time!

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JDF1.3 support for all Dalim Software server systemsWith the publishing of the latest JDF1.3 specification by CIP4 (www.cip4.org), Dalim Software has upgraded all of out server applications (DALiM SWiNG, DALiM TWiST, DALiM DiALOGUE, DALiM PRiNTEMPO and DALIM MiSTRAL) to support the new level of compliance. The new features of JDF1.3 mainly focus on additional packaging and file preflight-specific features.<

THEMAGAZiNEWe practice what we preach!

In case you were wondering: Yes indeed, this issue of THEMAGAZiNE was produced using Dalim Software workflow automation tools. As with many publications today, the issue was most definitely a global project, bringing together people at Dalim Software’s central HQ in Kehl, Germany; with our PR agencies in both London and Boston; with the printer Continental Web Press (CWP) in Chicago.

DALiM MiSTRAL was used as the common interface, resid-ing at the print site. Once CWP had created the flatplan, the PR agencies could submit approved copy, images and graphics online, and our designer could assemble the pages and immediately post them for validation. As and when each file was submitted, the DALiM MiSTRAL system would preflight, optimize and trap each page according to the printer’s specification.

Any pages that didn’t meet the spec - not enough bleed, perhaps, or a font that was too small - would be automati-cally moved to a holding area, while both the submitter and the printer would receive an email outlining the problem.

Approval was fast and error-free. Optimized PDF files were available for download, as well as colour-managed online softproofing for viewing, correction and approval.

Once the magazine was approved - again totally online - the printer simply imposed the pages using a JDF impo-sition template. As each printer section was complete, the system automatically sent the signatures to the platesetter RIP.

As Continental Web Press CEO Ken Field comments “We handled it just like any other job that we receive from our clients from all around the country. Once the client was happy with each page, they simply click “OK” from their browser.

DALiM MiSTRAL did the rest.<

We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone at Continental Web Press, Itasca, IL for their help in the production of THEMAGAZiNE.

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GWG ValidatesPDF OutputThe Ghent Workgroup (GWG) is an international assembly of industry associations whose goal is to establish and disseminate process specifications for best practices in graphic arts workflows.

Part of the GWG’s aims lies in the creation of quasi-standards in PDF output for a range of different applications such as magazine advertis-ing, commercial print, or packaging. As a result, nine PDF output speci-fications have been published by the GWG, grouped under the name “PDF/X Plus”.

As part of Dalim Software’s ongoing commitment to the support of any openly-specified standard, the GWG recently conducted extensive tests concerning the PDF output of Dalim Software applica-tions. The result was clear: The GWG tests concurred that the PDF output from Dalim Software applications are 100% compliant with all nine GWG PDF/X Plus output specifications.<

Red Flag Media gets DALiM TWiSTCustomer publisher and owner of a nation-al title invests in automationRed Flag Media is a company that has grown from a custom publisher for independent music retailers to the owner of an excellent Philadelphia-based metal magazine, Decibel.

Recently, Red Flag Media invested in a large-scale DALiM TWiST system in order to better control their media production, as well as reduce costs. “We looked at our bills and discovered we were spending a mint on pre-

press. Since going live, the Dalim Software system has been incredible,” says Alex Mulcahy, Red Flag Media president. “Our requirements were for an easy-to-use sys-tem that offered great flexibil-ity, scalable performance and rock-solid reliability in terms of both file creation and systems reliability. We appreciate how dependably and flawlessly DALiM TWiST works. Our printer is ecstatic about how we deliver our files.”<

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Read All About ItUS News & World Report Magazine installs DALiM TWiST

Washington, DC-based U.S. News & World Report, which delivers a unique brand of weekly magazine journalism to more than 11 million readers, recently installed a DALiM TWiST system at their Washington, DC prepress facility.

“We needed a productive, cost-effective way to pre-flight our ads and edit pages and produce PDF/X1-a files for our printers and digital content partners,” says Michael Brooks, Manager of Prepress at U.S. News. “DALiM TWiST delivers that cost-efficiency and allows us to produce pages much more quickly. Every week it helps us deliver the news to our readers faster and better.”<

For the recent ChinaPrint tradeshow in Beijing, Dalim Software Authorized Reseller Workflow Integrator wanted to differentiate themselves from the many other vendor booths around the show. Taking a leaf from Dalim Software’s book - literally - Workflow integrator set about designing a Dalim Software magazine - in Chinese!

“We all thought that the last few issues of THEMAGAZiNE contained some great articles and commentaries”, said Yeo Choo Ming, Business Development Manager of Workflow Integrator. “ChinaPrint is a multicultural show, so we wanted to come up with a magazine that could be read by Chinese and non-Chinese equally.”

The result is a carefully-designed maga-zine containing both English and Chinese text, taking the best features and articles from past issues of THEMAGAZiNE.<

Swelling our ranks:

New facesNew appointments at Dalim Software.

Stefan Preussler joins Dalim Software as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Stefan was previously employed as Prepress Production Manager at Gruner+Jahr, Germany, before join-ing Brown Printing Company as Chief Administration Officer based in Waseca, Minneapolis, USA. Stefan’s new position sees him returning home to his native Germany to be based in Dalim Software’s central office in Kehl, Germany.

“As a customer, I was always impressed with Dalim Software’s technology, products and innovation,“ he notes. “I’m very excited to be working with such a forward-thinking organization as Dalim Software.”

Graham Blanks, who joins Dalim Software as head of North American Strategic Operations, is very familiar with Dalim Software - since he had worked at the USA headquarters of what was then DALiM North America. Graham was also Operations Director at UK Dalim Software reseller, Turning Point Technologies Ltd. before relocating to the USA.

“Being so familiar with both the people and the products from Dalim Software, it’s almost like coming home!”, jokes Graham. Graham has more than 15 years experi-ence with UNIX-based Enterprise level applications and has extensive experience in the Print and Publishing markets. “ I feel that Dalim Software’s latest products and technologies open up an exciting opportu-nity for the company.”<

THEMAGAZiNE. Now in Chinese, thanks to our Hong Kong / Singapore / China reseller, Workflow Integrator

English, French, German -How about Chinese?

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For more information, the latest news and to register for FREE entry visit: www.ipex.org/dalim

NEC, Birmingham, UK 4–11 April 2006

Ipex 2006 showcases all that is new and innovative in the industry to help youstay competitive and profitable. With 1,000 global suppliers and hundreds ofnew product launches it’s the perfect environment in which to access thelatest technological developments.

With many initiatives, including INNOV8, a revolutionary theatre where you can get inspiration from industry experts, it’s an essential place for ideageneration.

And with a new logical hall layout with exhibitors zoned to mirror the printingworkflow it will make your visit less tiring and a lot more inspiring.

For those of you who want a taster of the future there couldn’t be a betterplace to go than Ipex from 4–11 April 2006, NEC, Birmingham, UK. Registernow for FREE visit: www.ipex.org/dalim

Open your eyes to the future of print

The Global Technology Event for Print, Publishing & Media

Owned by

DALiM TWiST: The Engine of WebSENDWebSEND, Australia’s most advanced internet-based advertising delivery service, has integrated DALiM TWiST as its core preflighting and validation engine.

