Looking for a csv file solution with Fiery

[Mega]

We are relatively new to this industry so please forgive our general lack of knowledge of industry terms and available solutions.

We have a Ricoh c7210sx set up to run one particular line of products. The products themselves are always the same. Each day we need to run the orders that we have received and would like a way to import a csv file in order to tell Fiery to print x number of each product. Manually setting up over a hundred different items/quanitites multiple times a day is tedious to say the least. Surely there is a program that can accomplish this without costing a fortune.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kslight]

For repeat setups I typically use hot folders or save presets.

You could probably create as many hot folders as there are different file quantities / setups, drag and drop the appropriate files onto their respective hot folder, done.

 

[Mega]

We do use the hot folders initially with each product but once they are processed, we simple drag them into a tagged folder in fiery, change the qualtity and print…that is what we are trying to eliminate.

We only have 120ish jobs or products that we produce so the time suck is setting up the quantity of each to print.

We would really like some sort of interface that allow us to upload a csv file with the upc codes and quantities of each that we need. The csv file comes from our e-commerce software.

 

[bill kahny]

Are the items the same? Print the first one from acrobate, high lite the remaining files in the folder and right click print, from windows they will open and print using the same acrobat settings. I believe even the quantity caries in. I would think thtis could be done by a batch file too.

 

[Magnus59]

What you need is Fiery JDF, which is part of the Fiery Productivity Suite

"Enables built-in JDF-based integration support to automate processes from job submission to output by integrating print workflow and business management systems so that job information can flow through the systems with less touch points and errors"

Home

Fiery offers innovative software and cloud-based technologies that deliver fast performance, stunning color, and exceptional print quality across a broad range of production printing devices.

www.efi.com

 

[Best Press]

Fiery Hot folders Console

Click New

Name it with the Qty needed ex. Job 500qty

select the server name (printer).

Select job action ex. Process and hold or print and delete or what ever you use.

Under Job Properties change to define and change the qty to 500 and set media, layout and any other settings you use.

 

[bill kahny]

You may want to investigate automation see this discussion.

https://printplanet.com/threads/best-solution-for-building-automation.291973/#post-309024

 

[hanssep]

Fiery JobFlow product manager here. You can use the free Fiery JobFlow Base. It's a workflow solution that accepts CSV tickets where you can define file location and quantity. If you want I can set you up with the next version of JobFlow Base which has significant improvements to that feature. More info at JobFlow Ticket | JobFlow Cookbook

 

[jdodoubleg]

You can also change your queue to the print queue rather than the hold, and it should go straight to printing from the hot folder.

 

[michaelejahn]

What you need is Fiery JDF, which is part of the Fiery Productivity Suite

"Enables built-in JDF-based integration support to automate processes from job submission to output by integrating print workflow and business management systems so that job information can flow through the systems with less touch points and errors"

Home

Fiery offers innovative software and cloud-based technologies that deliver fast performance, stunning color, and exceptional print quality across a broad range of production printing devices.

www.efi.com

This assumes the OP has a method to generate a JDF ( unless he wants to type one in Notepad++ ) - but, then, I have no idea if EFI charges to add the JDF processor - and have no idea how much that is. But I 100% agree that using JDF would be the approach.

 

[Mega]

Thanks for all of the replies. Much of it is over our heads but we are attempting to sort thru some of the suggestions. We dont need to preflight or use a hot folder (although a hotfolder may be used to drop our csv into?). All of the jobs are loaded into Fiery, proofed and saved in the Hold folder ready to go. The issue is clicking on all or some of the hundred plus different files each day and then setting the quantites and hitting print...all of this is suited for a spreadsheet, which our Multichannel Retail Software spits out with needed items.

It appears that Fiery Job TIcket (JobFlow) may be an option? This seems to be such an easy thing to do that I cant believe there isnt a straight forward solution...or at least one that we can find. The JobFlow option looks to require an FTP, but also would require some additional changes on in our software to spit out something it would recognize, mainly related to the file name. It also looks like you would need to reprocess the file each time?

 

[hanssep]

Thanks for all of the replies. Much of it is over our heads but we are attempting to sort thru some of the suggestions. We dont need to preflight or use a hot folder (although a hotfolder may be used to drop our csv into?). All of the jobs are loaded into Fiery, proofed and saved in the Hold folder ready to go. The issue is clicking on all or some of the hundred plus different files each day and then setting the quantites and hitting print...all of this is suited for a spreadsheet, which our Multichannel Retail Software spits out with needed items.

It appears that Fiery Job TIcket (JobFlow) may be an option? This seems to be such an easy thing to do that I cant believe there isnt a straight forward solution...or at least one that we can find. The JobFlow option looks to require an FTP, but also would require some additional changes on in our software to spit out something it would recognize, mainly related to the file name. It also looks like you would need to reprocess the file each time?

You're welcome. No, you don't need an FTP server for JobFlow to use the JobFlow ticket feature. When you install JobFlow Base (the free version) you can look at a number of sample workflows in JobFlow Library at Fiery JobFlow. The ticket sample workflow is the "multi-job merge" sample.

 

[bcr]

Fiery JobFlow product manager here. You can use the free Fiery JobFlow Base. It's a workflow solution that accepts CSV tickets where you can define file location and quantity. If you want I can set you up with the next version of JobFlow Base which has significant improvements to that feature. More info at JobFlow Ticket | JobFlow Cookbook

this is interesting. are there any other beta programs or 'cookbook' type sites for other aspects of CWS - particuarly Jobmaster?

 

[Mega]

Just following up on our solution. I ended up using ChatGPT to create a script to take the output of our OMS in csv format and send the title and quantity to Jobflow to process. PDFs of all skus are held in a file on our network for the script to pull from. Now we are able to set up hundreds of jobs in milliseconds instead of hours. We have also used ChatGPT to create a system that takes PDF shipping label output from our OMS, impose it on a custom additional cover and, by using an identifier printed on the shipping label, correctly print the correct item for the customer in one operation. Product comes out the end of the printer and only needs to be sealed in clear packaging and it is ready to ship. Saves many hours of pick and pack. We did spend about $150 on custom programming to create a simpler UI for this, but well worth it. For those that have not used ChatGPT, I fully recommend it (Perplexity and others) for programming like this. I havent programmed since grade school but was able to get these problems solved relatively simply.