Digital Presses Need Automated Workflows

Stephen Beals
November 25, 2008

http://www.graphicartsonline.com/blog/660000666/post/1240037124.html

Part of the reason digital presses are making such a large impact in the marketplace is not merely because they are very productive and extraordinarily good at handling the shorter and shorter print runs print providers must supply. The biggest reason they are so productive is the small third party software providers who add value to these machines.

Automation is an absolute necessity to feed digital workflows. The next job has to be ready in the queue to keep the machine running. That makes the software that controls the machine every bit as important as the machine itself. True, manufacturers have put a lot of work into the workflows and interfaces for their machines, but a lot of the credit really does go to third party developers. After all the best machine manufacturers are engineering experts. They know how to make toner and the best way to provide for heat disappation and how to construct a sensor that can figure out how to detect and elminate doubles for just about any kind of stock. Those are no mean feats!

But they are, to be honest, not software gurus. They rely heavily on little companies to provide great software to keep the machines running day-to-day. Not that they don't develop their own, some do. But there are a large number of very small software developers whose efforts can be detected at the heart of just about every digital press out there.

Of course there are also small developers working on the pre-press end of the process, putting together plug-ins and Xtensions, hot folders and imposition systems, PDF editing tools and color calibration systems.

Printers who want to make the most of their digital presses are wise to investigate the wide variety of tools that will make their companies - and their presses - more productive.

http://www.graphicartsonline.com/blog/660000666/post/1240037124.html

SB