WebSEND provides an invaluable, time-slashing step in the print-ad production chain. Unlike other ad-submission services, WebSEND validates an ad against a newspaper or magazine’s mechanical specifications on-the-fly.

When an Art Director submits their ad to any number of 1200 Australian and New Zealand publications, DALiM TWiST not only checks the PDF for RIP-killing errors such as corrupted fonts, PostScript errors or transparency issues, but compares the file characteristics against the target publication’s ad-sizes, column widths, ink weight specifica-tions, section information and so forth - all in real-time.

If the file passes the checks, the PDF is immediately deliv-ered to the publication. If not, it is returned in a few seconds with automatically generated mark-ups showing where the problem lies, so it can be corrected and re-submitted immediately, saving time, frustration and money.

“Even if the ad is not perfect, but within an acceptable toler-ance range, we can have DALiM TWiST fix it up on the way through - this eliminates a lot of headaches for production people at the agency or newspaper alike, especially since many ads have minor sizing and resolution errors” says Peter Lamont, CEO of WebSEND.

“What we really like about Dalim Software, and its Australian Distributor neXus network, is their ‘can do’ atti-tude. Already, within a few months of implementation, we are able to provide a better and broader service than we could previously. We are so impressed with the product that we have entered an agreement with neXus to offer it as an extended PDF validation solution to our national and international clients”.<

It can be very difficult producing and monitoring large, ‘global’ accounts: clients with offices located nationwide—or even internationally.

Traditionally, in order to meet a large customer’s needs, a premedia organization would need to establish and maintain a premedia presence at each one of the customer’s locations.

This was the challenge that Vertis faced when pitching for a major account. The requirement to create four complete, self-reliant facilities, yet link them together – all within a realistic budget. The only apparent solution was to deploy a “hub & spoke” model, where both manufacturing and financial requirements could be met. And, as Vertis will tell you, working with their client would likely have been impossible without DALiM TWiST.

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland USA and with 120 locations worldwide, Vertis is a premier provider of targeted advertising, media and marketing services whose capabilities include advertising inserts, direct marketing, direct mail, interactive/online marketing, one-to-one marketing, newspaper media planning and placement and advertising premedia. The company serves over 3,000 clients, including major manufacturers, retailers, newspapers and advertising agencies.

Vertis was called upon to service a large client who wanted to distribute, promote, and sell content globally. However, the client’s offices

were spread out across the whole of the USA, with an HQ in New York City. It was a nationwide organization whose needs fluctuated greatly depending on the type of work, or the location of the office.

“We needed to produce standardized, finished goods in many appearances and forms. In addition to keeping a consistent appearance and timely delivery, we needed to balance it with profitability,” remembers Scott Tully, Vertis Digital Workflow Strategist. “We decided to deploy DALiM TWiST, establish a robust file naming convention and folder structure, and meet the challenge head-on.”

DALIM TWiST is a key component of Vertis’ Distributed Digital Manufacturing (DDM) system, a comprehensive production strategy where information management, data storage, data transfer, Internet connectivity and process control are fused into a self-reliant, automated manufacturing centre. The result is a “digital production hub”, where automated workflow solutions are based locally and distributed globally.

The ‘hub and spoke’ model was immediately put to the test. While an area in the client’s New York offices was being prepared to take a DALiM TWiST system, most of the work was sent to the Vertis facility in North Haven, Connecticut. Operators in North Haven had local access to DALiM TWiST via desktop publishing, and the start-up personnel in the New York office had

DistributedDigital ManufacturingOffered by Vertis. Powered by DALiM TWiST.

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remote access via the Internet thanks to Dalim Software’s TWiST WEBLiNK interface. Despite geographic and personnel differences, DALiM TWiST produced final files and made them instantly available to both locations.

Once the client’s New York offices were ready, it was just a case of installing the set-up from the DALiM TWiST server in North Haven. The changeover was seamless. With common DALiM TWiST platforms exchanging workflows, balancing the workload was achieved in just a few hours. The client’s materials were now manufactured by two separate groups—joined, yet independent—with indistinguishable results.

The concept worked. Work proceeded on implementing a similar system at the client’s offices on the West Coast of the USA, initially serviced by the Vertis office in Irvine, California. Shortly thereafter, an office opened in Miami Florida, and they too, became part of the model.

In the end, Vertis had more than twenty personnel, at five different locations, all working concurrently and seamlessly with a single, truly automated production workflow!

Automated manufacturingSince early 2004, the features and functionality of the master DALiM TWiST server have evolved from a simple ‘RIP, trap, and render’ solution to an intelligent collection of automated production efficiency.

“Our present solution consists of the main workflow master template and 97 sub-routine templates. All of the workflow templates contain checks and balances to prevent flawed input files from being processed. Each workflow template is programmed with ‘intelligence’, validating that the input is correct. Incoming files are classified by ‘fuzzy logic’ as being packaging or advertising jobs, and are then sub-classified and routed by component type,” notes Scott. “These features are utilized within DALiM TWiST, but are made possible by the comprehensive planning and organization of our entire Vertis team, who collaborated to create a file coding system.” This coding system is the real

...“it couldn’t have happened without DALiM TWiST.”

Scott Tully,Digital Workflow Strategist

David Austin,Production Manager

Bob SouleDirector of Technology

Kenneth BahrLead Page Assembly Operator

Bryan GriffinManager, Commercial Assembly

Alfred BurgessLead Page Assembly Operator

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heart of the operation and the secret as to how Vertis can produce such varied output from just a handful of operators.

While the back-end system is elaborate, using DALiM TWiST to produce the work couldn’t be easier”, explains Scott. “The operator selects from project-based choices, determining the final file format to be produced (PDF/X-1a:2003 or TIFF-IT.P1), and the page delivery type (single page or imposed printer spreads). Other options include an intermediate-resolution PDF file to check composition; a flattened, CMYK TIFF of the input file for our DAM system; and a form-based collection of imposed pages, ready for a colour copier in a single PDF file which can be printed and folded into a paginated folding dummy. This minimizes operator error, and provides more time for the operator to employ his/her desktop publishing skills. The only thing the operator has to do is prepare a correctly-named and composed Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign document, and select a few workflow options”.

Recording exceptional performanceThe DALiM TWiST servers have proven 100% reliable and have been operating at peak efficiency since their installation. The system has a perfect record. Not one press-ready file produced by DALiM TWiST has been rejected by a printer for not meeting ISO standards.

The DALiM TWiST-based manufacturing environment has matched or exceeded the previous total output of the customer’s Graphic Arts Production department, plus the eight vendors the customer had previously employed. In New York, Vertis’ on-site staff, roughly 60% the size of the customer’s previous staff, is producing 200-800% more projects daily. Along with the staff in North Haven, these two facilities have matched or exceeded all of the customer’s previous output, with an estimated 50% reduction in total labour, and a 75% reduction in workflow systems, file servers, proofing, and other equipment.

“Altogether, the master workflow, combined with the supporting workflow templates, can automatically deliver five different file formats, 150 impositions, 150 blueline PDFs, 87 unique packaging components, 28 unique advertising components, innumerable assets for the asset management system and 100% reliability—all at the click of an operator’s mouse,” summarizes Scott. “Certainly, it took our expertise to make this possible..

