Interface Vol36 by Andrew Y.

International Publication for the Media Arts

INNOVATION Feature WorkďŹ&#x201A;ow Optimisation

New EfďŹ ciencies Bring New Business.

Quality and Expedience.

Powerful hybrid workflows handle a wide spectrum of assignments.

Workflow technologies, including web-based approval systems, are proving to be invaluable tools.

Integrated Marketing.

Value Beyond Printing.

The Most Effective Way to Promote your Business.

Company Generates Sales by Generating Ideas.

By Patrick Cahuet. Manager of 1PRIME concept, Consultancy Firm on Printing Workﬂows and Technologies, JDF expert, member of CIP4 and the “Trophées JDF” Jury, of PODi and Xplor.

INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation

Mission Critical: an Optimised Workﬂow. The integration of a comprehensive production flow linking sales functions to production and management tools is one of the most appropriate solutions for the unique dilemmas facing printers today.

Technology Marketing

q Points of View User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

Today’s printers face four challenges: global competition, changing technology, the Internet revolution and the high costs of labour. In addition, customers’ demands have evolved considerably. A recent poll showed that Google was used daily by 80% of executives. These same executives are constantly seeking time-saving solutions. Digital communication, therefore, is preferred to the material. As a result, they are more likely to give their business to companies that offer online services. To keep costs down and make their efforts more efficient, customers are compelled to opt for a more targeted communication with zero paper waste. That means shorter, more customised runs. More important than the lowest price is a relationship, with their suppliers in a Web-based collaborative mode.

Benefits of Automation. The modern workflow involves everyone, including customers, sales and production as well as

the administrative functions of both customers and suppliers. It consists of an electronic job file containing everything from the request for a quotation to invoicing. This type of automation has multiple benefits: reduction in lead times between the order and delivery; elimination of time consuming interruptions such as re-keying, transfer of critical data via paper, post-its, faxes, etc.; reduction in errors, which may be costly in terms of time, energy, raw materials and customer dissatisfaction.

Building an Optimised Workflow. The essentials for creating an optimised workflow are an Internet portal giving access to the company’s services such as information request, on-line quotation, on-line prices, products and services catalogues, etc. and JDF-enabled technology allowing communication between customers, estimating, prepress, printing, and finishing, and facilitates the exchange of reliable data between

the accounting, financial and sales management systems. An open prepress workflow ensuring complimentary offset and digital production is also essential. To successfully implement such a workflow you need to do the following: analyse the company objectively; express its objectives clearly; define the steps, their priorities and a work plan; study market supply; and finally, select a well-established and reliable supplier capable of understanding and responding as broadly as possible to general problems. Companies aiming for faster, lowercost production while maintaining a predictable level of quality, must be willing to invest in time, technology and training. As a return on this investment, they will have the capacity to offer their customers more flexibility, responsiveness and services. Maximising technical and sales workflows will provide a major edge within the context of ever increasing international competition. 쐍

Editorial. INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation Ronald Mariën ronald.marien@agfa.com

I want to take this opportunity to thank the editorial committee and all the readers of our :Interface magazine.

For a fourth year in a row, :Interface has been recognised by the BMA (Business Marketing Association) as an award-winning customer publication. This year another honour came from the New York City chapter of the BMA, placing :Interface first among a very prestigious group of contenders. Your valuable input and recommendations have kept :Interface in first place. A hearty thanks to you, our readers. This issue features workflow optimisation—a topic that we know is on every printer’s mind as demands to produce print faster and more economically are rising. In addition, the preferred type of printing seems to be changing on a daily basis—from one-off on-demand jobs to variable-data and wide-format projects. We’ve gathered information and opinions from a wide variety of sources, such as industry consultant Patrick Cahuet (page 2) and Adobe Systems Inc. (page 8). You’ll hear from those who have already made the transition to end-to-end automation and what they see as the key benefits.

For your own copy of :Interface by email or in the post, go to

www.agfa.com/interface Production Notes. All prepress using Agfa systems. :Thermostar plates imaged on :Xcalibur 45 using :Sublima screening technology.

We used to think of workflow as a production process, but actually, workflow begins from the moment a project is conceived. And it doesn’t really end on delivery. On-demand projects such as a dealer brochure, for example, give you the ability to keep a job open, ready for local, regional and language customisations. To be involved in a project from its conception and to manage it on an ongoing basis demands a strong, trusting relationship with your clients.

International Publication for the Media Arts

INNOVATION Feature Workﬂow Optimisation

New Efﬁciencies Bring New Business.

Quality and Expedience.

Powerful hybrid workflows handle a wide spectrum of assignments.

Workflow technologies, including web-based approval systems, are proving to be invaluable tools.

Integrated Marketing.

()

Value Beyond Printing.

The Most Effective Way to Promote your Business.

Company Generates Sales by Generating Ideas.

Imposition and contract prooﬁng with :SherpaProof.

Editorial Committee: Agfa France: Sylvie Gibout Agfa Germany: Rudolf Tippner

In the pages that follow, you’ll learn how printers are creating such ties with online collaboration (page 6) and product extensions that offer value beyond the printed page (page 12).

Agfa UK: Tim Light Agfa U.S.: Claudia Barbiero Editor: Rosemarie Monaco Managing editor: Ronald Mariën

Associate Editors: Anne-Mie Vansteelant Bart Verduyn

Credits: Design, Production and

Marketing your services is another important part of building strong client relationships. The marketing advice we bring comes from seasoned professionals with proven experience in this industry (page 10). We appreciate your feedback. Help us keep :Interface among your favourite business publications. Send your opinions and recommendations to interface@agfa.com. Ronald Mariën Global Marketing Communications Manager, Agfa Graphics

co-ordination: www.livingstone.eu

For more info on Agfa products: http://www.agfa.com

Next Feature: q Inkjet Printing

INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation

New Efﬁciencies Bring New Business. POWER FU L H Y BR I D W O R KF L O W S H A N D L E A WIDE SPEC T RUM O F A SSIG NM ENT S.

