What are the key ideas for achieving greater efficiency in prepress?

[LoweringTheBar]

Forget automation... think standardization!

One way prepress can improve layout mistakes is to standardize layout temples so that everyone isn't recreating the wheel every time a 12pg book gets run on a 19x25. Standardizing templates prevents stupid human errors like forgetting color bars or crop marks, but they are less effective if you have a thousand templates because everyone in the shop has a different idea of how a job should run.

"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from."
Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Communication and education are essential for those who WANT to learn. However, prepress typically communicates better than any department in a print shop due to their proximity and relative quiet work environment. Front office communication is practically non-existent except for an occasional sales meeting which always involves lies about work that's bound to come in soon and plenty of donut consumption.

Why can't sales people communicate to a client the concept that a high res color proof is a "reference" for color and not a perfect match to a press sheet? Why can't a sales rep communicate to a client that their color proof from a desktop printer purchased from Best Buy isn't accurate and won't match a press sheet?

Ask CSRs why business cards get printed on every sheet size from 4.25x5.5" up to 20x28", and why a rerun of 24pg book has been printed on 6 different sheets sizes of the same stock in the past 6 months? Why would 3 different CSR's all layout the same job for a different press, different sheet size, different vendor, etc.? Where's the communication before the job even gets to prepress? By the way, how many CSRs or estimators do you see on PrintPlanet trying to improve their knowledge base?

Why does it always fall on prepress to work harder, make fewer mistakes and then see a coworker get laid off after showing improved efficiency? Automation has serious limitations with custom manufacturing, but it's like a managerial salt lick for people with no idea what goes on in prepress. "Automation will solve that problem..." (lick, lick, lick) "Yea baby, automation good!" (lick, lick)

I'm afraid that the quote from Henry David Thoreau was intended specifically for the printing industry. "Men have become the tools of their tools." Oh well, I've been called worse.

 

[mattbeals]

I absolutely agree with standardization as the first step.To me, for automation to achieve maximum benefit there has to be an amount of standardization. Otherwise the systems become too complex and difficult to maintain which leads to confusion and a bigger mess than you started with. As a shop you have to look at the overall encompassing workflow of the shop. From there you look at the different stages and standardize what you can. Once you have that you can begin to really understand how jobs flow into and out of the shop and departments. Now that you have that you can identify what is common, what is repeatable and what is an exception. You build the system around those parameters. If done well you end up with a system that facilitates more efficient work and better communication. And that's what we're all looking for in this. These are the systems I work with clients to build using a holistic approach to the overall workflow, not just prepress. There's a bigger workflow out there that needs to be addressed and prepress is only one part of it. Enfocus PowerSWTICH is the only product out there that allows you to glue all of those pieces together. It's not just a matter of plugging in the software, you have to have a plan to maximize the benefit of automation.

 

[pcmodem]

Having knowledgeable people in ALL areas of the company is just part of what you need in employees. You also need detail oriented and people who think outside the box as well.

Greater efficiency can happen from innovative ideas. These ideas are ones your company can implement through procedures, building your own software, or submitting Feature Requests to software companies.

 

[seitz]

efficiency in prepress ...

efficiency in prepress ...

we've installed an automated colormanagement workflow in several big prepress houses. At the Repros for the IKEA productions e.g. we've reduced the retouching work by approx 70 %.
Other prepress houses, working for fashion catalogues and magazines are just installing...
see: ColorMaster in a Box: GMGColor
No more image should be retouched in CMYK any more and once you've got an RGB image ready, this runs through automized adjustment for whatever printing condition you need.

 

[telenow2002]

Analysis

Analysis

Ok well I think everyone has conributed some good stuff here, but the very first part of making any change is to analyse where your ineffiencies are, then target where improvements can be made. All of that then marries up with what Eggy listed.

 

[Wim-Esko]

Zoom out

Zoom out

I mainly agree with what Matt stated, specifically the ending paragraph: Zoom out and look at the bigger business process in your company. In 2009, this is a must: yes within the prepress department there are enough tools out there to automate it to the extreme ; it's time for a next weapon / survival trick.

