Workflow
Next-level file flow
There are a host of pre-press products on the market to automate file processing and improve file checking and approval, ganging, imposition, image correction and ink optimisation

Play the data game
Away from the bright lights and headline-grabbing launches of the big shows, new developments in MIS software could help to boost efficiency across the day-to-day running of your business

Take the drudgery out of workflow
Metadata. The mere mention of the word is enough to bring some people out in hives – especially given that it ends in ‘data’, four letters guaranteed to give most ordinary folk the heebie-jeebies.

Integrate to go with the flow
Pre-press suppliers are taking the principles of workflows and extending their range across the print production process. Barney Cox looks at the latest developments on show at Drupa.

Building for the future
As the nature of print has evolved, the background processes and systems, such as workflow tools and MIS, have also matured, reflecting the increasingly complex nature of the output. Never has it been more necessary to replace the blanket term 'pre-press' with the multi-channel friendly moniker 'pre-media'...

Go with the flow
Digital print got a serious speed boost at Drupa with a massive amount of activity from equipment vendors launching faster machines that are available today, in addition to previewing concepts that go into larger formats and even faster speeds that should be commercially available over the next couple...

Cashing in on the content
Workflow, workflow management, manufacturing management, total production workflow. Congratulations if you managed to wade through that list of long words. Guaranteed to make many printer run for the hills, cover their ears, hide behind their pre-press manager or a combination of the above, workflow...

Joining up the dots
JDF integration is not necessarily the be-all and end-all, but ensuring a clear link between the office and the shop floor makes all the difference to the bottom line.

A catalogue of success
Production management software has simplified scheduling, turned around turnaround times and made meeting deadlines a dream.

Proofing
Picking the proofer that’s right for you
Proofing is a vital part of the production cycle and in a situation where the quality of print is para-mount, it’s especially important that the proof matches the final sheet. However, in recent years, customers have started to demand quicker and cheaper solutions.

The soft approach is proof enough
Trading in hard-copy proofs and moving to screen-based proofing, or 'soft proofing', has been well documented through its infancy and formative years. It has previously found favour with newspapers and magazine publishers, but could now be set to break into other markets.

Virtual repro comes of age
Imagine having the ability to access your digital artwork from any computer anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night, through an internet portal. Imagine being able to upload, download, amend, create and approve new or existing projects through the same portal.

New worlds of possibilities
Picture the scene: a new magazine is set to launch, but the publisher is nervous about how it will look. The two-dimensional pages show the design and layout, but something's missing. Then the printer and designer present a three-dimensional image of the magazine giving a more detailed illustration.

Software
Next dimension?
Colour can be confusing enough when on the printed page in two dimensions, so when talk turns to four-dimensional (4D) colour, the natural reaction would be to run screaming from the room. However, getting a better handle on the latest colour control technology and terminology could make it easier to...

From software to service
In the past few months, you could hardly pick up a newspaper without seeing a headline about the latest government agency or high-street bank to have mislaid sensitive data, either on disks lost in the post or through laptops left lying around or stolen. With data security at the front of people’s minds,...

Going up in your clients’ estimation
Darren Briers has a problem with estimating. He’s fixed the problems that his own business, Northampton-based B2 printer Avalon, had in that area. But he believes the situation it faced before implementing a Brightblue estimating system are the rule in the industry rather than the exception.

Estimation in an instant
Last month, Communisis chief executive Steve Vaughan caused a ripple in the print industry with his assertion that the market was set for a shake-up in the way it went about winning work. Speaking at the BPIF/Print Yorkshire Finance Conference, the IT industry veteran told delegates that IT technology...

Tracking your jobs online
Imagine the scenario: you have an urgent print job and scramble around to find a suitable printer via either a google search or the phone directory. You get in touch with a few, settle on what you think is the cheapest one and fax off the specifications. The fax gets lost at the printer’s end. The re-sent...

High-tech must go back to basics
The technology behind web-to-print production is nothing new, it's been around for years. What has hampered development of the sector is the level of uptake. Simon Creasey reports.

Other
A sleight of hand
Ron Hughes is a perfectionist and, in his role as a hand engraver, this attribute is essential - any slip of the wrist can undo up to five hours of hard work. Hughes painstakingly engraves his designs onto pieces of steel or copper using the sort of arcane craftsman's tools and skills that have long...

Caught in the net
For the average print sales rep, the first decade of the new millennium has been a tough one. As the industry moves gradually but inexorably away from simple ink-on-paper as its core sales proposition, reps are having to get up to speed with a combination of new technologies, different types of customer

Why is web-to-print such a hard sell?
It saves enormous amounts of time and money and in just a few years could be the norm in the industry.