The rewards of hybrid workflows are proving to be comprehensive, including the ability to produce documents regardless of size, style or complexity on in-house devices, better customer communication, improved profitability, and new marketing opportunities that will include digital, print, variable data and internet.

Technologies, products and workflow environments change frequently in the graphic communications industry as designers, print managers and customers seek ways to improve quality, cost efficiencies and turnaround times. In many cases, success depends on the tightest of deadlines, the highest quality, and production costs that can fit within all budgets. These goals can now be met –with more solutions coming down the R&D pipelines– and sometimes they don’t involve new products or technologies, but hybrid implementations of what is already out there. “We are a small print shop and were losing duplicator work to digital. At the same time, we saw the 2-colour print market shrinking. We needed a solution that would give us a new stream of work,” says Michael Ross, assistant director of the Graphic Services department at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in the U.S.

Powerful Combinations. By implementing a digital print solution that combines traditional pre-flighting and imposition functions with a digital print engine, Brown’s Graphic Services Department can now offer more kinds of commercial work to more customers both inside and outside the university. “The rewards of this solution include fast throughput, a quality product, and the opening of new markets for us,” Ross says. Ideal Printers, in Houston, Texas, U.S., had a similar experience that combined the kind of workflow they were used to with their new digital print engine. Ideal produces a wide range of high-quality brochures, stationery, presentation folders, marketing collateral, invitations and manuals for such industries as healthcare, financial investment, automotive and educational institutions. One of its ongoing strategic goals is to build and maintain a complete

digital, CtP workflow to enable them to pass cost savings along to customers, prepare repeat projects with greater speed, and heighten quality control. “Jobs impose and process much faster now with our new integration,” comments Melissa Willis, a production manager at Ideal.

Distribution of Power. There are several hybrid configurations that printers are starting to use. The one Brown University and Ideal found particularly useful involves an integration pack for Agfa’s :ApogeeX workflow system that enables it to be used in Hewlett-Packard’s Indigo digital printing environment. The integration is helping to prove that hybrid solutions can often help produce documents regardless of size, style or complexity on the most appropriate devices that are already in-house—with unprecedented speed and quality.

“Workflow is the grease that makes the production engine in our offset and digital worlds run smoothly,” says noted industry observer Steven Schnoll, of Schnoll Media Consulting. In a recent webinar on automated workflow that Schnoll moderated, he commented that it is integral to develop workflows that can seamlessly bring customer content into a production environment, and then to harness the power of internal resources to optimise and intelligently automate to achieve all desired end products.

Powerful Benefits.

“Today there are many different outputs, including CtP, printing devices, digital engines, digital asset management and variable data printing, and workflow is the core component to make it all work,” Schnoll says. “A company today must understand that a comprehensive workflow plan must be part of any organisational framework.”

In today’s print marketplace, clients must be able to upload files and automatically preflight jobs, approve jobs remotely, and depend on their print vendor to provide 24/7 support. As the industry has noted, hybrid workflows seem to be able to accomplish that.

Solution-oriented vendors will be those that include elements of one or more hybrid workflow implementations. The benefits will be comprehensive: more open customer communications, better customer relations, the ability to control content with far greater ease and range, new market opportunities that will include digital, print, variable data and internet, improved profitability, a reduction in errors, and a freer flow of information across the graphic communications spectrum.

In addition, hybrid work will enable printers to do smaller, complex jobs, reduce redundancies, compete in price and delivery times, provide one-stop shopping, be more flexible, and enable integration between MIS, project management, prepress management and more. Ultimately, hybrid efficiencies will aid not just digital printing, but also proofing, archiving, retrieval, connectivity, and even adherence to industry standards.

“I think there will be more of these types of hybrid installations than traditional press work as time goes on, and if our growth continues, Brown University will continue to explore all new hybrid avenues,” Ross says. Indeed, some printers are already finding many new areas of increased productivity with hybrid workflows, such as the :ApogeeX/HP integration. “One of our clients, a major real estate company, provides only PC-compatible files,” Willis explains. “Typically, an operator

would have to convert the PC file to a PDF in order to place it on the Mac and put it into Quark in order to use QuarkXclusive. Now, with this integration, the same operator can send a file directly to :ApogeeX and create an imposition using PREPS. It eliminates some of the PC/Mac compatibility issues, such as fonts defaulting and the extra step of bringing the job into Mac.”

Technology Marketing Points of View User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

The integration pack was designed for commercial printers with either hybrid printing or digital-printing-only printing technologies, particularly in short-run colour applications.

“A company today must understand that a comprehensive workflow plan must be part of any organisational framework.” Steven Schnoll, Schnoll Media Consulting One of the greatest pluses of new and even future hybrid methodologies will be the integration between offset and digital. “Offset is not going away,” Schnoll says, having studied the market for many years. “Offset and digital must be compatible. There must be a free flow of information at multiple stages.” And that’s what the hybrid solutions will be designed to accomplish. 쐍

INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation

Quality and Expedience. W O R KF L O W T E C H N O L O G I E S, INC LUDING WEB-BA SED A PPRO VA L S Y S T E M S, A R E P R O V I N G T O BE INVA LUA BLE T O O LS.

Companies like Newnorth in

customers and make them more

While all printers have challenges, those that have magazines and high-volume brochures as part of their daily workload often have additional challenges related to time sensitivity and accuracy of project management. Many of them find their solutions in web-based technologies. Here’s what three of them are doing.

effective communicators.

The Newnorth Message.

