Have we reached the end of prepress evolution?

[J]

What are your feelings about where prepress is now and prospects for the future. (e.g. Film strippers transitioned to prepress operators, now what?)

regards, J

 

[Ian Mackenzie]

Sure....prepress will evolve!!

Pagination will be outsourced to India.
Printing will be done in China.
All plates made in China.
All imaging in China.

Outside of that, then perhaps:

1. RGB to CMYK conversion algorithms will improve
2. New color separation technologies will allow better printing with less ink.
3. Remote (hard and soft) proofing will be (truly) integrated with file transmission and submission.
4. Central color management servers will inexpensively manage and drive fleets of digital printers
5. RIPs will just simply be integrated into the printers and managed via the web.

That's just in the next 3 months...!!

 

[MC_JerryD]

What are your feelings about where prepress is now and prospects for the future. (e.g. Film strippers transitioned to prepress operators, now what?)

regards, J

Prepress operators to workflow managers. New prepress systems are not just RIP, trap and plate. A lot of automation under the hood with these new systems. Getting all the non-complex, repeatable job to be automated though scripting and rules-based software.

Web2print and web submission with online review.

Variable data and PURLS.

Being a prepress operator and not learning these things will be like the days of the film strippers did not accept the change in the 90's with electronic prepress. Printing is going through a change and will never be the same again. Accepting the change and learning where the industry in going is key.

MC JerryD

 

[jlazerus]

Polish up your resumes, my prepress friends

Polish up your resumes, my prepress friends

According to US Government sources (o*net and the dept of labor) as well as my own findings from job aggregators like indeed.com and simplyhired, not only are wages going down but you can expect a 25% drop in employment in the next 6-7 years. This at a time when, as mentioned above, the printing that hasn't been moved overseas is becoming more automated every day. Printing as an industry is in big big trouble, and unfortunately, we will NOT be getting any government bailout a la GM.

Prepress Pilgrim ( The Future of Prepress: Expansion of the Virtual Bubble | Prepress Pilgrim ) has written some about this, as have I ( http://www.jefflazerus.com/blog/335 and elsewhere at Regular Guy's Experiments in www ) .

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

I seem to be spending more time cleaning up clients jobs, because more and more people are working outside their realm of expertise. Find that even the people teaching design are those that used to teach Office, and have very little understanding of considerations for print, and that would include typography.
Finding my role to move from tedious mechanics to coaching, consulting, troubleshooting and fixing.

A nice example of what happens when people move out of their area of expertise in this case design, is shown in a clip I found on the net…Â*about how a Stop sign would be redesigned YouTube - Redesigning the Stop sign

 

[Tech]

From publishers' perspective... it's all about enterprise content management. Publishing will be less about physical items and more about re-purposing existing and new products to different medias. I'm sure you guys have been hearing about ebooks as much as I have. I don't like it much myself but I think a lot of people are seeing this new media as a replacement for books/magazines/newspaper, any printed material...IMHO, they couldn't be more wrong. It's very much like music/movie industry, it's a growing pain. Going from physical forms to digital is a brave new world and a race against digital piracy...of which, printed material in many ways were a better deterrent.

From printer's perspective, I think you guys have to think about how to grab a piece of that pie instead of just thinking about changing workflow and automation...you can make prepress and printing more efficient, cost effective and more competitive against oversea printers but you can't even get a job when publishers are going straight to digital/web or simply less print quantity. IMHO, perhaps it's time to re-think printing business model.

 

[[email protected]]

Prepress upward

Prepress upward

Within our organisation, the evolution goes something like store assistant in one of many franchises, dtp people/prepress operators, becoming a franchisee or parterning with franchisees, but very, VERY few operators get that far... I can think of 5 out of possibly 150 in the last 7 years that went from prepress/dtp to anything near workflow or store management.

 

[Deprive]

Its going to be just a press operator within the next 5 years.

 

[John W]

I seem to be spending more time cleaning up clients jobs, because more and more people are working outside their realm of expertise. Find that even the people teaching design are those that used to teach Office, and have very little understanding of considerations for print, and that would include typography.