…but it couldn’t have happened without DALiM TWiST.”<

As Vertis expanded its DALiM TWiST-based infrastructure from coast-to-coast, Scott Tully recognized the need not only to connect the hosts, but to also join the independent DALiM TWiST administrators into a cohesive, national unit.

Scott Tully defined and conducted a DALiM TWiST Administrators training program in June 2004, followed by the creation of Vertis’ DALiM Administrators Group (DAG) in October. As Facilitator, Scott Tully hosts a bi-weekly conference call where DAG members discuss Vertis’ local and national DALiM TWiST issues, exchange knowledge and discuss opportunities for improvement.

DAG has produced standardization of nomenclature, documentation and communication among the membership. “My teammates have dedicated themselves to establishing a robust, inter-changeable DALiM TWiST-based manufacturing environment. Their dedication has resulted in the creation and evolution of a “Tips & Tricks” Library, Vertis’ Distributed Digital Manufacturing Service (DDM), and an uninterrupted stream of customer focused, automated workflows,” explains Scott Tully.

The six Vertis DALiM TWiST Administrators not only build and support their workflows; they also manage their own production departments. “Being a capable administrator is just one role each of my teammates fulfill. They are also leaders. Vertis is committed to personal and professional growth of its personnel—my teammates and I have all completed Vertis’ Situational Leadership II class. The result? We have melded our technical and leadership skills to form a responsive team of premedia professionals on which our fellow Vertis professionals and customers rely.”

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®

After lingering on the sidelines for the last eight or nine years or so, it seems that online softproofing is finally getting the attention it deserves from our industry. It still amazes me that so many companies still don’t offer soft-proofing services to a client base crying out for easier ways to do business – and are often prepared to pay for it.

The concept of softproofing is pretty simple – even clients can get their heads around it. Rather then print out the job on a calibrated proofing system – inkjet, laser, whatever – you allow the file to be accessed by your customers from the internet. Once a job is ready, the client logs on to the system and “clicks” on their job, where the system then immediately sends an full-frame preview of the image. Only the image information requested is sent to the client brows-er, enabling almost instantaneous zooming and scrolling of the image, as though you had opened it on your own computer. Since the image data is streamed “intelligently”, the amount of information transferred is efficient enough for even the most modest internet connections to handle.

Why do it this way as opposed to (for example) emailing a PDF of the file straight to the client? There are a number of reasons. For example, you have no way of tracking the approval process - you don’t know that the client has looked at the file until they call/email you back. You also don’t know for sure if they are commenting on the same version of the file that you’re working on. Furthermore, some corporate email networks systematically remove attachments over a certain size.

However, from my point of view, the best thing is that during the proofing process the client doesn’t actually RECEIVE the file – nothing’s downloaded to their machine – so the only image the client physically receives is the one that you’ve allow them to have. An intermediate stage of the job doesn’t end up cropped, PhotoShopped and on the cover of Johnny’s homework report. The latest trend in online softproofing are systems that boast contract colour softproofing”. In other words, the systems purport to be accurate enough with regards to their rendition of colour that the client can actually sign-off the proof online. DALiM DiALOGUE, Dalim Software’s

Open to interpretation

by Gee Ranasinha

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softproofing system, offers such colour accuracy. It has even been tested and independently certified by the SWOP organisation (www.swop.org). Publishers around the world are looking into contract-colour softproofing with the ulti-mate goal of reducing the number of hard-copy proofs that they get to zero.

But that’s not the point of this article (yes, there actually is a point to all of this). What I want to bring to your attention is that the manufacturers of some of these systems don’t seem to be talking about a crucially important part of the softproofing process: the underlying RIP technology that the systems use.

A RIP, or ‘Raster Image Processor’ if you prefer, is a software and/or hardware application that converts by interpretation the vector description of text and/or pictorial elements in a file into rasterized, bitmap data that may, in addition, have a screen ruling applied. The objective is to create a file that can be read in by an output device – be it a filmsetter or platesetter, proofer, or even a press. If you’ve got a digital file that contains vectors – not just line artwork, but fonts, rules and so on – then before that job gets to be ink on paper there has to be a RIP involved.

However, different RIPs do things in different ways. Worse that than, even software from the SAME RIP MANUFACTURER does things in different ways – depend-ing on output settings, file formats and so on. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if the proofing system that you’re using isn’t ripping the files using the same technol-ogy as that of your output device, then there’s a chance that what you see on the proof isn’t going to be what you see from the output device. It’s one reason why many print-ers ensure that their inkjet proofs have been ripped using the same RIP interpreter as the one that they use for their platesetter.

Now, for many of you reading this, I’ve not really said anything that you don’t already know. This sort of stuff has been talked about by many people for years. However, the discussions have been about the RIP on (for example) a CTP device compared to the RIP on an inkjet proofer. No-one seems to be talking about the RIP inside softproofing systems, and how it’s interpretation compares to the RIP that’s on the front of something else. If you’re no longer using a hard-copy proofing system and relying on what you see on your monitor, surely having the same RIP to produce your softproofs is even more important than when produc-ing hard-copy proofs?

It’s clear that online softproofing systems can offer many advantages to conventional hard-copy proofing. In some areas of the industry, softproofing systems are threatening to make traditional paper-based proofs obsolete. However, buying a softproofing application is just one part of a bigger picture of true online softproofing implementation.<

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The competition of brands and products on the shelves of our supermarkets is of utmost importance to the Swiss-based multinational food and beverage company Nestlé. Achieving maximum speed to market is essential so the company has had to adopt the latest packaging reproduction technology to help them remain a brand leader. A packaging version of DALiM MiSTRAL, Dalim Software’s online production management system, has made a major impact to the company since Zuliani, a Montreux-based prepress firm, recommended its considerable benefits to Nestlé.

Zuliani has been handling Nestlé’ Nescafé labels for 20 years and Zuliani owner Yves Aubry introduced them to DALiM MiSTRAL two years ago when Nestlé wanted to move its packaging production tracking to an Internet-based solution to increase efficiency, streamline production and reduce wastage.

The company were impressed by DALiM MiSTRAL’s high level of functionality and collaborative power enabling electronic submission, tracking, correction and approval of packaging jobs and the rest is history! The system has worked

so successfully that today Zuliani handles 400 packaging jobs every year, and have added the Nestea and Buitoni brands to Nestlé.

Now, approximately 300 DALiM MiSTRAL users across 26 countries, track the progress of Nestlé jobs in real-time, viewing pieces of work, attaching comments and making final approvals. The use of DALiM DiALOGUE for online proofing means Zuiliani no longer distributes interim Cromalins worldwide. Proof approval has been cut from about 2 weeks in some cases to just 1 day. Cromalins are only produced as contract proofs once final online approval has been given.

A key benefit is the scheduling functionality of DALiM MiSTRAL. Working from a final date of delivery the system to automatically schedules the timings and processes that a job needs to go through to meet deadlines. DALiM MiSTRAL shows exact job status and automatically emails project members to remind them to take action as appropriate.