England, Stämpli in Switzerland, and Democrat Printing in the U.S., are using the latest technologies, including the web-based :Delano approval system, to attract

Newnorth is a major printer in England, based in the town of Bedford, and recent investments in prepress equipment, along with a renewed commitment to customer service, are the driving forces that place the company among the top in the nation.

Newnorth is using Agfa’s :ApogeeX workflow, a :Sherpa system for hardcopy proofing, and :Delano Web Approval to manage and streamline all projects.

One of the first UK printers to go the CtP route, Newnorth has had quite impressive results ever since. Using Agfa’s :ApogeeX workflow, a :Sherpa system for hardcopy proofing and :Delano Web Approval to manage and streamline all projects, they are one of the few sheetfed printers in the country with the level of overall CtP automation and accuracy they provide. Customers are pleased, too, because :Delano gives them the ability to upload files, check, revise and approve proofs online, reduce time, ensure file accuracy and add flexibility to the entire process. One of the first Newnorth customers to take advantage of

the :Delano difference was the Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM), which uses Newnorth to print their in-house magazine. Newnorth reduced production time to five days (down from 15), and staffers believe that it can be reduced even further. Newnorth has enabled CIWM to reduce waste, cost and turnaround time for their magazine, and that has been instrumental in helping CIWM get its messages across to readers.

The Stämpfli Boost. Stämpfli AG, a sixth-generation family-owned firm, is one of the pioneers in Europe’s printing industry for the production of company magazines. “Implementation of the :Delano project management solution is about as important for us as was the switch from computer-to-film to digital platesetting,” says Urs Notter, head of production data management for the firm, headquartered in the Swiss capital of Bern. Notter and his team are currently using :Delano to produce six magazines, which include two monthlies, two weeklies, and two semi-monthlies. :Delano, in close interaction with the :ApogeeX workflow management system, automates the processing of page content which is supplied online, accelerates the communication between all aspects

Technology of production, and eliminates errors. The result has been a dramatic increase in productivity for Stämpfli’s magazines, in addition to many of its catalogues and colour picture books.

Marketing Points of View User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

“With :Delano, we can now organise our processes in a way that simply was not possible in the past,” says Peter Stämpfli, co-owner and member of the board of management. Jobs are first planned in the MIS and then, using JDF, are automatically transferred to the :ApogeeX and :Delano systems. With :Delano, job-specific ‘task chains’ are used to predefine the steps that will later be passed into the production. The instructions supplied by the customer via :Delano are automatically transferred to :ApogeeX for further processing. Customers receive PDF files of all finished pages via :Delano Web Approval for proofing. Following approval, the pages are automatically positioned on the imposed sheet and the production data sent to the CtP system for exposure on :Amigo plates. Everyone involved has continual access to real-time information on the current status of production.

“Implementation of the :Delano project management solution is about as important for us as was the switch from computer-tofilm to digital platesetting.” Urs Notter, head of production data management, Stämpfli AG

“:Delano is a very robust system that is helping us advance our automation efforts.” Christie Miners, digital prepress supervisor, Democrat Printing

“With :Delano, the availability of our services to customers has been boosted to 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Notter says. Best of all, once customers recognise the advantages, they recommend it to colleagues at other companies.

The Democrat Framework. In the U.S., Democrat Printing of Little Rock, Arkansas is a production house for many major corporate magazines. The company recently passed its 130th birthday and has always prided itself on being state of the art, even before the term was popular. Democrat prints magazines and catalogues for industries that range from education supplies and packaged goods to archaeology and water sports. Customers depend upon the quality of their printed communications to attract and retain customers, which is why Democrat Printing goes to great lengths to have the very best prepress and workflow solutions available. Digital prepress at Democrat Printing now benefits from a full suite of Agfa products, including :Delano. Christie Miners, digital prepress supervisor, and Larry Brown, plant manager, researched all new products and technologies before reaching their final purchase decision. “It was :Delano that put Agfa over the top,” Miners says.

“It is a very robust system that is helping us advance our automation efforts.” :Delano provides a complete communications framework that links administration (customer service, estimation, order entry) with production. Democrat use the system to meet the needs of publishers and print managers at all levels of skill. As the comfort levels of the publishers and print managers improve, Democrat adds functionality to their :Delano configurations. :Delano also enables them to better serve customers in remote areas with dial-up access by offering softproofs via access through a simple web portal. :Delano saves at least two days on every job, improves access to proofs, and enables customers to work in real time with Democrat’s customer service reps. “One of the first and most important items of business that was streamlined thanks to :Delano was data entry,” Miners says. “In the past, job ticket information and prepress work orders were entered by the customer service reps, and then printed and copied to the prepress department, where it had to be reentered. That, of course, duplicated efforts and opened the door for errors. Now, our reps can simply enter the data, including imposition and templates, and :Delano manages it all. Quickly and seamlessly.” 쐍

Adobe has been a key player in the move toward a truly unattended, automated workflow. Most printers today enjoy a simplified

INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation

production process thanks to Adobe PDF. But now, 20 years after the introduction of PDF, how far have we come toward true end-to-end automation? A look inside the Adobe PDF Print Engine reveals all.

Automation Technology. IN SID E TH E AD O B E P D F P R I N T E N G I N E .

For at least ten years now, every printing-industry vendor has talked about and promised automation. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard about PDF, JDF, JMF and AdsML. Whatever segment of the industry you serve, one or more of these acronyms was going to make your life simpler and your business more profitable. Workflow products have changed how we think about print. Agfa was the first to integrate PDF into its :Apogee workflow. Before long its customers reported reduction in labour and fewer errors. But it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until JDF (Job Definition Format) arrived that end-to-end automation in a multi-vendor environment would become a reality. JDF is a language standard that would allow machines, software and even people from different environments to exchange information and execute commands automatically. Again, Agfa, who was one of the four founding members of the JDF committee, was among the first to enable its workflow with JDF capabilities. Nevertheless, a harmonious adoption by every vendor to enable automation beyond PDF has been slow in

coming. Will Adobe PDF Print Engine be the stepping stone?

