January 6, 2009
An analyst from New Zeland, commented on my blog "Digital Presses Need Automated Workflows" from a link on Print Junkie. "Now that industry is under intense pressure, (will) we finally see print companies step outside their comfort zones and look to workflow automation to reduce costs, eliminate errors and add valuable new services? Will 2009 be the year of change?"
May I be so bold as to proclaim that 2009 (and 2010) will indeed be marked by a rapid increase in digital print automation. And our analyst friend has itemized the fundamental reason it will happen: It has to.
Print providers can't afford not to, because those who invest the rather small price of automating their workflows will be taking away the customers of those who do not. That's a very strong motivator.
There was a time when it was fair to question whether a investment in automation would pay off. It would be overstating the case to state that this is no longer a legitimate concern. But the software and hardware needed to make automation systems that work have matured. While they have matured, their price has declined dramatically. Competition has also forced developers to look toward mainstreaming their product lines instead of looking for a small but lucrative customer base. If others folks can build the same workflow for less money, there is little incentive to stick with higher-priced vendors.
A decade ago, large expensive, powerful and proprietary workflows the likes of Scitex Brisque dominated the marketplace. The Brisque is one of the few that has survived. Of course Scitex did not survive: the Brisque is now one of many Kodak workflow products. And Kodak markets it as a system that is modular and plays nice with as many players as possible. Creo - which for a brief period of time was CreoScitex and is now known as Print on Demand Solutions, Kodak IL - still develops color servers for many players using the slogan, "You Select, we connect."
Ironically, the URL "Scitex.com" is now, "Your one-stop Bulgarian real estate service for buying property in Bulgaria - apartment, house, land, office, hotel or other Bulgarian properties for sale." Try it if you don't believe me.
We're seeing a trend: make your software compatible with everything out there and price it so folks without mega-budgets can afford it.
That means small players and hybrid workflows are becoming more and more popular routes for entering the world of automation, and that is a trend I see as rapidly accelerating over the next several months.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Picture is Worth the Price of a Service Call
December 22, 2008
Mutoh America Inc., a manufacturer of wide format printers, announced that beginning January 1st, 2009, webcams will ship with each Mutoh printer. The company says the cameras will allow visual communication for Mutoh customers when working with their dealers to reduce idle time that can occur when diagnosing issues.
Webcams have certainly come down in price, and we doubt that adding one to the rather high-end printers Mutoh is known for will add more than a pittance to their manufacturing costs, but we're betting they get a lot of use. Not that Mutoh printers are prone to breaking down, which we're sure they're not, but these days there are many machines being run by folks who simply aren't well versied in either graphic arts or machine maintenance. And even the best of machines won't perform well if they are operating under the wrong settings.
Mutoh hinted at this in their press release. “Often times, maintenance, workflow, RIP, and application settings create undesirable output that visual communication can detect and resolve – reducing customer down time” said Mutoh’s Customer Service Manager, Mike Bisson.
That's a nice way of saying "we can't help it if you don't know how to follow directions." They didn't say that: I did.
It is a growing concern for developers of hardware and software. The customer base seems to be getting less and less procifient at basic language skills. Most of us don't like to read manuals in the first place, but it seems as though some of our new machine operators may not have the skills to do so in the first place. That may be something to talk to teachers and school funding agencies about, but print service providers have to work in the real world. In the real world, employee capabilities are lacking.
So it would seem the webcams should be a good idea. Tech support technicians can have a look for themselves at how things are set up, and it's certainly cheaper to install a webcam than create and implement and update diagnostic software which may not tell you what you need to know anyway.
With the web cam you can have the operator point to the outlet to see if the thing is plugged in.
Problem solved.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 22, 2008
December 22, 2008
Mutoh America Inc., a manufacturer of wide format printers, announced that beginning January 1st, 2009, webcams will ship with each Mutoh printer. The company says the cameras will allow visual communication for Mutoh customers when working with their dealers to reduce idle time that can occur when diagnosing issues.
Webcams have certainly come down in price, and we doubt that adding one to the rather high-end printers Mutoh is known for will add more than a pittance to their manufacturing costs, but we're betting they get a lot of use. Not that Mutoh printers are prone to breaking down, which we're sure they're not, but these days there are many machines being run by folks who simply aren't well versied in either graphic arts or machine maintenance. And even the best of machines won't perform well if they are operating under the wrong settings.