Mr Aubry calculates that the full system has cut project times by 30% and related costs by about 25%!

Fast food indeed!<

NESTLÉ Boosts speed tomarket WITH DALiM MiSTRAL

Fast Food!

...approximately 300 DALiM MiSTRAL users across 26 countries,...

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It might be pushing it a little far to say that the 21st century printing company

can happily exist without printing presses, but only a little.

The importance of the physical asset – the press – is diminishing. To be replaced by a more intangible asset, knowledge. The cliché that a company’s most important assets are its people is very much true.

In an age where digital processes are a factor of moving numbers around and where every press on the market prints beautifully and can be controlled through computers, the things that today set one printer apart from another are less physical. They are service, innovation, empathy, that ability to understand a customer and satisfy his needs as part of an integrated team.

These can be classified as feminine attributes, not demanding masculine strength as was needed to hump plates around, move paper and developing negatives.

The companies which succeed in future will need the traditional array of prepress and printing equipment and probably an extended line up of finishing tools to produce a wide variety of effects and finishes. That is a given. But in future it will not be enough. What they will also have is the close relationship (built on trust) with a client.

The old upstairs-downstairs relationships where publishers and designers took decisions about what the servants below stairs would put on press and print are dissolving. The boundaries between design and prepress are flexible and will vary between one printer and the next, between one client and the next. The smart printer will be able to adjust his approach as necessary and will welcome the opportunity to work the way the client wants to operate. The printer becomes part of the client’s organisation for the duration of the project.

This is a big change from the rigid way of operating deriving from strictly delineated processes and craft skills that have developed over the last 50 years. Some clients will want to deliver artwork on CD with transparencies for scanning, others will deliver production ready PDFs with images adjusted to the fingerprint of the press via ftp or email. And all points between.

Working as a team with clients, suggesting ways that print (or indeed electronic media) will achieve their needs for recognition, for additional sales or product positioning, is more reliable route to winning work than offering the cheapest price, although the route may be more tortuous in the short term. The printer becomes a partner acting more as a professional adviser than hired labour.

To get there will almost certainly mean having a willingness to accept change, to welcome onscreen proofing for example, working at unaccustomed hours of day and night, being prepared to invest time and energy long before the job reaches the factory.

It means moving away from thinking of the print operation as a collection of platesetters, presses guillotines and folders and instead becoming a smart operation worthy of the fees levied for a 21st century service.<

21stcenturyservice

Gareth WardEditorial Director,‘The Print Business’ magazine.

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by Gareth Ward, Editorial Director,‘The Print Business’ magazine.

Intelligent and automated digital production workflow

Integrated and advanced file editing

Multi-featured online softproofing

Web-based print production monitoring

Web-based production management

Suite of automated workflow

A Guide to Dalim Software

Production SolutionsFounded twenty years ago, Dalim Software

is a leader in the design and development of innovative and automated workflow and communication software for the publishing and graphic arts industries.

From our corporate HQ in Kehl, South-Western Germany, we offer software solutions designed to ease and automate the processing of files prior to printing in order to maximise the productivity of our customers.

The Dalim Software products (DALiM TWiST™, DALiM LiTHO™, DALiM DiALOGUE™, DALiM PRiNTEMPO™, DALiM MiSTRAL® and DALiM SWiNG™) are based on open systems and technologies. They enable companies to implement scalable, internet-capable systems that provide clients with the highest level of interaction and efficiency.

Our products can be used independently, in conjunction with other vendors’ equipment, or

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Intelligent and automated digital production workflow

Integrated and advanced file editing

Multi-featured online softproofing

Web-based print production monitoring

Web-based production management

Suite of automated workflow

DALiM TWiST™ is an automated production workflow system for printers, publishers and prepress organisations requiring best-of-breed performance and in-depth production management.

Based on modular tools, the software is fully scalable and can be rapidly configured into an almost infinite variety of automatic processing paths. The software’s powerful feature sets (database driven workflows, JDF-driven preflighting & imposition, web-based job tracking, file submission and administration, advanced automated trapping, etc) has allowed some of the industry’s leading names to achieve high throughput, reliability and flexibility in demanding environments, plus gain significant performance and feature benefits.

DALiM TWiST provides users with an extremely robust, reliable and high-productivity production workflow. More than 30 different file types such as PostScript, PDF, TIFF/IT, TIFF, EPS, DCS, etc. are preflighted, normalised and secured as print-predictable, “reference” PDFs which form the basis for all subsequent processes such as hard/soft proofing, imposition, distribution and output to film, plate, press and digital archive/asset management systems. Dalim Software’s unique file optimisation technology ensures that files output correctly – regardless of their origin or creation application. DALiM TWiST’s unique architecture offers a host of impressive features. Apart from its JDF-based features, the systems boasts maximum resiliency, built-in system failover, advanced load balancing, native PDF 1.4 and PDF 1.5 file support, a totally new and easy to use graphical user interface, PDF/X-1a:2003; PDF/X-3: 2003, Pass4Press (v4) and PDF/X Plus file output and introduces a raft of innovative new preflight and colour separation mapping tools to the industry.

DALiM LiTHO provides page editing, assembly and PDF / PostScript editing tools. The software is based on an open architecture and can import PostScript data, all known image formats, a number of proprietary file formats as well as PDF documents for editing. The software’s highly developed PDF input feature imports all the information from an original document as a unit, and provides full editing capabilities, far in excess of those from similar “PDF Editing” applications, at the same time not being restricted to editing just PDF files.DALiM LiTHO also outputs to a range of formats including TIFF, DCS1 or 2.0, PDF, PDF/X, Hell, Crosfield or Scitex format. The software also supports all popular OPI solutions, such as Xinet FullPress and Helios Imageserver, making it highly suitable for all companies with complex requirements in terms of seamless integration with other systems.

These features offer enormous advantages in improving workflow efficiencies as composition can be altered directly at the correction stage without having to open image elements, process them, save them and update them, thereby minimising the time spent by the operator on achieving final rendering of the background.

A version of DALiM LiTHO is supplied with every copy of DALiM TWiST, considerably adding to the flexibility of the system.DALiM LiTHO64 is the industry’s first 64-bit desktop file editing application, optimised to open and handle files of practically any size. Intended for high content applications where individual file sizes regularly exceed 4.0Gb, commonly experienced, for example, within the large web-offset, security and cartographic printing sectors, LiTHO64 provides outstanding performance and the ability to work on files of virtually any size (up to 9 million terabytes, which translates as a 300 dpi image at 800m x 800m!). Consequently, large files, such as those generated by 16-page, 24-page, 32-page forms can be handled with ease and opened at speed to allow high-resolution viewing - and even retouching.8

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DALiM DiALOGUE™ is the only softproofing system that’s workflow-independent, JDF-enabled, SWOP® certified, and runs under the Macintosh OS X operating system. DALiM DiALOGUE enables remote and collaborative viewing, softproofing and job validation of high-resolution files via the Internet. Utilising unique data-streaming technology to standard web-browsers, users such as photographers, ad agencies and designers, can view high-resolution files, zoom, navigate, place virtual notes, take densitometer readings, check production parameters, validate and ‘chat’ in real time, without the need for client software, to approve single and imposed pages from any location.