How Adobe PDF Print Engine Works (excerpt from Adobe white paper). The Adobe PDF Print Engine is a common rendering engine technology that Adobe print partners [such as Agfa] use to build solutions tailored to different print businesses. In each solution, however, it can interpret PDF directly, thus eliminating the need for conversion to PostScript. The Adobe PDF Print Engine comprises the JDF Print Processor, an innovative front end that accepts, interprets and processes JDF files; and the Adobe Common Renderer, a common, scalable rendering engine that parses the appropriate PDF files and processes transparencies. Simultaneously, it processes graphics, traps the document, performs colour management, and handles fonts. The device-specific back-end rasterises the document in accordance with settings and characteristics implemented by the device manufacturer.

JDF Print Processor. The JDF file determines nearly every aspect of how a job is processed, leaving the content device-independent. The JDF Print Processor is key to the flexibility the Adobe PDF Print Engine provides. For example, you can modify the JDF file to output the same PDF file to either a four-colour or six-colour press, or to change page imposition, without changing the PDF file itself. Additionally, you can process multiple JDF files to print different layers from the same PDF document.

Adobe Common Renderer. At the heart of the Adobe PDF Print Engine is the Adobe Common Renderer, a common, scalable rendering engine that can be used for both previewing and printing documents. The rendering engine determines how objects appear on the screen or in print. By acting as a common renderer at all points in the PDF workflow that require rasterisation, Adobe Common Renderer eliminates the visual inconsistencies that can occur

when different renderers are used at different points in the workflow. Additionally, the Adobe PDF Print Engine shares common rendering technology with Adobe Creative Suite to ensure consistency throughout the workflow. With the Adobe PDF Print Engine, transparent data are processed first, but rendered simultaneously with all other content. One of the major challenges with printing transparent content using a traditional RIP is that rasterisation or rendering is inherently dependent on resolution and colour space. Because the Adobe PDF Print Engine renders the content for the final output device, the resolution and colour space are accurate, preventing any mismatches. And because it’s rendered at the same time as therest of the job, transparent content prints predictably. The PDF/X-4 standard is expected to be ratified as a CGATS and ISO standard in 2007. PDF/X-4 will

support transparent artwork and effects, as well as layers. The Adobe PDF Print Engine 1.1 supports both transparency and layers. Print workflow systems based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine will be able to process PDF/X-4 jobs natively, without flattening artwork and converting the file to PostScript. The complete Adobe PDF Print Engine white paper is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/ pdfprintengine/pdfs/pdf_print_ whitepaper.pdf

Adobe PDF Print Engine in :ApogeeX 4.0. Adobe PDF Print Engine, which allows PDF files to be rendered natively throughout the workflow, eliminating the need to flatten transparent artwork, enables a more efficient and reliable end-to-end PDF workflow. With enhanced JDF integration capabilities, :ApogeeX 4.0 offers incomparable support for other components of the print production process

including MIS systems, presses and finishing equipment.

Technology

The Adobe PDF Print Engine ensures that what appears on screen is what gets reproduced on paper. In addition to the Adobe PDF Print Engine, the newest version of the award-winning :ApogeeX workflow includes other solutions that ensure the best possible print production. These solutions include superb tonal reproduction through Agfa’s :Sublima superb screening technology and Agfa’s awardwinning colour processing technology. This incorporated functionality gives :ApogeeX the functionality printers need to meet and exceed the quality demands made by designers and publishers.

Points of View

Marketing

User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

:ApogeeX 4.0 also includes support for PDF layers. Versioning jobs based on PDF layers or spot colours can be set up in a user-friendly manner that includes a comprehensive overview of the actual plate output. With :ApogeeX 4.0, processing versioning jobs can be completely automated. 쐍

The Adobe PDF Print Engine workflow.

Receive PDF file from designer. The Adobe Creative Suite generates Adobe PDF files using the same core technology that drives output in systems based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine. Using Adobe Acrobat Professional®, the designer or production manager creates a JDF job ticket with specifications, and submits the job to the printer.

Traditional press. Print long-run portion of job.

Perform production tasks. Accurately preview the file, check the JDF job specifications, and identify potential problems early in the job schedule. Then, prepare the file for printing. With the Adobe PDF Print Engine, many tasks, such as colour conversion and execution of JDF-based trapping, are performed inside the Renderer at processing time.

Digital press. Print ad-hoc requests for reprints or customisations (POD—Print on Demand).

Obtain designer’s approval on accurate soft proof. When the file is ready for output, send it to the designer for final approval. Because the previewing software uses the same rendering engine as the Renderer, both designer and print service provider are assured that what appears on the screen accurately represents the final output.

Web distribution. Publish content from job to website and/or e-mail.

Print PDF directly. Print the native PDF file to the Adobe PDF Print Engine system. Render solutions and digital front ends that are based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine eliminate the need for interim conversions. The Renderer applies trapping, imposition, and other settings specified in the JDF file.

INNOVATION Feature Workflow Optimisation

Integrated Marketing. T H E M O S T E F F E C T I V E WAY TO PRO M O T E YO UR BUSINESS.

What you say to your target audience and how you say it are the two most important elements of a marketing communications campaign. Your message must be compelling and use media that will maximise the gain of attention.

Studies show that people must see or hear a message at least eight times before it makes an impression. That means that if you run an advertisement in a monthly publication, it will take eight months before you get a response. And that response will come only if you’re delivering the right message. There is a way to shorten the time it takes to reach your targets—through integrated marketing. An integrated campaign is one that connects with your customer at every communications touch point—postal mail; email; multimedia, such as podcasting; print and Internet advertising. Sending a consistent message through each of these channels can shorten the time it takes to deliver

your message consistently. Instead of eight months, you can make a positive impression in as little as eight to 12 weeks.