Mutoh hinted at this in their press release. “Often times, maintenance, workflow, RIP, and application settings create undesirable output that visual communication can detect and resolve – reducing customer down time” said Mutoh’s Customer Service Manager, Mike Bisson.
That's a nice way of saying "we can't help it if you don't know how to follow directions." They didn't say that: I did.
It is a growing concern for developers of hardware and software. The customer base seems to be getting less and less procifient at basic language skills. Most of us don't like to read manuals in the first place, but it seems as though some of our new machine operators may not have the skills to do so in the first place. That may be something to talk to teachers and school funding agencies about, but print service providers have to work in the real world. In the real world, employee capabilities are lacking.
So it would seem the webcams should be a good idea. Tech support technicians can have a look for themselves at how things are set up, and it's certainly cheaper to install a webcam than create and implement and update diagnostic software which may not tell you what you need to know anyway.
With the web cam you can have the operator point to the outlet to see if the thing is plugged in.
Problem solved.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Will Apple's Absence Hurt Print Developers?
December 19, 2008
Steve Jobs will not show up at MacWorld next months. Bad news for MacWorld's parent company IDG, but probably no serious loss for developers. Although a few print industry software developers still show up at MacWorld, they are largely those who either have a consumer focus, or (like Adobe, are big enough to play in both the professional and consumer marketplaces.
No doubt Jobs' absence will hurt turnout, as will Apple's decision to pull out completely next year. And for the little guys who are not print-focused that could be very bad news. But it has been a long time since consumer desktop publishing had a major voice at MacWorld. Today it's mostly music and video and, more recently, iPhone developers. Does anyone go to MacWorld to check out the latest in tools for print production? I'd be skeptical.
One of the realities of the print industry is that it has truly become platform agnostic. A lot of folks still prefer to do design and prep work on Macs, but the increased ability of Macs and PC's to "play nice" together has made such a preference just that: a preference.
Apple's switch to a Unix based OS a few years back has added to the interoperability of programs accross platforms. And even though Microsoft's notorious problems with Vista has allowed Apple to maintain a lot of their share in the print marketplace, most printers have simply opted not to upgrade to Vista, finding their servers work perfectly fine without the bells and whistles and system crashes of Vista.
We'd love to hear from the developers of printing tools for all platforms and get their take on the MacWorld announcement. My guess is it will be a stifled yawn.
The one concern that could have an impact: this announcement feeds into the media frenzy about Jobs' health. But that would only explain the disappearing act this year and not the pull out from Macworld in the future.
December 19, 2008
Steve Jobs will not show up at MacWorld next months. Bad news for MacWorld's parent company IDG, but probably no serious loss for developers. Although a few print industry software developers still show up at MacWorld, they are largely those who either have a consumer focus, or (like Adobe, are big enough to play in both the professional and consumer marketplaces.
No doubt Jobs' absence will hurt turnout, as will Apple's decision to pull out completely next year. And for the little guys who are not print-focused that could be very bad news. But it has been a long time since consumer desktop publishing had a major voice at MacWorld. Today it's mostly music and video and, more recently, iPhone developers. Does anyone go to MacWorld to check out the latest in tools for print production? I'd be skeptical.
One of the realities of the print industry is that it has truly become platform agnostic. A lot of folks still prefer to do design and prep work on Macs, but the increased ability of Macs and PC's to "play nice" together has made such a preference just that: a preference.
Apple's switch to a Unix based OS a few years back has added to the interoperability of programs accross platforms. And even though Microsoft's notorious problems with Vista has allowed Apple to maintain a lot of their share in the print marketplace, most printers have simply opted not to upgrade to Vista, finding their servers work perfectly fine without the bells and whistles and system crashes of Vista.
We'd love to hear from the developers of printing tools for all platforms and get their take on the MacWorld announcement. My guess is it will be a stifled yawn.
The one concern that could have an impact: this announcement feeds into the media frenzy about Jobs' health. But that would only explain the disappearing act this year and not the pull out from Macworld in the future.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Lowering the Margin for Error
December 16, 2008
“Profit margins are not the only things being squeezed in this challenging business environment: so is the margin for error.” That point was made in an article in the NAPL Business Review recently, and it ought to be every printer’s battle cry in these tough times.