That is my point also. In folding carton work, the percentage of files that arrive anywhere close to useful is zero, period. Every single carton we receive must be torn down completely and rebuild completely from native files. Issues such as substrate caliper effect the amount of 'wrap' required at the fold corners of the face panels. No designer I know understands that this wrap amount must be a variable based on the thickness of the cardboard to be printed on (this varies based on weight of product, style of carton design etc) and must be also adjusted for each and every plant's equipment. Few designers I know understand that a carton has a back side and a front side because of the glue seam. In a bilingual country, the main language must be on the face panel away from that seam. Sometimes a version for an alternate language must be on that main panel to satisfy a region of the country. Files may be built in spot colors that outnumber the press capabilities so a decision must be made (re-quoted) to alter the job colors which may require a rebuild or some specialized trap technique. And now we have Braille to introduce to the designers with all its rules. Do you know any designers coming out of school that have any clue about this stuff! Not bloody likely is what I say!
These issues are looming larger each year since no one (or very damn few) train the designers in production issues and techniques associated with folding carton print. And forget China and India; half of them don't get it either or won't spend the time ($$) to repair the files appropriately. IMHO, skilled prepress people are going to be in more demand as we move forward; they'll be able to write their own ticket and no amount of automation can replace what I am talking about.

John W

 

[RUsure]

Yeah, but . . .

Yeah, but . . .

Prepress operators to workflow managers. New prepress systems are not just RIP, trap and plate. A lot of automation under the hood with these new systems. Getting all the non-complex, repeatable job to be automated though scripting and rules-based software.

Web2print and web submission with online review.

Variable data and PURLS.

Being a prepress operator and not learning these things will be like the days of the film strippers did not accept the change in the 90's with electronic prepress. Printing is going through a change and will never be the same again. Accepting the change and learning where the industry in going is key.

MC JerryD

The pre-requisite for learning is being able to enter the classroom. That "classroom" is extremely difficult to realize, simply because companies want people experienced in their existing systems. Those opportunities are scarce due to the economic downturn/downsizing realities PLUS the experience paths are mutually exclusive. ApogeeX operators aren't learning Rampage, and Rampage folks aren't learning PrintReady, and on and on and on . . .
So, the pool of "experienced" people have to be present in the workflow that's being replaced/optimised with the "latest & greatest" automation (whatever) tools. And, of course, the viability of the "hosting" commercial printer is under pressure because of the necessary synergy between Sales, Prepress & Output (offset, variable data, web, etc.) to take the "latest & greatest" workflow from client requests to final delivery . . .
If there's a career pathway for those of us who do desire to be educated (& apply that education), please let us (me) know - we're starving out here . . .

 

[Bart Lammertyn]

Processes and Dashboards ...

Processes and Dashboards ...

In my history as demonstrator & sales at Artwork Systems I have seen the evolution from DTP to Graphical Workflow to get repetitive task and intensive tasks to a server application. Another "revolution" was softproofing instead of hard copies.

Today, I am convinced that Prepress should evolve even more towards Services and Process Optimisation.

- Optimise the complete process from Design to Print (upload, download, W2P, ...)
- Offer faster time to market for your customer / brandowner
- Open up your production over the Web

Apparently, I am not the only one ...

In a survey from EskoArtwork to Brand Owners, they published :
71% agreed that ‘data consistency across products will have to be managed more effectively’, 65% agree that ‘data ownership’ will need to be clarified more than it is at present’. This includes structured management of artwork and other digital assets, although the majority has neither of these capabilities in place today.

Full article : EskoArtwork releases Results of Survey of Brand Owners - Printing Questions

This is an oportunity for Prepress Agencies and guess what ... Data Management, Process Management and Dashboards are keywords for our ADAM Platform ...

Regards,
Bart Lammertyn
ADAM is a media intelligent digital asset management solution - ADAM Software Marketing Technologies

 

[Repro_is_still_alive]

pre-press is definitely on the decline(even in packaging), workflow systems are getting more sophisticated every year, but it is all about the quality of the files you are processing, which does mean that it's all about education and spreading the knowledge.

it can be hard work educating but the results are well worth it.

 

[PDeuth]

There will always be new technology. Suppliers compete to provide better products and solutions. Some shops will be able to afford the new technology. Some of those who can will implement it broadly. In some of those shops there will be a few operators who master it in depth. I don't know if any of this will make any business difference, in the end. Deprive mentioned that in 5 years it will all be just a (digital) press operator, and things certainly are heading that way: load the files, process the files, impose the files, load the paper, and hit "GO." Take the job out the other end of the press.

What about an evolution in methods? Where does Quality Management play a part? What about pre-press generalists, rather than specialists, capable of color correction, trapping, imposition, plate making, proof production, and managing the quality of the systrem(s) in their care? How much of this will we (ever) see? This comprises an evolution, as well, along a capability scale. Sooner or later, there will be a point when operating a system becomes more of a job focus than doing a task.

The Taylor model of management is old and tired. Rigid hierarchies die slowly, especially in a conservitive industry like printing. Perhaps a few organizations/shops will embrace a system model, moving away from the functional model that we all know. The need is there; there is, as yet, no will for it.