The Right Message. Communicating through every touch point will do little good if your message does not resonate with your customer. One of the most common mistakes printers make is sending an equipment list or announcing the arrival of some new printing press. Print buyers really don’t care what you use to make the brochure; they only care that you deliver a high-quality product on time. New technology is only meaningful when it directly affects your customers—when it gives them

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something they didn’t have before that they really needed and wanted. Remember that the benefit of a new product may be clear to you but it isn’t necessarily to your customer. Web Approval is a good example. Telling your customers that now they can get proofs online via a colour correct PDF or using a web browser sounds great, doesn’t it? But how does it deliver significant benefits to your customers—benefits they want. Using the internet is hardly new anymore. Viewing PDFs for approval is equally mundane. So what are you really giving your customers that will make their lives easier?

Test the Message. Make a list of the benefits of Web Approval. It speeds approvals, it allows the customer to view documents from anywhere, even from the comfort of home. It also lets them contact colleagues for approval automatically, which is less work for them. They can even initiate automatic deadline reminders—which gives them even more free time.

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workﬂow users that speaks to

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print buyers in a compelling and

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satisfy– their needs.

Depending on the product you use, the list of benefits may be much longer. But remember to put yourself in the buyers’ shoes—see the benefit from their point of view.

three times—in one or two weeks possibly. Adding an audio or video podcast will strengthen the message dramatically. If that is outside your budget, then do what you do best and keep sending impactful postcards with strong, simple messages.

Now comes the testing. Don’t take it for granted that a specific benefit is universal, or important to anyone for that matter. Call a few of your customers and ask. What would make your life easier? If I could provide a service like “this” would it benefit you? Tell me how? And the best question: if I could give you any service you wanted to make your job easier, what would that be? When you know what your customers really need and want, only then are you ready to start your campaign.

Mixing Media. The Direct Marketing Association says that email followed by postal mail is far more effective than email alone. If your customer gets an email, then a postcard and then sees your message in a print advert, they now have heard from you

Don’t be afraid of web advertising. Today, the Internet is how most professionals find information. Make your company visible on websites frequented by your customers. Where do they go for the information they need for their jobs? If you don’t know, ask them. Or ask your agency to find out. By being visible at every customer touch point, you will be able to reach them most effectively in a shorter period of time. In addition to built-in frequency with an integrated campaign, mixing media is far more powerful than staying with just one form of advertising. The same ad in the same format can easily be overlooked. But when a message is delivered differently, it reinforces the previous one and gains more attention because of the new format. 쐍

Technology Marketing Points of View User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

COMPANY GENER AT E S S A L E S B Y G E N E R AT I N G IDEA S.

Value Beyond Printing. Missing out on business opportunities is not an option for the Dönges group of companies. Its staff welcomes all possibilities that enable them to stimulate the enthusiasm of customers which, in turn, can generate more sales.

According to the managing director of Dönges Medienproduktions GmbH, the world of the modernday printer is not a simple one by any means. “We can no longer distinguish ourselves from our competitors by simply printing on paper,” explains Rüdiger Dönges. Even finishing and post-press processing have to offer more opportunities than before in order to stay ahead of the competition, he says.

Rüdiger Dönges, managing director, Dönges Medienproduktions GmbH.

Still, it is important for Dönges to keep his capacity and output as high as they can be, without compromising on price, and that’s just what he does at the printing company, which is based in the Hessian town of Dillenburg, as well as at his other business enterprises. Today, high capacity and output distinguishes the Dönges group from many of its competitors— in addition to quality, innovation and added-value services. Since taking over the company from his father 17 years ago, at which time it had just seven employees, he has expanded his team of specialists to more than

100, and he plans to soon join forces with a partnering firm, Gutenberghaus, in Stadtlohn near the Dutch border, and when that is completed the Dönges group will be a 220-employee organisation.

“We always ask ourselves how we can create more benefits for our customers, ideally in ways they might not even see themselves.” Rüdiger Dönges, managing director, Dönges Medienproduktions GmbH “We always ask ourselves how we can create more benefits for our customers, ideally in ways they might not even see

themselves,” says Dönges. Given his inexhaustible treasure trove of ideas, that has never been an impossible task.

Collaborations that Grow. Services at the company also include a warehouse for printed matter and a distribution center, guaranteeing on-time delivery with each and every job. In addition, IT specialists use sophisticated warehousing tools and protocols to make the distribution function run smoother than ever before. Business relationships develop at the Dönges group in several ways. One is by recommendations from satisfied customers. Another is when current customers or prospects see how skilled and progressive the Dönges group really is, and subsequently hire them to do more work than initially anticipated. One case in point is an international manufacturer of spark plugs. The collaboration began on the basis of a recommendation from a customer in the automotive sector. It started with printed marketing tools. Then it expanded

Technology Marketing Points of View

Trends Highlights

to a web-based workshop system, used as a customer loyalty tool for the manufacturer’s clients. Display stands for trade shows followed, and then, packaging development. Today, Dönges is that manufacturer’s primary professional service provider, from project planning to finished products. “Now, we even handle the collection and disposal of used spark plug packagings for the company,” Dönges adds. Another one of his companies, Birdievision GmbH, deals with the complete range of visual communication activities of numerous golf courses in Germany and abroad, and includes course guides, information boards, and even benches and litter baskets of matching designs. “Advertising works best where no one expects it,” Dönges says.

with a specific design programme that the Dönges team had more familiarity using. “We’ve already acted as stand-ins during holidays, including the complete management work for an exhibition,” reports Dönges.

Saving Time by Sharing Staff.

On one hand, Dönges has always been open to new, sometimes unconventional services, though on the other, he never forgets his roots. ‘The cobbler must stick to his last’ is one of his favourite mottos. And he is as much committed to jobs that bring in only modest income as he is to those that attract large balances.