It doesn’t mean we can eliminate errors. But it does mean we need to set up business practices that make errors less likely to occur. We can’t eliminate human imperfection, but we can set up systems that detect mistakes before they become costly. The further along in the process an error is caught, the more expensive it is to fix.
One approach to accomplishing that is to cut down on the number of times opportunities for errors present themselves. It is often said the fewer times you have human intervention, the fewer mistakes will be made. But, much more to the point, the system itself needs to be configured so human error is simply less likely to occur. The truth is, limiting human intervention also means limiting the opportunities to catch mistakes.
That means making instructions explicit and simple. And it means everything needs to be done in such a way that everything must be double checked. For example, it may mean the entry of numerical values should always be cross-referenced and double checked. Figures that are out of the normal ranges should automatically pop out and require approval. It’s not enough to tell a CSR or pre-press technician or cutter operator to double check their work: the cross-checking needs to be built into the process. Increasingly, software for print production is designed to errors are caught automatically and anything beyond the normal needs to be approved before it can go forward.
A simple example of this approach is found in pre-flighting software. Markzware’s flight-check can be set to toss out any files that appear to be problematic and require a technician to intervene before the job can continue. Enfocus PitStop can be set up not to only reject files with elements like hairline rules and unflattened transparency, but it can also fix such flaws automatically.
On the Printing Tools site, there are a number of solutions for lowering the margin for error for printers. Check it out at PRINTING TOOLS.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 15, 2008
December 16, 2008
“Profit margins are not the only things being squeezed in this challenging business environment: so is the margin for error.” That point was made in an article in the NAPL Business Review recently, and it ought to be every printer’s battle cry in these tough times.
It doesn’t mean we can eliminate errors. But it does mean we need to set up business practices that make errors less likely to occur. We can’t eliminate human imperfection, but we can set up systems that detect mistakes before they become costly. The further along in the process an error is caught, the more expensive it is to fix.
One approach to accomplishing that is to cut down on the number of times opportunities for errors present themselves. It is often said the fewer times you have human intervention, the fewer mistakes will be made. But, much more to the point, the system itself needs to be configured so human error is simply less likely to occur. The truth is, limiting human intervention also means limiting the opportunities to catch mistakes.
That means making instructions explicit and simple. And it means everything needs to be done in such a way that everything must be double checked. For example, it may mean the entry of numerical values should always be cross-referenced and double checked. Figures that are out of the normal ranges should automatically pop out and require approval. It’s not enough to tell a CSR or pre-press technician or cutter operator to double check their work: the cross-checking needs to be built into the process. Increasingly, software for print production is designed to errors are caught automatically and anything beyond the normal needs to be approved before it can go forward.
A simple example of this approach is found in pre-flighting software. Markzware’s flight-check can be set to toss out any files that appear to be problematic and require a technician to intervene before the job can continue. Enfocus PitStop can be set up not to only reject files with elements like hairline rules and unflattened transparency, but it can also fix such flaws automatically.
On the Printing Tools site, there are a number of solutions for lowering the margin for error for printers. Check it out at PRINTING TOOLS.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Markzware Releases ID2Q Upgrade
December 4, 2008
Markzware (www.markzware.com), a developer of preflighting, data extraction and conversion software today released an upgrade to its conversion tool Q2ID (QuarkXPress To InDesign). This new version boasts full plugin support for Adobe InDesign CS3 and CS4 and converts QuarkXPress versions 3.3 through 8. Q2ID v4 is developed with the needs of the graphic arts industry in mind. This conversion tool provides a comprehensive solution to simplify the creative process and optimize the graphic design workflow.
To see this Blog on Graphic Arts Online click here
I have used previous versions of the software and it works surprisingly well. Like all conversion products, the conversion is never perfect, and users need to be aware that not all software reads, writes and displays text and graphics the same way. It's a programmer's nightmare to make a product like this actually work in the world of design, particularly when graphic artists love to use every tool available to them to the fullest extent possible.
But if you aren't expecting miracles and perfection, the software is a great tool for those ocassions where conversion is the only way to get a project moving through production. It's also a great way to get older files into the system after your design team has switched layout software. If v4 is an improvement - and Markzware upgrades generally are - then it's certainly well worth the modest price. In fact, converting one document that took several hours of work to create would probably more than pay for the software. If you need to do conversions fairly regularly (or would like to), it's a no-brainer.