Zoom out and you quickly see it's also never been about pretty pages or packs, but about money. Prepress automation is by now obvious. the next step is to integrate prepress production with admin (MIS/ERP): Get those specs of what prepress needs to be doing in automatically (digital) and make sure you feed back to the admin/CSRs equally automatically (digital). And indeed do no start these projects before you had a look a the bigger picture. Do not automate a bad process.

From a historical view point, the main automation to work on in prepress today (for business reasons) is the automation *of* the information.

 

[eastppress]

As for increasing communication, two specifics that should be employed:
a) create standard procedures that everyone (sales and manufacturing) agrees are to be used (in the absence of specific instructions that may vary from the standard procedures).
b) get clear instructions from sales/customer service/job planning with prepress management overseeing conferences on jobs that are complex, a series that crosses shifts/days/weeks, or 'special attention' customers/sales reps/CSR's

 

[MJNC]

spelling and grammar

spelling and grammar

Hi all;
I hate to be bitchy and redundant about this (yeah...) BUT! As I read through all of the posts in this thread alone; part of the time I cannot even understand what someone’s point is!
All of these clearly intelligent people who have taken the time to express their opinions CLEARLY do not re-read what they’ve written before hitting the “submit” button. I find it hard to take life-saving advice from anyone who cannot string a complete thought together (not to mention with even somewhat proper punctuation).
I do not mean that you need to be an English Major! BUT! I know when you proof things sent to you by designers and other clients, your critical eye catches every little detail that might be incorrect. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE SAME CRITICAL EYE FOR YOUR OWN MISTAKES, how is anyone supposed to take your advice as that of a professional? I know it is sometimes difficult to catch your own mistakes because you made them and you are perfect. But we all should, at least, try.
That bit of advice alone can help any prepress situation evolve to a higher level.
I am done bitching now - because other than that, PrintPlanet Rocks.
Peace to the PrintPlanet!
_mjnc

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE SAME CRITICAL EYE FOR YOUR OWN MISTAKES, how is anyone supposed to take your advice as that of a professional? I know it is sometimes difficult to catch your own mistakes because you made them and you are perfect. But we all should, at least, try.
That bit of advice alone can help any prepress situation evolve to a higher level.
I am done bitching now - because other than that, PrintPlanet Rocks

The answer is as you say that we are all professionals, but in different fields. I would think that today we do not judge thoughts by their cover or intelligence by grammar. I was brought up in Brittish school where the view you express was even more extreeme. Ask yourself how many times have you been fooled by finely written language that seduces you to believe a total lie. Please let the ideas stand for themselves and not be judged by spelling… if there are issues that you don't understand I would say the polite thing is to ask for clarification, or private message the person.

I have had days I have feelt very bad due to some proof reader that laughs out loud at my spelling. Even in this format of communication I can sometimes refrain from saying, what I want, or feels needs to be said due to the fear of being laughed at.

Remember some of us didn't choose to work with words…actually we chose to move away from words to form and colour and maths… but then we end up with having to proof. Those that do not have problems with spelling don't feel the suppression they impose on those who struggle.

I feel your point, but please be generous to others. It is so easy to judge by spelling because it is easy to measure. Knowledge is more difficult to judge, and so often we think that correctness of spelling implies correctness of knowledge. This may be true in a processed text. This is not true in a forum where every expressed thought is straight from the source. (Or are you offering to proof read all our posts?)

I am sorry I cannot write this post objecively (if there is such a thing) or if you think that it is unprofessional to have feelings (ie hurt). General bitchyness usually hurts much more than honest specific questions for clarification. I hope the thoughts are expressed adequately eloquently and that you can follow

 

[suzyb1078]

PDFs and such

PDFs and such

I would say this has helped us with the changes in types of file submissions and such:

1. Attention to detail! To me this has been huge. Nothing worse than people being lazy when checking files or proofs.

2. Software to work with PDFs. We get about 90% of our jobs as PDFs now. While they come from many different sources, we receive PDFs in the end. Working with softwares such as PitStop and Imposal (imposition software) have saved us. Both these have been much better than what we have used in the past and our workflow has been much smoother and so much faster!