“And when we do,” Dönges says, “we concentrate on it with everything we’ve got.” In essence, he and his staff focus on the specific, basic needs of customers, and not always on technologies or products.

Dönges does whatever is necessary to help customers. For example, he has put his layout experts at the disposal of a single customer for two days so that the customer would not lose time when working

Customers today are far more concerned than ever before about how they can optimise their processes and reduce their warehousing costs. The Dönges group helps them find the answers to those challenges.

From time to time, Dönges speaks at marketing events, and always concludes his presentation by quoting Swiss entrepreneur Zino Davidoff: “I never did marketing. I only ever loved my customers.” 쐍

User Proﬁle

PRINTER U S ES H IG H - R E S O L U T I O N SC R E E N ING T O PRO VIDE A DDED VA LUE.

Positioning Print in Poland. By taking advantage of the fall of the communist regime and then joining the European Union, printers in Poland saw a new world open up to them. Drukarnia LCL, one of the largest, upholds its goals by investing in technology and concentrating on customer satisfaction. May 1, 2004 was a day of celebration in Poland, particularly for its businesses and industries. That was the day Poland joined the European Union, instantly expanding its market more than six-fold over what it had been before. Overnight, an entirely new printing industry sprung up in the Eastern European nation. The upward trend actually began fifteen years earlier, in 1989, when the business and industry communities welcomed the fall of the communist regime, which allowed for the development of private enterprise. Almost all of the printers operating in Poland at that time began to expand. They were free to initiate growth plans as they saw fit. Many of them now feel as if 1989 was the dawn of their true corporate beginnings, no matter when they were really founded. Joining the EU a few years later simply made things even better.

A progressive, exciting, and very large new market awaited them all.

Drukarnia LCL has invested heavily in both prepress and finishing equipment, including the Agfa CtP solution with :Sublima screening technology. International customers appreciate the growth of the printing industry in Poland, too, because printers there are still able to produce work more cost efficiently than those operating in more mature economies.

The Studio Expands. Drukarnia LCL is one such company. Zdzislaw Lewy founded a printing house in 1988, and he was joined in 1992 by Meciej Lewy and Tomasz Cytrowski. Soon it began building its experience in design and prepress services, expanding its printing equipment as well. In 2003 the name was changed to Drukarnia LCL and the company quickly became one of the leading sheet-fed offset printers in Poland, specialising in books, magazines, catalogues, calendars and advertising materials. The company reaches its quality goals through the total commitment of its employees to fulfill all client demands. Quality standards are high, as demonstrated through its ISO 9001:2001 Quality System certification, awarded in 2002. And LCL makes a tremendous effort to maintain its top scores through many continuous quality initiatives.

Sublima enables high-resolution printing –up to 340 lpi– with no extra effort on press.

This year Drukarnia LCL will implement the integrated quality management system according to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and PN-N 18001 standards. Also, through the continuous upgrading of products and systems, Drukarnia LCL can accurately claim it has the perfect conditions to print any kind of material to the highest quality possible. The staff is very proud of its modern studio, with advanced screening through Agfa’s :Sublima technology and a complete Agfa CtP system. As a result, Drukarnia LCL can use client files to prepare them for print.

May 1, 2004 was the day Poland joined the

Technology

European Union, instantly expanding its market

Marketing

more than six-fold over what it had been before.

Points of View

Overnight, an entirely new printing industry sprung up in the Eastern European nation.

Ready to Export.

often much more attractive because of their more recent entrance into the European market. They have already printed for customers in Holland, England, Belgium, Germany and France. Currently fifteen percent of its sales are from beyond their borders, though they are now aggressively looking for more export work.

According to a company spokesperson, while Drukarnia LCL has much of the same equipment as many of its European counterparts and produces work of even higher quality, their price performance is

Almost all printers in Poland have equipment that is less than 10 years old. Drukarnia LCL has invested heavily in both prepress and finishing equipment, including the Agfa CtP solution with :Sublima

User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

screening technology. Almost 95 percent of its work now uses :Sublima, which shows a dedication to hybrid high quality screening that few other printers in Poland have yet to master. Drukarnia LCL does not charge its customers extra for the service, but instead considers it a value-added proposition. With ISO quality added to a highly skilled staff using modern CtP and screening methods, Drukarnia LCL is not only on the crest of a new wave for Poland’s printing industry, but also part of a prepress and printing transformation all over Europe. 쐍

› Excerpted from an article by Gareth Ward, Editor Print Business Magazine.

Energy from 830nm laser diodes exposes the image area.

The mild, wide-latitude :Amigo Clean Out Solution easily removes the soluble unexposed areas.

After clean-out only the image areas remain.

WWF Druck + Medien accomplished several important goals at once by switching to chemical-free plate technology, including maximum print run stability, substantially higher productivity, and a new, higher level of quality. As an added bonus, the installation received state funding from North Rhine-Westphalia because it was deemed an important pilot programme.

Concentrating on Quality. GA INS I N CU S TO M E R S AT I S FA C T I O N W I T H C HEM -F REE T EC HNO LO G Y.

WWF Druck + Medien GmbH has been getting a lot of attention lately—and for some very good reasons. First, customers appreciate their proactive approach to both quality and environmental issues. Also, state funding was offered when the company decided to implement a new, chemical-free platemaking option. Founded by Regina and Manfred Wessels in 1988, WWF Druck is a full-service printer based in Greven, in the Münsterland region of Germany. Operating under a very broad business model, the company adds to its conventional commercial printing jobs a long list of additional products, such as labels and forms (many of them for customers in the healthcare industry) and a range of periodicals through its own publishing arm. Other specialities include inserts, sales brochures, insurance flyers, tax return documents and more. Some of the labels and forms are produced by the millions.