Not an ASP service, but a software application that you install and run as any other, DALiM DiALOGUE is able to display the most popular file formats, such as PDF (including PDF1.5), PDF/X, PostScript, DCS, CT/LW, TIFF, TIFF-IT and TIFF-IT/P1. While also available for the Red Hat Linux operating system, DALiM DiALOGUE is the first online softproofing product available for Apple Macintosh OS X. Now SWOP® certified, users can have confidence in approving jobs online knowing that the system’s colour rendition can match a printed proof. DALiM DIALOGUE can also be seamlessly integrated into third-party asset management systems, such as Xinet WebNative.

DALiM PRiNTEMPO™ is a web browser-based JDF-enabled print production system that can be used by a printer on any client platform, to monitor and track print production status. DALIM PRiNTEMPO also allows any print company to offer client services such as online file submission, preflighting, and job tracking without changing their existing equipment.

Using a single interface, operators can trigger actions such as plate or proof generation and automate production of imposed pages, giving sheet and web-offset printers an extremely powerful tool to manage their businesses more efficiently and more profitably. Being fully compatible with existing hardware solutions and independent of file format and output device, DALiM PRiNTEMPO allows premedia organisations to formulate a complete solution, using their preferred imposition software, RIP, proofer, and output devices. Users may also choose their working file formats (e.g. vector or bitmap), plus create Job Ticket JDF templates, and automatically generate complete print signatures.

At any given moment, the production operator has a clear status view of each job, its pages, and its impositions as either thumbnails or full-page PDF views of each page. This gives production full, real-time control over production planning and management. By fixing deadlines for each stage, or by reverse calculating all interim deadlines from the final job deadline, any job can be controlled and scheduling difficulties can be detected proactively.

DALiM PRINTEMPO also supports versioning. If a new page version is received, it is stored and labelled with a different version number. Users can select a preferred version at any time – even a former version. The signature is automatically assigned new status for validation or approval. If pagination changes, a simple ‘drag and drop’ from a “clipboard” allows the operator to correctly edit the page order, and automatically generate a new imposed form. Should a page not exactly fit the graphical expectations, last minute changes such as page translations, rotation or scaling can be performed directly in the signature.

Compatible with virtually every output device and RIP available today, DALiM PRiNTEMPO allows printers and premedia companies the latest browser-based and JDF technologies without large equipment investment.

Intelligent and automated digital production workflow Integrated and advanced file editing Multi-featured online softproofing Web-based print production monitoring Web-based production management Suite of automated workflow

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DALiM MiSTRAL™ is a JDF-compliant web-based production management system that acts as an interface for both common electronic submission and print production management for tracking, administration, correction, approval and printing. Built with an open architecture to assimilate into any prepress or publishing environment utilising open hardware and software protocols, plus using object-orientated programming and a device-independent output model users are free to work with an extensive range of both open and proprietary file formats. No special client-side software is required to interrogate the system. Users also benefit from JDF compliance features including advanced job ticketing, imposition and preflighting.

Much more than a production indicator, more a unique collaborative technology that sits on top of any workflow and allows all parties involved in the development of “publishable material” to have a single, common electronic interface to obtain information on the development of the project in real time and from any remote location. By integrating the development with a web server and advanced, open database connectivity, the result is a ‘total solution ’ production management, scheduling and tracking system that serves as the production backbone to handle all of a printer’s projects and the communication with their suppliers and clients.

DALiM MiSTRAL features a client independent web-based interface with a unique “floating toolbox”, that has a look and feel similar to working directly in a prepress application. While viewing a flatplan within DALiM MiSTRAL, users can “drag and drop” new pages from a clipboard directly to where they should be placed. If another page is already there, the user can move and exchange existing pages, sending older versions to a clipboard. This versioning capability allows users to keep as many page versions as desired, allowing the opportunity to restore the former page if a client changes his mind, or if time constraints demand rebuilding the project. The toolbox also allows the creation of new sections by simply dragging it where new pages need to be created. DALiM MiSTRAL has a considerable number of new options that are more intuitive, allowing the operator easier access to often-used commands.

With DALiM MiSTRAL , ODBC/JDBC compliant database data can be shared between the prepress workflow application and business systems on other computers.

The system can communicate to third party workflow, RIPs and MIS systems via JDF and JMF messaging. Project status can also be viewed as colour-coded page icons, JPG thumbnails and PDF full views of completed pages, helping project teams to create and fine-tune best-practice workflows, resulting in fewer errors, increased productivity, exceptional customer service, and more rapid project turnaround.

DALiM SWiNG is an entry-level suite of automated workflow solutions and fits perfectly into situations where the production bottleneck highlights a particular prepress task, such as “optimising” files into a “Print-Predictable” state, automated trapping and trap editing, automated proofing, etc.

The software offers compatibility and integration with existing industry standard format and allows integration into mixed system environments. The software offers a simple to understand user interface controlled by a single tool, which is available from both the server and Macintosh OSX/Windows workstations.

For printers, DALiM SWiNG can be used for (for example) ensuring error-free page output regardless of the type of incoming file. In a design environment digital artwork can be delivered to the exact specifications required by publishers or printers straight after the client has signed-off the PDF softproof. As a prepress house or print originator automated workflows can be se up to accept client files and undertake unattended production.

DALiM SWiNG can be seamlessly upgraded to any other Dalim Software application at any time in the future. Our unique migration policy protects customer investment since the migration fee is just the difference in price between the two products at the time of the change.<

Intelligent and automated digital production workflow Integrated and advanced file editing Multi-featured online softproofing Web-based print production monitoring Web-based production management Suite of automated workflow

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Redhat Linux FP 15/8/05 2:30 pm Page 1

By any measure, color proofing is serious business. Only a decade ago, most mid-sized printing companies employed one or two prepress workers per shift just to expose, process, label and ship out proofs for customer approval. Representing the final product of hours spent on labor-intensive film assembly, these photomechanical proofs used technologies such as KPG’s Matchprint, Fuji’s ColorArt or DuPont’s Dylux.

Today, inkjet is all the rage among print designers and prepress departments despite legitimate concerns over substrates, color gamuts and metamerism. The popularity of digital proofing can be attributed to the value

of a faster and cheaper proof, allowing proofs to be made more quickly and more often without significant cost increases.

Examining the “faster, cheaper” mantra can only lead to the conclusion that even faster, even cheaper proofs would also be popular with print buyers so long as the color quality remains equivalent to current methods. How about fast as the speed of light? That’s how quickly digital information travels across a fiber optic network, and that’s how quickly you can send a PDF proof to your client across town or across the country. Of course, the electronic proof doesn’t require expensive consumables like ink or the services of a

courier to deliver it.

Sounds like a victory for the super-fast, super-cheap process of approving color on your monitor – but hold your horses, because there’s still the question of quality to be addressed. Without an accurate representation of the final product’s color appearance, the new generation of “virtual” monitor-based proofs will be only marginally useful. Proponents of virtual proofing say that correctly calibrated systems provide an accurate, consistent color rendition that can rival the best of our current “hard-copy output” proofing products – but how do we know they’re really correct about that?

