MIS/Workflow for Indigo, Screen CTP, Fiery, and Prisma

[arossetti]

I'm looking for a workflow solution that will push to a Indigo, a Xerox color press with a fiery DFE, an Oce black ink with a Prisma DFE, and to a Screen CTP for a half sheet press and a duplicator. It would need to be a JDF workflow to push stock and job specs to all 3 digital presses and imposition to a cutter.

It also needs to be able to do multi page programing for book jobs with tabs and multiple stocks that will be ran on the Xerox or Oce. And it should interact seemlessly with an estimating/ticketing/accounting software.

Any thoughts? Or any solution for bridging all of these workflows (offset, digital, multi page digital)?

This problem is only 90% clear in my head so if I didn't provide enough information let me know.

 

[rich apollo]

Are you looking for the MIS/job ticketing solution, or something to connect your existing system with the various facets of your workflow?

 

[arossetti]

Are you looking for the MIS/job ticketing solution, or something to connect your existing system with the various facets of your workflow?

We are acquiring a company which is allowing us to either merge current MIS/job ticketing software and also workflow software.

We currently use PDF/Pitstop for color work and Xerox MakeReady for black ink multipage work. The other company focuses on offset and uses trueflow. They have a MIS and so do we. So we are looking for a way to combine all of these separate entities into one solution.

 

[rich apollo]

Can't comment much on MIS systems.

You have a scenario in which I think you could see some efficiencies from implementing Switch, but I'm not sure if that's the question you're asking.

 

[MGB_LE]

This is an interesting thread because we operate pretty much the same: PDF/Pitstop for digital color, Xerox Makereasy for digital b/w, and Trueflow for offset. Kodak Prinergy comes to mind, but I'm not certain about the cutter portion. Keep us updated.

 

[arossetti]

This is an interesting threads because we operate pretty much the same: PDF/Pitstop for digital color, Xerox Makereasy for digital b/w, and Trueflow for offset. Kodak Prinergy comes to mind, but I'm not certain about the cutter portion. Keep us updated.

Well we purchased Pace as our new MIS. Still trying to figure out the prepress workflow.

 

[MacTwidget]

I'm looking for a workflow solution that will push to a Indigo, a Xerox color press with a fiery DFE, an Oce black ink with a Prisma DFE, and to a Screen CTP for a half sheet press and a duplicator. It would need to be a JDF workflow to push stock and job specs to all 3 digital presses and imposition to a cutter.

It also needs to be able to do multi page programing for book jobs with tabs and multiple stocks that will be ran on the Xerox or Oce. And it should interact seemlessly with an estimating/ticketing/accounting software.

Any thoughts? Or any solution for bridging all of these workflows (offset, digital, multi page digital)?

This problem is only 90% clear in my head so if I didn't provide enough information let me know.

We are in the process of Implementing PressWise along with Enfocus Switch/Pitstop Pro Server for this very purpose.

 

[Johu]

Well if you already have Trueflow my suggestion would be to upgrade that to Equios. Equios shares some similarities with Trueflow in regards to tickets (meaning the settings for output options) but has otherwise totally redesigned GUI. Since Screen is nowadays also a manufacturer of POD machines and largeformat printers Equios has been designed to feed them all. It also has Pitstop server build in, so you can use your existing profiles and pitstop actions automatically in a hotfolder or a job. The imposition is mostly based on on JDF so the whole JDF catalogue is already in the system as well as it can take in and even edit JDF impositions.

Most of the impositions can be automated. Meaning that you can build a set of impositions for example a set of B1 impositions of 16p, 8p and 4p set and based on the pages your job has it will only use the ones necessary. Again for example 40page job would be 2x16p and an 8p imposition. So you don't need to do the full sets as in Flatworker/Trueflow. This saves alot of trouble when doing the impositions. The latest version of Equios can import most of the impositions from Flatworker even though they share almost nothing in common. Also impositions for different sizes of pages are mostly unnecessary as everything will scale according to the page size you set for your job.

Jobs can also have different impositions in different stages of the job. For example if you want to proof a magazine with POD device you can have an imposition for a booklet to go to your DFE and after that an imposition for your CTP.

As you already have experience with Trueflow it helps partly because the tickets are familiar and since there is an upgrade route to Equios the price is also quite affordable compared to buying a totally new system. Equios is also very open to MIS in regards to JDF sent from the MIS.

 

[[email protected]]

CSS Group specializes in integrating MIS systems with our Graphics Management tools and reads/writes JDF files compatible with the high end Layout systems like Prinetergy, Prinect, AE12, Impostrip, Phoenix...etc. and PDF editors like Pitstop. Translating Pace jobs into XML, JDF, or using ODBC to connect the dots with a full featured tool kit and dashboard to "automate" the process

 

[Zmeushgo]

I'm looking for a workflow solution that will push to a Indigo, a Xerox color press with a fiery DFE, an Oce black ink with a Prisma DFE, and to a Screen CTP for a half sheet press and a duplicator.

​I know only one prepress workflow software who able to work with all your digital presses - Indigo with their DFE, Xerox with Fiery DFE, Oce black with Prisma DFE and to work with Screen CTP for a half sheet press (I think it's Screen PTR-4x00). Sorry, I don't know much for duplicators and can't say something usefull about working with them.

It would need to be a JDF workflow to push stock and job specs to all 3 digital presses and imposition to a cutter.

This prepress workflow also can generate data files for сutter optimization software like Polar Mohr CompuCut. As a JDF-enabled prepress workflow it can drive all your digital presses pushing stock and job specifications.

It also needs to be able to do multi page programing for book jobs with tabs and multiple stocks that will be ran on the Xerox or Oce.

This prepress software has built-in quite enough functional imposition tool who able to work with such book jobs.


And the name of this is Agfa Apogee Prepress. You can find more info at - https://apogee.agfa.net.

(Disclaimer. I'm not Agfa dealer or seller of this software.)

And it should interact seemlessly with an estimating/ticketing/accounting software.

For now it's a big dream but just a dream Any modern prepress workflow software "from the box" just JDF-enabled and can't integrate seamlessly with any MIS "from the box". You always have to spend some time and money for integration your MIS with your prepress workflow. Yes, vendors can have some general integration solutions like Esko Automation Engine - QBF Aramis but it's just helps you in any case need to adopt this general solution for specific needs of your working process.