“Our prepress department used to be the bottleneck of all our operations. But today, we can even offer our services as a CtP provider for other printers,” says Manfred Wessels, managing partner. “In print preparation for web offset printing with UV inks, we used to have to contend with a host of imponderables. Now, they have all been eliminated.” Gone, he says, are the days when work was inhibited by undercutting or by running plates that were not properly cleaned. There had also been difficulties in maintaining production quality at a consistently high level. The turning point came when WWF Druck decided to install Germany’s first 4-up CtP workflow with the development-free :Amigo plate from Agfa. The boost in productivity was immediate and effective.

High Demand, High Expectations. The group would have liked to move over to CtP sooner,

but Wessels says that at the start they saw no solution on the market that convinced them to make the switch. The demands on their printing plates were consistently high, which is why conventional CtP solutions were not open to consideration. That situation changed, company executives say, when Agfa announced the :Amigo Thermofuse plate for production of long runs. :Amigo’s chemistry-free imaging process offered WWF both a significant increase in production reliability in platemaking and a significant ecological advantage. “The idea of being able to produce without chemical developing at short notice was an extremely attractive prospect for us,” Wessels says. By June 2006 the complete CtP system was installed, including Agfa’s :ApogeeX workflow management system and :Acento 4-up platesetter for exposing the :Amigo plates.

Because of the major ecological advantages of ThermoFuse technology, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia provided a subsidy to WWF toward the capital expenditure on the installation. In addition, those same ecological advantages were found to strengthen customer loyalty.

Focus on Quality. “Because the plates no longer have to be developed with chemicals, all the variables involved with chemical development are eliminated,” says Krystyna Mielniczuk, platemaking manager. The prepress staff no longer has to worry about the state of developer chemicals, temperature fluctuations or throughput times. Instead, they concentrate on quality in platemaking. Even without baking, WWF achieves a print run stability of roughly 100,000 prints, and that includes printing with UV inks. While every plate had to be baked in the past, this step is now only necessary for relatively long runs. In addition, the elimination of developing with chemicals makes a decisive contribution to the dramatic increase in the throughput of the prepress department. WWF customers are enthusiastic about the quality they have been receiving from the company since the new CtP workflow was installed. As a case in point,

Wessels refers to a jewellery brochure where the shadows in the background to the rings and necklaces appear softer than ever. The increase in quality, as demonstrated in this beautiful brochure, has been very noticeable. The company intends to extend its reach even further with Agfa’s :Sublima cross-modulated screening technology. This innovative technology combines the advantages of amplitude-modulated and frequency-modulated screening. As a result, it yields definition with very fine details in both highlights and shadows, along with smoother solids and gradations in the mid-tones. The :ApogeeX 3.5 workflow management system used by WWF also plays a key role in higher productivity and production reliability. “We’ve largely standardised and automated our prepress workflow, and it is so easy to operate that virtually all our prepress and printing staff can work with it,” says Prepress Manager Ingo Ribbers. “That means our printers can expose plates on their own at any time, even on the late shift.” The staff appreciates the various options offered by :ApogeeX workflow, including final visual data check on the monitor immediately prior to exposing the plates. The result is that any errors, such as missing fonts or incorrectly created images, can be detected at a very

The entire CtP workﬂow at WWF Druck + Medien is so easy to operate that virtually all the prepress and printing staff can work with it.

early stage, and last-minute corrections of PDF files are possible.

What They See is

Technology Marketing Points of View

“Because the plates are developed during the imaging process, all variables involved with chemical development are eliminated.”

User Proﬁle Trends Highlights

Krystyna Mielniczuk, platemaking manager, WWF Druck + Medien

What They Get. Since proofing is an integral element of the workflow, the proofs are printed using the same data that are later exposed onto the plates. That way, WWF can rely on the proofs to be identical to that of the printing plates. That virtually eliminates the need to re-expose plates. There are no surprises in prepress production. And no one at WWF is surprised at the successes they have been having thanks to their new workflow and system solutions. 쐍

Jointly responsible for the successful realisation of the innovative CtP project (from left to right): Manfred Wessels, managing partner of WWF Druck + Medien GmbH, Prepress Manager Ingo Ribbers, Platemaking Manager Krystyna Mielniczuk, Agfa Graphics Sales Representative Rainer Dömer and Dirk Mussenbrock from Hubertus Wesseler GmbH.

Flexibility in Large-Format Printing Built into :Anapurna M.

:Anapurna M

Advances in :ApogeeX 4.0 Including Adobe PDF Print Engine. :ApogeeX 4.0, the newest release of Agfa’s successful workflow solution, has the Adobe PDF Print Engine incorporated into it, allowing PDF files to be rendered natively throughout the workflow. With the Adobe PDF Print Engine, the need to flatten transparent artwork is eliminated, enabling a more efficient and reliable end-to-end PDF workflow.

Newspapers Reduce Ink Consumption by 30%.

CMY

:A R KI T E X O P T IINK USES SISR T O INC REA SE PRINTA BILIT Y W H I L E R E D U C ING C O ST S.

CMYK

Before OptiInk

After OptiInk CMY

CMYK

There are many ways to reduce ink consumption. The two most effective methods are GCR and Agfa’s Smart Input Space Recognition (SISR). Agfa’s SISR is a method of identifying and correcting colour profiles. A single PDF page usually contains images from different sources. One image may have no colour profile assigned to it at all, another may have a commercial CMYK profile, and others may have an RGB profile. The grey balance of each of these is different from the intended output. The result will be problem separations that produce unwanted colour casts and images that print too dark or too light. SISR identifies the original profile taking a variety of characteristics into account such as ink layer, dot gain, grey balance, etc.