Can YouTrust

Your Monitor?By Hal Hinderliter, Director, Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly

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Despite the confidence of virtual proofing vendors and early adopters, the fundamental goal of an absolute measure for monitor accuracy is hard to come by. Anecdotal evidence derived from human evaluation is still the most widely offered proof that monitors can take the place of Matchprints; even the revered SWOP committee relies on the opinion of a panel of experts when evaluating virtual proofing systems. While the success stories of these workflow pioneers should not be discounted, comparing and rating the available options for monitor proofing must be enabled by cold, hard instrumentation and traceable measurements.

Measuring devices are already a part of the virtual proofing process as well as an essential tool for creating and adjusting the all-important monitor ICC profile. As I noted in a 2004 article for American Printer magazine, tests conducted by Joe Marin at the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation supplied more evidence that proofing with computer displays can be both precise and consistent. “We used a GretagMacbeth Eye-One monitor calibrator to measure hundreds of color patches on pairs of identically calibrated monitors, both CRT (cathode ray tube) and LCD (liquid crystal display)” noted GATF’s Marin, “and found that the monitors fared very well for color matching.”

Reassuring comments, but could this information actually be misleading? Monitor calibrators capture spectral data through a handful of dyed filters, with no standardization of the filter’s response specifications or even which frequencies to analyze. There is no certified assurance of instrument-to-instrument correlation between identical devices, and only the truly optomistic would expect agreement between calibrators from different manufacturers.

Even if the data gathered by monitor calibrators could be perfectly accurate and consistent, more variables persist. Colorimetric data captured by the calibrators is expressed in either CIELAB or RGB values, to an accuracy of 8 bits per channel. Unfortunately, LCD display manufacturers are now following digital photographers into a world where 10, 12 or even 16 bits per channel will be commonplace, turning what we had considered a precise data set into something much more nebulous. Think of it this way: it’s as if we’re used to measuring our world with a yardstick, but the new generation of high-bit LCD frame buffers is demanding measurements finer than we can achieve using such an imprecise tool.

Fortunately, more precise measurements are possible if you use elaborate equipment such as a spectroradiometer. The bad news is that the underlying

color space that forms the basis for our current approaches to color measurement and management may not be suitable for comparing monitors to hard copy proofs. Some color scientists have expressed concerns that the 1976 CIE L*u*v* Uniform Chromaticity Scale for measuring self-luminous colors presents a distorted view of light sources such as monitors, while at least one scientist argues that CIE L*u*v* is inadequate for expressing data about LED light sources (a major concern since LCD displays are expected to migrate to LED backlighting as the replacement for current florescent tube technology).

Does all of this uncertainty mean that virtual proofing should be outlawed? Not at all! There’s no doubt that monitor-based proofing provides numerous benefits to both print buyer and prepress department, so in the popular vernacular of the day, let’s not shy away from “whatever works.” Making sure that virtual proofing truly does work, however, will require continued research and collaboration involving manufacturers, testing laboratories and interested end users.

Determining the best approach for measuring and interpreting additive color data will be a challenging endeavor, and it’s one that the graphic arts industry can no longer afford to postpone. To that end, the Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly has announced a new research project entitled Specifications for the Application of Image Displays (SAID) which seeks to answer these important questions. SAID’s goal is to develop a new industry standard for evaluating computer displays, video cards and software used in the reproduction of color-accurate images. The SAID project also aims to provide an objective, measurable methodology to assess the performance and proper application of display-based proofing equipment and methods.

In addition to serving the needs of the graphic arts industry, SAID will also be applicable to the fast-growing markets of digital video, filmmaking, medical imaging and game development. Coordinating evaluation methods across all these areas of interest will assure that printing companies and graphic designers can continue to exert influence upon the development of new display technologies.

Positive results from your monitor-based proofing workflow will be the first indication that your monitor can be trusted, but true confidence in comparing one virtual proofing system to another is still some distance away. Vendors, standards bodies, early adopters and the Graphic Communication Institute must now get down to the tricky business of proving that your trust is warranted.

Hal HinderliterDirector, Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly

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Back in May an announcement by the European Commission caused headlines in the press, that a new joint venture to

create the largest gravure printing company in Europe was allowed to go ahead. The EU said that competition from Britain and France was sufficient to ensure that the new German company would not be a monopoly, although it would cover over 50 percent of the German magazine gravure printing market.

The three largest German gravure printers, Bertelsmann’s Arvato and Gruner + Jahr AG and Axel Springer AG had decided to merge their gravure printing operations into a single company – at the time of the EU decision still nameless, but now bearing the name Prinovis – which would dominate the magazine and catalogue printing market in Germany Prinovis now operates from gravure plants in Ahrensburg, Darmstadt, Dresden, Itzehoe and Nuremberg.

But the sights of the new company are firmly set on the whole of Europe and to this end a new gravure plant is being built in Liverpool, which is expected to begin production by the middle of 2006. One of the companies that make up this “decentralized network of medium-sized enterprises with a combined workforce of over 4,300 employees”, as the new entity describes itself, is Prinovis Nuremberg, previously known as maul-belser GmbH & Co KG. The company is a long-time user of the DALiM TWiST automated workflow solution, having installed the system almost a decade ago.

PRINOVIS

...“decentralized network of medium-sized

enterprises with a combined workforce of

over 4,300 employees”...

Anew

companywith

along

historyof

usingDALiM TWiST

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The Nuremberg plant, which is operating ten web gravure presses, produces catalogues for all sizable mail-order houses in Germany, such as Quelle, Bauer, etc. and for European companies such as the UK’s Littlewoods or La Redoute from France. It also prints TV supplements for daily newspapers, a number of independent TV magazines and special interest, general interest and women’s magazines such as Glamour for the British and Russian markets. Every day several million pages leave the Nuremberg plant.

Central to this operation is the DALiM TWiST automated workflow, to convert customers’ data, which arrive mainly

in PDF form into gravure data in the special TIFF file format used for this process. This is done automatically through one of the four DALiM TWiST servers, both four-processor servers and two-processor servers, which feed

the eight engraving machines that engrave the sets of CMYK copper gravure cylinders. Last year the then maul-belser GmbH & Co KG was the first gravure plant to receive the

new TR12B super-wide gravure press from KBA, with a web width of 432 cm or 170”. The installation of a second of these gravure giants is to be finished this summer. The new presses also mean that a new engraving machine to cater to the new super format has to be added, which will bring the total number to nine.

Although the future for Prinovis in Nuremberg has only just begun...

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Production of this scale makes an absolutely flawlessly operating and highly efficient automatic workflow crucial. Over the decade of its existence at maul + belser, the DALiM TWiST evolved from having to generate a separate workflow for every customer to now having only two to three workflows, which are so flexible that they can accommodate the whole range of jobs going through the system. The DALiM TWiST has long become “part of wallpaper” in the Nuremberg plant with no one in the busy prepress department expecting any surprises, nor getting any. ‘DALiM TWiST has long been our choice for an automated, high productivity solution’ says Alexander Strobel from Prinovis ‘The combination of flexible toolsets, high-productivity and reliability makes the system the perfect choice for an organization such as ours’.

