Offset and Digital Convergence: It’s About The Workflow

By Chuck Gehman

Originally Appeared in OnDemand Journal

November 2003

Digital output devices, and variable printing, deserve all the buzz and coverage they get in media, and arguably even more than they are getting today. We can’t forget, though, that a tremendous amount of On-Demand printing is done either on offset machines, or is executed by a combination of offset and digital equipment.

There is a great need for new workflow tools that understand both the offset and digital worlds. Increasingly, jobs are being produced that incorporate elements that are produced offset, then are fed into digital machines for some kind of personalization. Direct mail applications are clearly among the leaders in this trend, but there are also more mundane applications like books, training materials, invitations and even stationery (preprinted shells with four color process artwork produced on offset, then fed into digital machines that print the black and white “personalized” part of the product.)

My last piece for On Demand Journal lamented the need for a standard way to produce input documents that can be used as variable templates. Having such a standard would solve some of the front-end issues involved in getting work to the print manufacturing facility. Once the work is in house, though, there are additional roadblocks created by workflow solutions that don’t know about the capabilities of both offset and digital machines. Today, few printers have the software and processes to efficiently produce products that employ these two production technologies.

Most print service providers who have both offset and digital capabilities operate them separately—often in different rooms (or even buildings), staffed by different people. Until recently, this was an appropriate setup, because these distinct operations produced different products for different customers (or, perhaps more accurately, for different applications within the same customer account).

Today, the lines between digital and offset products are blurring. An article in the November edition of Electronic Publishing notes an RR Donnelley short-run book printing operation (in their Harrisonburg, VA, plant-- one of the largest offset manufacturing facilities in the industry), where the pages are produced on a small web press, and the covers are produced on a digital press. This gives the plant the capability of essentially producing a run of one single book. One might say that on-demand books are very different from most commercial print, but this is a harbinger of the emerging need for workflow convergence in all segments of the industry.

Most commercial printers with more than $10M in sales have adopted some type of workflow system from a pre-print equipment or software vendor, but primarily for film or CTP output. These high-end workflow systems are full-featured and provide the needed offset workflow components, including trapping, imposition, and RIP capabilities.

With some notable exceptions, sending files to digital devices today is a simpler (and, naturally, less capable) process of loading the document into a native application and printing (using a vendor-specific driver for the output device) directly to the toner-based output device. If the output device is sophisticated, there may be a workstation attached to it that can control variable printing features, simple imposition, and a wide variety of additional features like paper selection and tabbing.

We’re entering a new phase in the workflow software environment. It’s driven by the shorter runs, tighter turnaround times, and non-professional document creators who are now feeding commercial printers’ production capacity. How many pre-print operations today struggle with handling offset output of customer files from applications like Microsoft Publisher or the Microsoft Office applications today? Have you received an order for an offset color book job of 5,000 pieces, only to discover that the digital files were produced by the customer in Microsoft PowerPoint? These problems aren’t going away, and we need workflow to make these jobs flow seamlessly into production.

The challenges are easily identified: first, and most basic, the ability for the workflow servers, RIPs and their accompanying tools (i.e., the pre-print production workflow systems employed in high-end production) to be “digital smart”, capable of driving a variety of digital machines and supporting their many features. Second, we need the ability for offset devices to be driven simply by the same workflow system, where output on an offset press is “green button” easy, just like the digital press. Finally, just when we think we’ve solved all the industry’s proofing problems, there is the matter of proofing for jobs that combine offset and digital output.

The good news is, we’re beginning to see innovative solutions to these problems in the marketplace that are specifically designed to addresses these challenges facing the industry. It’s exciting to see the industry adopting new techniques and processes, to increase productivity and enable print’s expansion into new applications and markets, resulting in business growth and profitability. Workflow convergence may be the “killer app” that makes this all possible.

CIM COMES TO FLEXO

Originally appeared in Flexo Magazine, November 2003

Customers expect the highest quality, and they still want printers to deliver lower prices and faster delivery. Computer integrated manufacturing is the best way to address these challenges.

