workflow market share study?

[stargate]

Does anyone know of any study that analyze market share for all the rip manufacturers in USA?

Something that would let's say Kodak/Creo Prinergy 28%, Rampage 22%, Screen 12% etc....?

 

[UncleSam]

Re: workflow market share study?

Hey Ryan,

Please see this poll for workflow:

http://www.prepressforums.com/forum/general-prepress/9712-what-workflow.html

Since Esko and Artwork merged, they are the biggest player in the prepress workflow.

 

[stargate]

Re: workflow market share study?

It's true Uncle but since they still selling two different systems I would consider them as a separate workflows. For a long time I think they should dump Esko and sell only improved Artworks as it does not make sense to have two workflows for one company - example Xrite swallowed Gretag and discontinued it's own Xrite products keeping Gretag spectros alive or Kodak dumping Brisque keeping Prinergy.

From this poll it looks like Prinergy is #1. That's the only player I don't consider it.

 

[John Clifford]

Re: workflow market share study?

While it's certainly a good idea to know which workflow is prevalent out there, I'm concerned that this information is used to suggest that the #1 seller is the one that should be considered. I know of some shop owners who advertise for prepress people who have knowledge of this or that workflow or RIP. This is kind of like wanting a mechanic who only works on Fords. A GOOD prepress person will understand how the print process works and will be able to work with any workflow out there. The kind of exercise I see here can only lead to an adoption of a single workflow as a "standard" and this tends to stiffle innovation as who can "buck" the trend.

The same thing went on for too long with Quark until Adobe took the chance and got involved with InDesign. Even with all of Adobe's vast market influence, it took them a good long time to get any kind of momentum going for a clearly superior product.

I guess that want I'm trying to say is that any of the workflows can be made to work and a good prepress person can work with any of the workflows, especially since we've somewhat standardized on PDF. For my money, I'd go with an Artworks system, but I've not been able to convince any of the clients I consult for to go that direction so I've worked on workflows from Prinergy (high-end) to Rip-It Symphony (low end). The thing that makes the difference in my mind is that they each have the new Adobe PDF RIP. If you're thinking of changing workflows, update the RIP!!!!!

 

[david]

Re: workflow market share study?

Here is a nice new workflow to consider as well! It is under $8K.

Have a look at this - http://www.trapping.org

The TaskForce workflow has all of these features:

A Professional Web site with unlimited client licenses where clients can upload jobs to you with fully customizable job ticketing and email notices.

Automating of jobs into production based on job numbering and job ticket contents.

Ripping - with spool folder, network printing, local selection and unlimited queue options

Trapping - automatic in-rip trapping of the very highest quality

Soft Proofing - proofs made from the actual ripped/trapped data is automatically uploaded back to the web site and email notice - with job thumbnail - is sent to your client. Clients can view their job in the browser with support for Acrobat annotations, notes, page and job approval with email notices back to the printer.

Production Ready PDF creation - PDFx1A files with trapping applied.

Imposition - wizard or light table imposition using Acrobat plugin

Hybrid Screening - achieve the very best quality printing with minimum dot size control

Dot Proofing - prepare files for your proofing printer based on the actual screened data

Archiving - saved your final screened jobs in an easy to use PDF form for fast future retrival

All this and more for under $8000

David Lewis
Lucid Dream Software