But DALiM TWiST has itself gone through a very long and comprehensive evolution and many of the features and tools, which now speed the pages through the system, did not even exist in the imagination of the system designers when it was first installed. The great breakthrough in power and efficiency came when Prinovis migrated the DALiM TWiST hardware, previously running on SGI machines, to servers running the Linux operating system, adding much more processing power and a host of new software. It now is practically a new system, although with roots that go back a decade. What has

remained, however, is the central idea of automating all process steps to ensure the most efficient workflow environment possible.

Magazine and catalogue production is a highly time sensitive process. To allow customers to view the state of their job and to post comments and request corrections, Prinovis is also using Dalim Software’s softproofing application DALiM DiALOGUE. This is especially important for catalogues and some magazine work, where different language versions, or regional versions with different offers or prices, require high vigilance on the part of the customers and the prepress department, as usually the full set of gravure cylinders is only engraved for one language version and only the black cylinder carrying the text is changed to print another language version. The most efficient way to ensure that everything that needed to be changed has been changed and is in the right place is by verifying it via DALiM DiALOGUE.

Although the future for Prinovis in Nuremberg has only just begun, the company is already training operators for the new gravure plant in Liverpool. An important part of the training for prepress operators will be, to be so confident in using DALiM TWiST that for them it will also become just part of the wallpaper – but that is for next year.<

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“Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.” — Václav Havel, essayist, playwright, and former President of the Czech Republic.

As kids we learn to save, but for most it’s not something that comes naturally. If you wanted to buy a skateboard or new bike for yourself, you probably wanted it “now” and the cost could seem daunting if you start of with no money at all. When you put away a few earned pennies every day, on any given day it may have seemed like you’d never get to that skateboard or bike. But with diligence and patience, one day you find that the piggy bank is full and your reward is within your grasp … and with it you learn the virtue of being thrifty.

As a business owner, if you wanted to pursue process automation or a “CIM” implementation, you’d plan for it, budget for it and, (assuming everything came together fiscally), you and your team would implement the plan … it was “a project”, it was a “plan”, it was a one-time event. The broader the goal, the costlier the project was going to be. If you wanted to automate an entire plant, your plan would have to take into account every aspect of your operations before the plan could be approved and the money invested. Every department, system, software module, device or piece of equipment added to your plan increases the cost and complexity of integration logarithmically, not linearly. Few printers could justify enterprise-wide process automation programs; with an industry average net profit below 5%, where would the money come from? Hence, many printers have focused on incremental advances tied to equipment replacement schedules … one device at a time, one production step at a time … those advances within their means.

JDFas an Investment by James E. Harvey, Executive Director, CIP Organization

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JDF, the Job Definition Format, changes all that. JDF is an international specification that provides an open, public computer language that supports the entire lifecycle of a print job. JDF also provides a messaging language that gives upper-level workflow, management, or MIS systems command and control over subordinate systems and equipment, and it allows individual devices to communicate and report back to upper level systems. If you want to learn more, check out the introduction section at www.cip4.org, but for owners and managers of printing companies what it means is that the industry has agreed on a master plan for process automation, so you don’t have to pay for one by yourself.

If you want two devices to work together, with JDF the setup is relatively easy. You don’t need custom programming, you don’t have two different device interfaces, you don’t have to get different vendors to agree on who is going to have to translate what data into what format; with JDF that’s all known in advance, and this changes how printer’s go about investing in equipment.

It is frugal to require that all new systems and devices that you purchase support JDF, even if your immediate plans for the new equipment do not involve a process automation implementation. One Texas printer purchased JDF-enabled cutters only because they needed new cutters. Later on they implemented new order entry and imposition software that was JDF-enabled. Although their objective was to improve productivity in prepress, because they had purchased smartly they found that they could automate cutter setup using JDF data produced by the imposition software … and they saved half a man-hour per job as a result.

If another printer purchased equipment that did not support JDF, not only would using prepress data to automate the setup of postpress equipment be impossible without a lot of extra expense, they probably wouldn’t thought of it at all.

Which brings me around to the point of this story; requiring JDF support is a form of thrift … you are saving for the future when you do so. If your dream is end-to-end automation, industry leading customer response time and elimination of nearly all rework and production errors, it’s probably not within your reach, with or without JDF. The BIG PROJECT approach isn’t going to work for most printers. The cost of the planning and project management alone is probably prohibitive, even if your team had the time and skills available for such an endeavor.

On the other hand, if you don’t require JDF … diligently, with every new purchase of equipment and software … you may save a few dollars here and there by purchasing equipment that is not JDF-enabled. But are you really saving anything? No. In the long-run, purchasing systems and equipment that are not JDF-enabled will cost you more … more to integrate and automate later on.

But the biggest cost isn’t necessarily in the difference between the short and long-term investment costs, it very well be the cost of losing your potential. If you don’t require JDF, then you’ll never be able to migrate into that “end-to-end automation, industry-leading-customer-response-time future,” you will always be facing the BIG PROJECT. If you let that happen, other printers around you that do require JDF-enabled new equipment purchases will begin to evolve into that “end-to-end automation, industry-leading-customer-response-time future.” Their thrift will buy them potential, and it will become easier and easier for them to realize that potential, until one day, their plant is fully automated and the reward is in their grasp.<

Every department, system, software module, device or piece of equipment added to your plan increases the cost and complexity of integration logarithmically, not linearly.

James E. Harvey, Executive Director, CIP Organization

www.cip4.org

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“We’re always on the cutting edge,” remarks Ed Zepernick, Continental Web director of technology. Earlier this year, the company was looking for a monitor-based system that was virtual proofing compliant.

The problem? Continental Web was concerned about who would pay for virtual proofing—the printer or the customer. The other SWOP-compliant systems available at the time were extremely costly. One system was extremely expensive up front. Another had a “click charge” payment model that made it prohibitive. A couple of rounds of soft proofs on a 64-page brochure could be exorbitant.

Continental Web helps

DALiM DiALOGUE SWOP® certification process

rather than swapping softproofing solutions

Founded in 1973 with just a single press, Continental Web modestly describes itself as a custom, heatset four-color web offset printer. Yet, after more than 30 years of growth, it’s doing an enviable $80 million-plus annual volume, employs about 500 people in its two plants in Itasca, Illinois and Walton, Kentucky, and keeps ten large web offset presses running.

Continental Web already had a softproofing system, DALiM DiALOGUE, but was using the solution solely for proofing content. “The software had the tools to read color density, but could not manage color,” noted Ed. “We needed a cost-effective solution. We already had DALiM DiALOGUE, with a full set of features. All we needed was SWOP certification.”

Ed couldn’t justify spending money for a new solution. So, they assisted with Dalim Software’s efforts in obtaining SWOP certification for DALiM DiALOGUE. “Continental Web’s help was very valuable in our efforts to attain SWOP certification,” says Carol Werlé, Dalim Software’s CEO.

“Their expertise and feedback on the additional functionality we built into the system was invaluable.” The first DALiM DiALOGUE configuration was certified in April. Others were certified in July.

Continental Web now has a nearly ‘no cost’ solution. They are charging their clients a small usage fee per page, but nowhere near what their competitors are charging.