Process automation initiatives generally begin with the streamlining of business and production processes. Computerizing an inefficient operation is almost guaranteed to solidify inefficiencies, making them nearly impossible to improve.

JDF is an interoperability specification that lets software and machines communicate information about jobs. This promises to eliminate many of the time-consuming chores associated with machine configurations.

COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES PROMOTE SAVINGS FOR FLEXO PRINTING APPLICATIONS

By Chuck Gehman

Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) is rapidly being recognized as the best way to implement process improvement in the printing industry. Flexo applications, which often involve complex processes and resulting products, can benefit dramatically from CIM techniques. Significant savings can be found in the areas of productivity improvement; reduction in waste and overruns; and the streamlining of internal and external communications.

CIM has been an important tool for making manufacturing industries more efficient since the late 1970s. In printing, though, it has only just begun to take hold. The reason is that, until recently, it has been difficult to implement CIM in print manufacturing.

The complexity of print products and the fact that customers deliver significant pieces of the raw materials (i.e., digital content) have helped to slow the adoption. In addition, the printing and converting industries are generally oriented more toward craftsmanship than toward manufacturing science. This, too, has delayed usage of CIM in printing—up until now, that is.

These days, companies are realizing that in order to remain competitive, they must cut costs and improve equipment and staff utilization. Customers are demanding shorter runs, shorter turnaround times and lower prices. Quality isn’t a sufficient differentiator anymore—customers expect the highest quality, and they still want us to deliver lower prices and faster delivery. CIM is the best way to address these challenges.

The CIM Approach

Waste is often thought of as material waste—paper, plates and ink. Other industries as diverse as the furniture and semiconductor industries have discovered, however, that most waste can be identified and reduced by focusing on time. Simplification and elimination of unnecessary steps is the first place to begin to reduce wasted time. Often, when you take a step back and begin to analyze why your staff is performing many operations, you will quickly discover that certain tasks are performed “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Process automation initiatives generally begin with the streamlining of business and production processes. Computerizing an inefficient operation is almost guaranteed to solidify inefficiencies, making them nearly impossible to improve. Implementing process improvements for both business and production begins by identifying non-value-added time. Eliminating or reducing this time can go a long way toward improving profitability.

CIM is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it can be implemented in stages as budget and time allows. It’s important to identify areas where CIM can benefit your operation today, and take your company into the future. A review and update of your business plan is important to the realization of the profit potential of CIM, because it’s likely that changes in business practices will be necessary to implement many aspects of CIM. For example, automation of the instructions for the pressroom will require more detailed production planning knowledge upstream in the front office.

CIM Tools Available Today

One of the most important technologies the industry is employing to implement CIM applications is the new JDF (job definition format) specification from the Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) consortium, a group of 160 graphic arts companies.

JDF is an interoperability specification that lets software and machines communicate information about jobs. This promises to eliminate many of the time-consuming chores associated with machine configurations (for presses and finishing machines). It communicates job parameters (for tasks like imposition) and eliminates errors by making re-keying data unnecessary. A JDF file describes a particular job and its components, and that file flows through the production process along with the actual job content itself.

There are some products on the market today that implement JDF, but implementing JDF may require that you replace some of your presses or finishing equipment to fully take advantage of this new, emerging standard.

Having said that, though, there is equipment today that can be retrofitted to existing presses and finishing gear to allow printers to participate in a CIM network today. For example, direct machine interface equipment (DMI, see sidebar) can be connected to a flexo press for monitoring “speeds and feeds,” as well as waste counts and more.

There’s no reason to wait to begin to recognize the benefits of CIM. Many of the tools of CIM— including print management systems (see sidebar) and their accompanying databases, dynamic scheduling, automated prepress workflows and remote proofing—are available today.

Applying CIM to Flexo

This probably isn’t the first article you’ve read about CIM for print. There’s been plenty of buzz, but most of the excitement has been focused on commercial print applications. The good news is that many advantages of CIM that apply to commercial print applications are benefits that flexo printers can enjoy, too.