I tried a couple of old Quark documents today and found the conversion to be without flaw, although they were fairly basic files. We'll be trying out the software further and will keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you are using any conversion tools like this one, we'd love to hear about your experiences.
Q2ID v4 enables the intricate details of content in a QuarkXPress document to be quickly re-created in InDesign. This conversion technology will save you countless hours of scanning, re-keying and formatting. Q2ID converts and transforms files created with QuarkXPress on either the Microsoft or Apple Macintosh OS, into an Adobe InDesign file, which can then be opened on either platform.
Markzware also has an ID2Q product for swinging the other way, and a PUB2ID conversion tool for (gasp) Microsoft Publisher.
Pricing and availability:
Markzware's Q2ID v4 is available from Software House International (SHI), Software Spectrum, Programmers Paradise, MacConnection, CDW and through Markzware Direct Sales at (800) 300-3532, or at Markzware's online store, http://www.markzware.com/store_usa/Q2ID.php . The MSRP is $199 and the upgrade is $99 for users of Q2ID v2 or v3 only. For more information, please visit http://www.markzware.com/q2id .
About Markzware:
Markzware, a privately-held company based in Santa Ana, California, is the leading developer of quality assurance, data conversion and workflow solutions for the international graphic arts, printing and digital multimedia industries. Markzware B.V., located in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, is the company's headquarters for activities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 4, 2008
To see this Blog on Graphic Arts Online click here
Markzware (www.markzware.com), a developer of preflighting, data extraction and conversion software today released an upgrade to its conversion tool Q2ID (QuarkXPress To InDesign). This new version boasts full plugin support for Adobe InDesign CS3 and CS4 and converts QuarkXPress versions 3.3 through 8. Q2ID v4 is developed with the needs of the graphic arts industry in mind. This conversion tool provides a comprehensive solution to simplify the creative process and optimize the graphic design workflow.
To see this Blog on Graphic Arts Online click here
I have used previous versions of the software and it works surprisingly well. Like all conversion products, the conversion is never perfect, and users need to be aware that not all software reads, writes and displays text and graphics the same way. It's a programmer's nightmare to make a product like this actually work in the world of design, particularly when graphic artists love to use every tool available to them to the fullest extent possible.
But if you aren't expecting miracles and perfection, the software is a great tool for those ocassions where conversion is the only way to get a project moving through production. It's also a great way to get older files into the system after your design team has switched layout software. If v4 is an improvement - and Markzware upgrades generally are - then it's certainly well worth the modest price. In fact, converting one document that took several hours of work to create would probably more than pay for the software. If you need to do conversions fairly regularly (or would like to), it's a no-brainer.
I tried a couple of old Quark documents today and found the conversion to be without flaw, although they were fairly basic files. We'll be trying out the software further and will keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you are using any conversion tools like this one, we'd love to hear about your experiences.
Q2ID v4 enables the intricate details of content in a QuarkXPress document to be quickly re-created in InDesign. This conversion technology will save you countless hours of scanning, re-keying and formatting. Q2ID converts and transforms files created with QuarkXPress on either the Microsoft or Apple Macintosh OS, into an Adobe InDesign file, which can then be opened on either platform.
Markzware also has an ID2Q product for swinging the other way, and a PUB2ID conversion tool for (gasp) Microsoft Publisher.
Pricing and availability:
Markzware's Q2ID v4 is available from Software House International (SHI), Software Spectrum, Programmers Paradise, MacConnection, CDW and through Markzware Direct Sales at (800) 300-3532, or at Markzware's online store, http://www.markzware.com/store_usa/Q2ID.php . The MSRP is $199 and the upgrade is $99 for users of Q2ID v2 or v3 only. For more information, please visit http://www.markzware.com/q2id .
About Markzware:
Markzware, a privately-held company based in Santa Ana, California, is the leading developer of quality assurance, data conversion and workflow solutions for the international graphic arts, printing and digital multimedia industries. Markzware B.V., located in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, is the company's headquarters for activities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Posted by Stephen Beals on December 4, 2008
To see this Blog on Graphic Arts Online click here
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