At both Continental Web plants, DALiM DiALOGUE has been installed in the prepress department to check incoming files as part of the workflow. Also, each press will soon have two 30” Apple Cinema Displays running on a Macintosh G5— almost a full imposition view—for press checks. Continental Web’s (and their clients’) ultimate goal is to avoid reference to a hard copy proof. They are also using DALiM DiALOGUE in situations on press where, in the past, a color proof was not supplied or requested, but the pressman wanted something in his hands. Continental Web was producing and paying for their own proofs.

With a little help from my friends

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Now, as they train their pressmen how to understand file hierarchy and to operate the software, they are getting more comfortable looking at monitor-based proofs.

Color on magazine editorial pages is less critical than some other types of work, and is rarely expected to be 100% accurate. With DALiM DiALOGUE, publishers can view color-accurate virtual proofs, including a color simulation of the paper stock on which they will be printed.

A virtual proof with DALiM DiALOGUE can reduce proofing costs considerably. On a 128-page catalog, companies can spend $6,400 or more if there are a number of rounds of color checks. Continental Web expects their customers to pay between 5-10% of hard-proofing costs. The entire workflow to upload files, view pages, make changes and view images on DALiM DiALOGUE can save tens of thousands of dollars per year.

“We went to one client recently and proved that we could save $25-40,000 per year in proofing costs. But, as exciting as this technology is, this technology is still in its infancy,” Ed reminds us. “We have one client using the system. We are at the stage that it is a sellable item right now—with much exuberance from our client. What’s holding us back

is fine-tuning the process. There is the learning curve to get our customer to understand how to color manage the monitor. We tell them to view proofs in a color-neutral room. The inefficiencies occur when the customer doesn’t have the right monitor and equipment in place. For a little more than $2,000, they can purchase a certified 20” iMac with a GretagMacbeth EyeOne Pro spectrophotometer.

Ed is cautiously optimistic. “I know it will work, but there are still some issues—although they are not Dalim Software technology issues,” comments Ed. “There are still some slight hurdles in virtual proofing; mostly color space issues. The biggest question is how the client is looking at proofs. Did they calibrate the monitor correctly? How is the profiling and calibration documented? What if they viewed in the wrong color space? In the best case scenario, the process needs to be fool proof where the color space travels with the file.” Dalim Software are already looking at how to help address such issues, using JDF.

DALiM DiALOGUE owners already have an inexpensive tool for virtual proofing,” concludes Ed. “Why purchase and run something else? Why not run DALiM DiALOGUE for everything?”<

“With the help of DALiM MiSTRAL, Continental Web uses FTP to receive entire catalogs that we print,” comments Ken Field, Continental Web president and CEO. “Each catalog is set up as a job and then the final proofs are sent back to the customer electronically for approval, using DALiM DiALOGUE. Our business is Direct Mail and our customers demand turnaround times of 24 hrs. We just don’t have the time to return these proofs by courier.”

“Time sensitive information can be sent to our web site instantaneously and we can respond within minutes with the changes or corrections and, with DALiM DiALOGUE remote proofing, give our customers piece of mind that these changes have been made correctly.”

“I have often asked my customers how many times they are just about to fall asleep when that nagging thought creeps into their mind wondering ‘IF’ the changes were made or ‘IF’ the correct file was transmitted. Thankfully all they have to do is use their home computer to log into our web site and view their job in its entirety—rest assured that the job is running correctly so they can get a good night’s sleep.”

Continental Web President, Ken Field, in front of the dual-30inch displays used for on-press softproofing at the company’s Kentucky plant.

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In the fifteen years since commercial CtP was first demonstrated at Drupa ’90, we have seen adop-tion become something of a must for most large and medium sized printers in the industrialised markets. Initial adoption was limited by available suitable plates but once Kodak and Creo intro-duced thermal address systems at Drupa ’95, competition among the major plate manufacturers and systems vendors really start to take off.

From 170 machines installed in ’95 the CtP installed base has grown to some 24,000 by the end of last year. Annual sales totalled some 5,500 last year, with the industrialised markets of US, Europe and Japan accounting for 80% of this total. Rapid though adoption of CtP has been in these markets, only 20% of the total printer popu-lation have so far invested. Why?

CostThis has been a significant factor in the past with the cost of both platesetters and CtP plates being beyond the affordability of the smaller printer who makes up a large proportion of the printing indus-try in terms of establishments.

Trendsin CtP Investment

...only 20% of the total

printer population have so far

invested...

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Vantage Strategic Marketing was established in 1993 to track worldwide developments in CtP and other ‘direct-to’ technologies, including digital proofing and digital presses.

Their annual Reports for suppliers of consumables and hardware are sponsored by all the major international manufacturers in the Americas, Europe and Japan and are recognised as being the leading international reference source.

Barry Happé is the Principal Partner and co-founder of the company, prior to which he was involved in the international paper industry and marketing research before establishing his own consultancy company in 1980.

More information about VSM can be obtained from their website www.vsm.uk.com or directly from Barry Happé at [email protected]

Having cherry-picked most of the larger accounts, the major vendors are now introducing much more affordable models for the smaller printer while CtP plate prices have inevitably come down as more independent plate manu-facturers challenge the dominant position of Agfa, Fuji and Kodak.

Lowering CtP plate prices to near those of conventional may prove to be the final nail in the coffin of CtcP adoption in the industrialised markets. However, where CtP plates continue to demand a high premium over conventional, as in China and India, CtcP still has potential to make ground.

TechnologyEver since Kodak/Creo introduced thermal address at Drupa ’95, the printer has been confused by claim and counter-claim by proponents of various address systems, which has led him to differ investment decision until a clear winner evolved. Today we know that there is a place for both thermal and visible (violet) address systems in the market, but the advent of processless and chemical-free plates being shown at this Print ’05 could make the aver-age printer defer his investment decision yet again until the dust settles.

There is some evidence that the rate of CtP adoption is beginning to slow in the major industrialised markets as many of the major print companies have already made their investment. What is of importance to the machinery ven-dors is – will the lower end of the market invest in CtP, or will alternative printing techniques leapfrog this technology?

Alternative ‘Printing’The nature of print demand has altered significantly over the past fifteen years since CtP was first introduced. Average print runs have reduced dramatically, while demand for colour has more than quadrupled. In response, suppliers of machinery and software to the lower end of the market have produced systems to capitalise on these changes with fast toner and ink technology not only creating new demand, but in a number of cases actually providing an acceptable alternative to offset printing. Inkjet digital presses born out of the type of systems being demonstrated by Agfa, Kodak, Screen, and in more practi-cal terms, Riso, at this year’s Print ’05, are likely to providea fundamental shift in technology used for future printing.

We have already seen the demise of printing film and processing in many of the main industrial markets. This will soon be followed by the elimination of plate processing and chemistry. At some time in the not too distant future, we could also see the elimination of printing plates.

The good news for Dalim Software and all suppliers of software systems is that while the pieces of iron that transpose information on to hard copy media might alter significantly over the coming years, the intelligence required to drive those pieces of iron effectively will continue to be in high demand.<

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