A simple but powerful example is the tracking of roll stock. Barcode readers, connected to a print management system, can let you know exactly what you have in stock—in real time—so you can make purchasing and production decisions.

Innovar Packaging Group, Arlington, TX, recently implemented barcode applications in its plant and saw a reduction of better than 70 percent in the time it takes to perform its paper inventory, according to Gary Cooper, general manager. What used to require two people spending 14 hours doing a physical count now requires only four hours. Because it took so long to do a count in the past, it wasn’t done very often. It still takes two people, but one is driving the forklift.

Innovar implemented a flexo-specific print management system that lets employees use hand-held barcode readers to read the paper manufacturer’s barcodes on the roll stock. This has saved many hours of work. Before the system was implemented, inventory was kept by hand making labels and sticking them onto each roll. With paper costs higher than ever, knowing your current inventory status and employing “just-in-time” purchasing to meet manufacturing needs can provide monetary returns.

Ship and Release, an emerging labeling industry profit center, isn’t really practical without a print management system like the one employed by Innovar. The problem is that every time a customer places an order, you have to make a trip to the warehouse to make sure the stock is there. With a print management system and CIM, you will have 100-percent confidence that the stock is in the warehouse, and you can automatically generate production job tickets when the stock reaches a specified level. In addition, systems today can be more easily tied into Internet ordering, so that your customers can serve themselves while you still maintain the benefits of your automated system.

Production scheduling is yet another area that can allow your company to leverage CIM without replacing major capital equipment. New dynamic scheduling systems optimize your entire operation— personnel, prepress workflow, presses, finishing equipment and more—to increase throughput, capacity and on-time delivery. Using software to schedule your plant in this way, you can minimize makeready time between jobs by grouping like jobs together. The most advanced new scheduling systems let you perform “what if” analyses so you can determine whether you have the capacity to fit in another job without negatively impacting the work you already have in progress.

CIM scheduling software can take into account that the time allocated to complete a particular job for one device needs to be “blocked” in combination with another device. Examples include label applications in which a job exits one press and feeds another (instead of rewinding); or a bindery line in which multiple machines need to work together on one job (obviously, a very common situation).

Benefits of CIM

This is just the beginning of CIM applications in the flexo arena. Implementation of CIM is a great value for any company, because these techniques don’t just reduce costs; they can also help you with your top line because you’ll be able to run more work through your shop with the same number of employees. On the other side of the coin, eliminating waste and filling idle time with productive work is a sure way to reduce your costs.

The way to start on the road to CIM is to take a good look at your processes, people and machines. Don’t try to do it all at once; start with an analysis of your operations, begin to simplify them and then proceed to process automation. Create a roadmap that will take you from your current situation to the automated vision you see in your future. By starting small and taking simple steps in this direction, you’ll begin to see real benefits almost immediately.

What Does It Mean?

The following are commonly-used CIM terms:

CIM: Computer integrated manufacturing, the application of computers to streamline and automate manufacturing processes. The term was first introduced in 1973, in a book by the same name, authored by Joseph Harrington.

JDF: Job definition format. JDF is a comprehensive public standard supported by the CIP4 consortium, a group of 160 graphic arts companies. JDF employs XML (Extensible Markup Language), a descriptive computer language that is used by leading software developers worldwide to exchange data between systems. It provides a common syntax and method for encapsulating metadata in a structure that is directly supported by programming languages such as C++; Java and Microsoft programming languages; and tools and architectures such as .NET. For more information, visit the CIP4 web site at www.cip4.org

Direct Machine Interface: A combination of sensors and an electronics package that attaches to a printing machine (i.e., a flexo press or a finishing machine) that sends data about that machine’s performance to a computer system (usually a print management system).

Print Management System: Stands for printing-industry-specific ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. PMS, also known as MIS (management information systems), are systems that manages all aspects of printing-company business and production operations.