 

[Allan Fowler]

Prepress lives on in Europe

Prepress lives on in Europe

Prepress is as essential now as ever.
With more sophisticated artwork processes and printing onto more exotic substrates prepress faces even more challenges.
Recent projects I have worked on have proved this point.
Not only was the prepress preparation vital to achieve the final result but it was backed up with press passes. We were printing on Metal, Plastic and paper substrates and had to maintain a critical colour match throughout. Without the perfect prepress the press passes would have most likely had to be revisited after amending the artwork.
Personally I think prepress will develop and grow closer to the design functions as the marketing and creative thinkers come up with more elaborate methods of promoting games, movies and music.

 

[Ivan]

Yes, we are

Yes, we are

Being a little more futuristic, I agree with the web2print idea, there is a lot of printers who are publishing there workflow, in order the print buyer can upload an approve, via softproofing, its job.
But, in a not far future, the prepress and the printers are going to desappear.
Let me explain:

- Newspaper >>>> Web newspaper
- Books >>>>>>> E-books (kindle, etc)
- Magazines >>>> Web magazines

The only thing is going to remain is the Packaging.

All public advertising is going to be digital (displays).
And not to mention the big industy of digital printing and next with variable data.

So, the younger people, start to think where you are going to work in the next 15-20 years.

 

[Allan Fowler]

Pre Press still evolving

Pre Press still evolving

in reponse to Ivan the same things were said several years ago. Discs would be replaced by direct downloading. No-one would buy movies on DVD or music on CD as they could download them.
Same thing with pre-press. Although direct client upload is available and obviously works for some set-ups. There are limitations.
The system is limited to the level of knowledge and ability of the client, the system used and the final product.
For specialist finishes, materials, effects, inks and varnishes the skill of a professional artworker is still essential. Packaging and print can be works of art that require understanding and care to produce.
Yes the existing software packages will take away some of the work but there will always be a requirement for the right people.

 

[T]

Being a little more futuristic, I agree with the web2print idea, there is a lot of printers who are publishing there workflow, in order the print buyer can upload an approve, via softproofing, its job.
But, in a not far future, the prepress and the printers are going to desappear.
Let me explain:

- Newspaper >>>> Web newspaper
- Books >>>>>>> E-books (kindle, etc)
- Magazines >>>> Web magazines

The only thing is going to remain is the Packaging.

All public advertising is going to be digital (displays).
And not to mention the big industy of digital printing and next with variable data.

So, the younger people, start to think where you are going to work in the next 15-20 years.

This is IT!!!!!
I see flexible monitors we can carry like a newspaper. I see printing some items on our home laser printers equipped for printed circuits.
Modified ink printer churns out electronic circuits - tech - 18 April 2007 - New Scientist
'Gadget printer' promises industrial revolution - 08 January 2003 - New Scientist
(like a new remote control or digital camera we purchase - no packaging...)

Replacement parts (human)
Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue - 22 January 2003 - New Scientist
Bone up with an ink-jet printer - tech - 10 March 2007 - New Scientist
Missing a few brain cells? Print new ones - health - 30 January 2006 - New Scientist

Even food has been printed already.
Forget takeout, eat a print-out - tech - 10 February 2005 - New Scientist

T

 

[Baldbug]

Prepress will just keep on evolving imho. I started in 68 as a Hand Compositor, Then a Machine Compositor, then a Compugraphic Typesetter, Then a pasteup & film stripper/colour combiner, then Apple typesetter/graphic designer, Then ripping to an Avantra film setter and now Apogee 6.0 and CTP Thermal. I don't think any of the learning curves have been particularly hard just one following on to the next.

regards
Rod

 

[Laurens]

The one man army

The one man army

I was waiting in line at a local copyshop recently, watching two operators load paper, print jobs, wrap up the finished result but also taking payments, ordering paper stock and advising customers. I think prepress in a commercial print environment will move in that direction as well. Essentially a single operator nowadays already does the work that used to take many people 10 or 20 years ago. What will be added is more of a sales role as well as more administrative responsibilities. As more and more tasks get automated by software, the people in control need to become more versatile.

Even though I am an avid ebook reader myself, I don't expect the web or other digital media to replace print entirely. What I do fear is that print will become something of an afterthought - which puts even more pressure on price.

One of my marketing professors used to tell us that with the exception of the car market, most markets can be split into two main categories: a small high-end market and a very broad extremely price sensitive low end market. There is hardly any room for products that fall inbetween both categories. If this divide happens to print, prepress will have to adapt. There will be printers that have a one man army prepress department. There will be printers that have a prepress team that aim for absolute top quality. I can imagine this could be true for both commercial print as well as packaging.