Seamless Workflow

In both conventional printing and package-printing environments, the term “workflow” denotes the steps in an end-to-end production process designed to yield a specified product. In commercial environments, these steps include trapping, screening, RIPing, imposition, color management, proofing, and platemaking, in addition to other labor-intensive front-end tasks. Package printing adds layers of complexity, due largely to combining graphical and structural information in a single, production-ready file, as well as to handle innumerable matched inks and varnishes, step-and-repeat, and a variety of packaging-specific production challenges.

Workflow integration is playing an increasingly important role in decision making for consumer product companies (CPCs) and retailers concerned with shorter delivery cycles, waste reduction, and total system costs. For printers working within the constraints of the packaging supply chain, the importance of investing in an integrated workflow that understands complex packaging requirements cannot be overstated.

Connecting the dots

Automation is a prerequisite for integration, and the evolution of digital prepress workflows has followed this course. Prepress workflows have seen multiple time- and labor-intensive manual steps replaced by automated tasks performed with little or no human intervention. In both commercial and packaging settings, an integrated workflow is one in which these individual automated steps combine to produce a seamless system. The overall goal of workflow integration is improving accuracy, eliminating duplication of effort and waste, increasing efficiency, shrinking delivery times, and providing printers with a decisive competitive advantage. The primary driver of workflow integration is the Job Definition Format (JDF) universal job ticket specification, which is designed to simplify the job specification process, ensure cross-vendor interoperability, and automate manual production processes to yield accurate, predictable, and repeatable end products.

From a production standpoint, a JDF workflow and its fully digital data transfer enable streamlined, efficient communication of production-critical data across the supply chain. By doing this, it makes manual processes and data transfers unnecessary by integrating all systems and machines required for the manufacturing process. Additional benefits arise from the transparency and traceability of the entire process, as well as the modularity of the software. The ability of JDF-driven systems to provide bi-directional data exchange with the user’s management information system (MIS) is also key. Prominent examples of packaging workflows include Agfa’s :ApogeeX for Packaging, -EskoArtworks’ Backstage automation server and -WebCenter project management and preproduction approval solution, Heidelberg’s Prinect for Packaging, and Kodak’s Prinergy Powerpack for Packaging.

Platforms for integration

EskoArtwork’s BackStage server, one component of the company’s Software Suite 7, for example, is a smart automation server that integrates all design and production components in one workflow for package printers. According to EskoArtwork, the BackStage client-server software provides enhanced data management, off-loads operator workstations, centralizes operator expertise, automates To-Do lists and workflow communications, and integrates with MIS, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other business software systems. The Web-based WebCenter enables users to collaborate in real time, and makes all of the digital assets of a project available to all stakeholders, including the structural design to the graphic designer, the manufacturing file to the diemaker, or the print-ready graphic file to the printer.

Heidelberg has created a completely integrated workflow from structural design to finished product with integration from MIS with its -Prinect -Packaging Workflow. Prinect Signa Station Packaging Pro imposition software not only imports a wide range of data formats used in packaging, but also calculates the most cost-effective manufacturing format, based on sheet size. Prinect -Package Designer combines a -library of re-sizable box designs with 3D proofing functionality to simplify and increase the speed of the drafting process. Box type and dimensions are already written into the JDF where the information is used to preset the press and related finishing equipment. It can also be used to provide and store feedback from each machine—how long it took to produce the job, how many sheets were used for makeready, how fast the press ran, etc. The information is passed back into the MIS, where it is used to analyze cost structures and to optimize repeat jobs. -Heidelberg claims that new extensions to its Prinect workflow, such as the Prinect Postpress Manager for integrating postpress and the Prinect Scheduler electronic planning board, will lead to improvements in the efficiency of production sequences, particularly in package printing.

Kodak’s Prinergy Powerpack workflow is a packaging-specific workflow system for printers requiring an efficient high-level, end-to-end prepress solution. New automation features built into Prinergy Powerpack Version 5.0 enable users to create packaging production layouts using rules-based automation and Kodak’s Pandora step-and-repeat software, as well as to offer value-added services such as online collaboration, job submission, and approvals using Kodak Portal products.

Agfa’s PDF-based :ApogeeX workflow also uses JDF for greater automation. Capabilities include job management, advanced job tickets, PDF trapping, enhanced connectivity to other systems and devices, and Web-based approval of pages and imposed flats. The software imports packaging files that include artwork, color strips, markers, customer information, and step-and-repeat positioning parameters, and executes step-and-repeat and nesting according to the embedded JDF specification.

Row your boat

Depending on the manufacturer, integrated package-printing workflows may focus primarily on production (as with Heidelberg Prinect for Packaging) or reach far upstream to ensure that the printing facility receives an accurate, up-to-date, print-ready file. EskoArtwork’s DeskPack suite connects an array of design tools directly to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. DeskPack’s Studio module, for example, enables 3D visualization of a package early in the design phase by maintaining a live link between 3D design visualization and the unfolded two-dimensional structure. Dynamic Content, another Illustrator plug-in, pulls updated copy directly from the brand owner’s database, eliminating the need to re-input the information and the associated potential for error.

The teeming marketplace for workflow solutions includes many products tailored to the specific needs of package printers. Choices abound that are modular, scalable, infinitely configurable, and flexible enough to link seamlessly with previously installed systems. Taking the time to review the options could yield the competitive advantage you’ve been looking for. pP