Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

[macdudeken]

can anyone tell me exactly what these sales guys from Kodak mean when they say "Prinergy is the ONLY fully automated workflow available today"

I use Rampage and as far as I can tell, it IS fully automated!

MDK

 

[RoyalToad]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I thought Prinergy was birthed by CREO which was sucked into the customer service bowels of "Great Yellow Father" Kodak.

I worked with the CREO Prinergy workflow in a flexo shop -- the workflow portion of the programming works great -- the system I worked on still utilized DAT tape storage which was miserably flawed and data/tape destruction and loss were a common headache.

Make sure you do your homework, and tell whomever writes the check, to make sure not to skimp on storage and archiving -- otherwise, plan on adding words like "CATASTROPHIC DATA LOSS" to your vocabulary.

There is also Brisque (also courtesy of Kodak/CREO) and FreeFlow (Xerox) -- I am not familiar with either of these though.

 

[Vee]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Ask them to clearly define "fully automated workflow".... then prepare for the spillage of BS! ; )

 

[Cory Smith]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

yeah, I would be curious to know what does and doesn't qualify for a "fully automated workflow"

 

[Mark]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Actually Brisque is a dead product as of 2011. And it was Scitex Creo Kodak.
I find it hard to believe in their claim of the only fully automated workflow. Check for small print that says "*from a company that begins with K-o-d-a"

 

[macdudeken]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I'll let you know what he says....
It wasn't my idea to have him come in because I'm all over Rampage.

Just wanted to hear what others had to say. One comment from another user here on Printplanet:
"yeah, I could have a designer drop in a PDF into my apogee setup and output a plate. It may not be right, but it would be fully automated"

 

[RiotMac]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I think by fully automated they mean you can use their Rules-Based Automation "scripts" to pretty much automate every action of the workflow.

I don't want to start the whole which workflow is best debate, but I have used Rampage and Prinergy and I can say with 100% confidence that Prinergy is better.

 

[macdudeken]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Yes, AFAIK, scripts work with Rampage as well, which means Prinergy is NOT the only "fully automated workflow' out there.

agreed- I don't need to get into which is better either, but I would like to know why "Prinergy is better"

 

[SteveAgfa]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Indeed - you may wish to have them define "automated".

For years now, Agfa's Apogee can process files submitted
from an MIS system. Agfa has certified JDF interconnectivity
with over 20 MIS systems on the market. And, considering
our new Apogee Portal product (nee Delano), the "workflow"
can be in a closet, only interfaced when problem files get
popped-out of the stream.

Regards,

 

[RoyalToad]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

In our shop "Fully Automated" is defined by how long it takes someone to drop a project headache in the pre-press department so as to insure that no one else is responsible when something gets wadded up anywhere else. :0

 

[jardo]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Prinergy is a fully automated system when you have all your ducks in a row. They provide several good canned automated scripts that most tech savvy people can figure out in a reasonable amount of time. If you are willing to use the canned scripts for most of your work, then you will be very satisfied. If you want to do anything out side of the cookie cutter scripts, then be prepared to do some Visual Basics program scripting. It will do anything you want, as long as you have a person on hand, and available, to customize your scripts with VB. The more cumbersome your workflow, the more VB editing you will have to do. I worked for a company that had a different way of doing each job, which made it very hard to automate anything. You have to have customers, sales reps, and production planners all involved in making it work efficiently, otherwise it just another really cool PR thing for he printer to say to say, "We can fully automate your workflow" blah blah blah.

 

[John Clifford]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I'd like to hear from those who are using Artworks workflow products. I've been really impressed the their ability to deal with PDF files. As the parent company of Enfocus, they're the only company that really has good native PDF editing functionality that I've seen. All other workflows suggest that you use Pitstop, or have licensed Pitstop. Artworks' Neo product is amazing for being able to do things with a PDF file that make it look like a Quark or InDesign application. Now if I could only convince one of my client's to use it (I've been working on them for quite a while).

Oh, and it's also fully automated with a very nice drag and drop UI.

Edited by: John Clifford on Jun 5, 2008 1:18 PM

 

[kaiserwilhelm]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I took a demo of Artwork at GraphExpo 07.
I was impressed - until the machine died. OK, that is normal.
Then, they had to boot up. I SWEAR to you there were 30-35 icons that had to open
up along the bottom of OSX to get things running.
Just kind of hit me strange. Why not have 5 programs open with 6-7 items running in each?

 

[Joe]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

I use Nexus for the time being. I say for the time being because it is NOT automated the way we need it to be where a client can submit the file to the workflow and get feedback as to whether it passed preflight and if it did a softproof back they can view over the internet using a standard web browser.

NEO is a separate product from Nexus. Nexus uses Pitstop technology in their PDF tools which I've been testing and not completely satisfied with.

 

[kaiserwilhelm]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Have you thought about PowerSwitch? We have it and love it.
Tough sell for $7,000 or so, but for the people who are in the trenches
day in and day out it is invaluable.
We use it along with Trueflow (hot folders) and also Trueflow use of .eal files.
I basically have it setup to do a poor man's Pitstop Server.

 

[PDL]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

The thought that any of the major prepress workflow providers representative would state that theirs is the ONLY fully automatic workflow is like Chrysler saying theirs are the only automobiles that can get you from home to the Grand Canyon and back.

A fully automatic workflow is only that given your actually production situation/processes, and the tools that a workflow system can provide for you. The stronger the tools, the more flexibility the system has for you, the better the chance that you can build something that adds full automation to your process.

Before I head off on my ride to the canyon I'm going to choose the right vehicle for my situation. I am going to compare performance, reliability, cost of ownership, frequency of repair, what optional equipment I may need, upgradability, quality of service from my dealership, ease of operation, and a dozen more things.
Look. Compare. Kick the tires.

Me?, I'd drive an Esko. Fully loaded with JDF/MIS integration, colour management, multiple outputs, and yes, workflow automation tools.

It comes in a killer bright green package; and purr's like a kitten.

 

[ar17]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

i both run Prinergy and Scope... i'll go for scope for ease of use, functionality and RELIABILTY...

 

[Vee]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Me.. I'd drive a Heidelberg. Why?
HEI tech, HEI performance, HEI reliability, awesome service/support, I could go on and on. The best screening available on the market. It has a sweet blue package, and roars like a lion!

 

[ajr]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

Won't automation put most of us out of a job?

AjR

 

[macdudeken]

Re: Prinergy the ONLY fully automated workflow??

<Won't automation put most of us out of a job?>

No fear whatsoever. I don't care HOW automated a system is, 95% of designers (or anyone supplying files for printing) supply files FAR FROM "print ready" (which is a term the owner here LOVES to use). This requires a qualified technician to properly prepare (or recreate!) the files BEFORE the automation part of the process!

Here's the thing with salespeople selling workflow options- since it's cutthroat out there, they sell options "fully automated" in order to simply use less operators which in turn saves the company money. Face it, many top workflow systems out there are pretty close as far as cost, reliability, tech support, etc, so the cost savings using less employees is the only sales point left for them to use!!! At this point, the BEAN COUNTERS eyes light up and the SHARK, er, I mean sales rep, smells blood....

Message boards like this are very important to people like us to stay a step ahead in situations such as this.....

MDK