It then converts it to a newspaper CMYK profile without losing the original colour characteristics. To the corrected PDF :Arkitex OptiInk applies GCR—the replacement of the grey component that is formed by a combination of yellow, cyan and magenta with a percentage of black. A single colour (K) therefore, replaces three colours (CMY) with an equivalent neutral tone, saving a significant amount of ink. The final result is high-quality colour using less ink—as much as 30%. If you print on newsprint, send your files to Agfa and to see just how much ink you can save. Go to: http://staycosteffective.agfa.com

:Interface is an international publication. Some products and services may not be available in all countries. Please contact your local Agfa dealer or sales office for availability.

Adding to Agfa’s preeminence in the wide format industrial inkjet market is the :Anapurna M, featuring state-of-the-art picoliter printheads and Agfa-produced UV-curable :Anapurna ink. With a print resolution of 720 x 1440 dpi and width capability of up to 160 cm (63 in), the :Anapurna M delivers excellent photorealistic printing with every job, permits borderless printing, and makes UV technology available to graphic screen and sign production shops at an affordable cost. Perfect for everything from signs on large transportation vehicles to highway advertising billboards –and countless indoor and outdoor projects in between– the :Anapurna M prints on

roll material as well as uncoated rigid media, opening up new business opportunities for a wide variety of users.

Technology Marketing Points of View User ProďŹ le Trends The new release also features enhanced JDF integration capabilities and offers tremendous support for other components of the print production process, such as MIS systems, presses and finishing equipment. Other advances include superb tonal reproduction though :Sublima screening, and high quality colour processing through :Alterno processing technology. :ApogeeX 4.0 guarantees consistent output by providing the best possible reproduction on paper.

ThermoFuse in Use by More Than 2000 Printers Worldwide. Agfaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ThermoFuse technology, the basis for the :Amigo low-chemistry plate, :Azura chemistryfree plate, and :Thermolite process-free aluminum plates, is currently being used by more than 2000 customers around the world. ThermoFuse is now providing production, quality, and environmental benefits to a wide cross section of printers globally whose outputs range from low- to high-run lengths, and from conventional to large formats. Plates based on ThermoFuse technology offer the highest print quality while also helping to reduce chemical usage in almost all prepress scenarios. The technology physically forms the image during exposure. After imaging, the plates require only a clean-out step to remove the non-image areas. As a result, the plates offer exceptional stability and consistency.

AdCenter for Improved Newspaper Display Ad Tracking and Management. AdCenter, one of two newspaper management modules that Agfa developed for the :Arkitex workflow system, provides precise tracking and efficient production organisation for the newspaper display advertising function. The enterprise level, web-enabled :Arkitex AdCenter is part of a system that also includes AdControl, which automates receiving, input and matching of digital ads with ad bookings. The AdCenter module is flexible and allows users to customise tracking and management solutions to meet individual newspaper display ad requirements, and that, in turn, helps streamline processes, increase automation and reduce errors. It also fully supports the international standard for data exchange, which is supported by newspaper organisations such as NAA and IFRA.

New Digital Plug-In to Fight Against Counterfeiting of Brand Products. SecuSeal is a digital design plug-in that assists packaging and label producers in protecting products from counterfeit packaging, without an increase in production costs. With counterfeiting and piracy of branded products a worldwide issue that severely compromises the value of legitimate items, a solution like SecuSeal offers the kind of protection that can effectively battle the global problem. SecuSeal, easily integrated into current workflows, is an NT based Adobe Illustrator plug-in that generates complex backgrounds or patterns that make imitations extremely difficult to produce. The plug-in, which does not involve any extra production costs, gives designers full control in adding anti-counterfeiting designs, and is a very simple programme to learn.

Highlights

:AdCenter

High-Quality Graphics on Posters and Billboards. The :Anapurna XL2 is a wide format, industrial inkjet printer designed for point-ofpurchase displays, posters, banners, exhibition panels, stage graphics, construction signs, ad panels and many other projects that require oversized graphics. Developed with many innovations, the :Anapurna XL2 is a robust and resilient system with a UV-curable engine that provides quality printing on both uncoated rigid and roll media. With a print resolution of 720 x 800 dpi and width printing capability of up to 250 cm (98 in), the XL2 delivers excellent text reproduction, smooth tints, vivid colours and great solids. It also enables dual board printing, white printing, and borderless printing, which saves on time and materials.

:SecuSeal

:Anapurna XL2

Users Agree… Workﬂow optimisation is an essential part of a successful business formula. “:Delano is a very robust system that is helping us advance our automation efforts. Our reps simply enter the data, including imposition and templates, and :Delano manages it all, quickly and seamlessly.” Christie Miners, Digital Prepress Supervisor Democrat Printing, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

“The task chains used in :Delano allow even inexperienced users to drive through their work. It is userfriendly and allows our customers to deliver files and to then proof them in an instant.” Mike Donovan, Head of Client Services Stephens & George, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales

“We have a set of customers that love working with us. Service is important, and we provide full training for everyone who works with us on :Delano.”

“Implementation of the :Delano project management solution was about as important for us as was the switch from computer-to-film to digital platesetting.” Urs Notter, Head of Production Data Management Stämpfli AG, Bern, Switzerland

Alan Fletcher, Sales and Marketing Director Newnorth, Bedford, England

“We are very happy with our new platform, which includes the :Delano project management system. Now we have a greater ability to service customers and communicate, both internally and externally.” John Smith, Owner Tech Valley Printing, Watervliet, New York, U.S.

Agfa and the Agfa-Rhombus are trademarks of Agfa Graphics N.V., Belgium. :Acento, :Alterno, :Anapurna, :Arkitex, :Azura, :SherpaProof, :Sublima, :Thermostar and :Xcalibur are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Belgium. PostScript, Acrobat, PDF, PageMaker and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks are held by their respective companies and are used in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement.

Agfa-Gevaert N.V. Printed in Belgium Published by Agfa-Gevaert N.V. B-2640 Mortsel-Belgium NGP86 GB 00200709