3. Dependability. We have had more success with people who are computer savvy and less program specific savvy (trained design) who are dependable and willing to learn than we have with people who are trained in the field, coming in thinking they know how to do everything and being undependable. Of course, you can get a mix of both, but regardless, dependability has been a must.

 

[suzyb1078]

Forget automation... think standardization!

One way prepress can improve layout mistakes is to standardize layout temples so that everyone isn't recreating the wheel every time a 12pg book gets run on a 19x25. Standardizing templates prevents stupid human errors like forgetting color bars or crop marks, but they are less effective if you have a thousand templates because everyone in the shop has a different idea of how a job should run.
QUOTE]


I agree. We have standardized a lot of our setup and everyone knows how many outs for what and always add crop marks, this much gutter, etc. We have all the same programs on each computer and we can save our imposition templates from Imposal on our server for prepress to pull from to make everything match. We don't have a lot of templates either, you don't want a mess. The more standardized, the easier to catch errors.

 

[MJNC]

Ok Lukas;
Yesterday sucked. Today is already shaping up to be just as fun.
I have to agree with you that general bitchiness is counter-productive.
You know how- when you pick up the Sunday paper grocery ads and all you see is how bad the registration is? Or when you look at your kids’ school books, the page numbers are all in different places? Its a curse. And with me, that curse extends to spelling and grammar.
All I wanted to suggest is that folks re-read their own stuff before posting it.
Have a good day.
_mjnc

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

@MJNC, Glad ur having a better day

Oh and to contribute to the thread at hand:
When you get a rush job go extra slow, a rush job is riskier and no time for questions at press or reprints.
Don't let CSR's do the planning or force the queue.
Try to ask the client all the questions at the start: If you leave the questions unasked you may end up having to take risks or fix stuff without getting paid (or thanked) for it.

Be humble and don't forget to thank people even if it is for doing their job.

And remember to smile

 

[swcook6]

Most of you say that Communication is a top priority. What have you done, or are doing to improve it?

best, gordon p

Communication has to be driven from the top down. Prepress cannot force sales or customer service to communicate. Sales and customer service must be convinced that proper communication will make their jobs process more easily and be more profitable and then they need to act on it.
Unfortunately, turnaround schedules do not permit pushing back on poorly submitted materials although that is what should happen.

 

[MJNC]

Communication has to be driven from the top down. Prepress cannot force sales or customer service to communicate. Sales and customer service must be convinced that proper communication will make their jobs process more easily and be more profitable and then they need to act on it.
Unfortunately, turnaround schedules do not permit pushing back on poorly submitted materials although that is what should happen.

The real truth here is that when certain details about a job are not furnished, the prepress person has no reason to believe that anything is missing. To get around that, I do the following:
1) When at a production meeting about any particular job, I take really good notes. This often causes everyone - including plant manager - to wait for me to catch up a bit...
2) I number each point, and put the same number on a Post-It on current live proof;
3) Then I go over the issues, point-by-point with sales and CSR present to make sure I have all of the info correct;
4) Then, I make copies of the notes and the numbered proof for myself, CSR, and salesperson.

Often, following these steps helps those involved to say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about this...”; which is the whole idea. What it also does is tell everyone, “I will address every issue on this list according to notes and proof. If, in review, you find something else that needs attention, the sooner you let me know, the better it will be for all of us.”
I know it sounds really petty, and I envy those who never had to create such a procedure to cover thine own ass. What really sucks is when the CSR or salesperson DID leave out important details, and I am on everyone’s shit list for forgetting what I never was told in the 1st place. As posted earlier, the bigger the rush on a job, the less time there is for re-do’s; so getting all of the details right becomes even more important.
Hope this helps.
Peace to the PrintPlanet!!
_mjnc