News Box Vol. 15

About the CoverCONTENTS

This issue of News Box, except for page 21, was output on a PlateRite 8600 using Spekta 400 AM/FM hybrid screening.

One of Japan’s unique art forms is traditional Noh theater. Noh, which combines

acting, dance, music, and poetry, is the oldest existing form of stage performance in

the world, and has a history of over six hundred years.

Noh theater is performed in the abstract space of an empty stage, and focuses on

the universal themes of human emotion and character. The performers’ roles are

identified by masks and costumes, as well as certain items they carry. For the cover

of News Box Vol. 15, we decided to showcase the artistic beauty of Noh masks,

costumes, and dance fans, and their designs.

This photograph was reproduced using Spekta screening, and demonstrates the

many benefits of this unique hybrid screening. Note the texture of the various

materials making up the mask, and the fine white hair of the eyebrows and beard.

The reproduction of these details is truly remarkable.

The fan, which an actor portraying an old man might carry, has been passed down

from performer to performer for over 100 years. The striking colors and pattern of this

revered fan are reproduced faithfully. Even minor details in the fan’s frame are visible.

The fabric that forms the background for the mask and fan is the costume of a

woman character. Its vivid colors draw the eye, and the fabric, which is decades old,

seems to have become even more beautiful with time.

The reproduction of the fabric’s traditional details is

marvelous. The delicacy of the painstakingly dyed and

woven silk design and embroidery is clearly evident.

The reproduction of the striking colors and texture of

the pattern is also highly realistic, and conveys the

luxurious feel of the Noh costume admirably.

The remarkable capabilities of Spekta screening are

apparent throughout this reproduction of the Noh

mask, fan, and costume. We hope you enjoy the color

and texture of these lovely objects.

Entering the Era of Product Innovation

The Role of Prepress in the JDF Workflow

User ReportLuk Ka International Limited (China)Bulckens Drukkerij (Belgian)Agency Printing (Australia)Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd. (India)Litho Graphics Inc. (USA)Litho-Craft Co. (USA)Cottrell Printing Co., Inc. (USA)Nova Printing & Litho Company (USA)

New product informationPlateRite Ultima 16000The appropriate screening for any printing task

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Trademarks and registered trademarks used herein are property of their respective owners.

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In the printing industry today, JDF has become more than

just a productivity tool. JDF helps printing companies

incorporate sales, business, and management into a single,

all-encompassing workflow. With all these changes, it is

important to reexamine the role of prepress within the

printing workflow. Companies need to focus on strengthening

every aspect of their business, and that requires more than

just the process innovation of the past. Printing companies

can no longer afford to limit themselves to creating a better

production workflow; they must also focus on product

innovation or risk falling behind.

The era of simple mass production and workflow

streamlining has ended. We have now entered a new era,

focused on small lot production of different types of products.

Customers have also come to expect added value and a variety

of different types of media. Increasing a company's business

share in today's challenging business environment requires

developing and pursuing clients in new markets. It is

important to make the most of a company's core technology

and skills, but it's also critical to focus on the kind of product

innovation that will enable the company to compete

effectively in new markets. The ability to use product

innovation effectively is what will separate the successes from

the has-beens in the printing market of tomorrow.

Product Innovation: The Wave of the Future

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The best way to flourish in the printing industry is to work on

developing new markets, just like your customers do.

We have entered a new era, the era of product innovation.

That means that remaining a player in today’s printing industry,

let alone a successful player, requires not only better production

processes but also the ability to create new market opportunities

for your customers.

In this article, we will explore the state of today’s printing

industry, as well as likely trends and opportunities for the future.

Today’s challenge is to enternew fields using existingcore technology

In today’s business environment, it isn’t enough simply to transform

production. The only way to assure a future in the printing industry is to improve

the value of the products that are actually created. Demand is shifting from large

lots of standardized printed products to smaller lots of multi-use, targeted

printed products, as well as from printing on paper to output using a larger

variety of media, including electronic publishing. In this business climate,

creating and developing new markets is crucial to success.

The specifics of how new markets can best be developed will vary for

different businesses. Factors affecting the best path to success will include the

local economy and the amount of capital available, but it is nonetheless clear

that the printing industry, like so many others, has entered the era of product

innovation.

The printing industry is relatively fortunate. The technology required for

product innovation in printing is already available, in the form of digital

information technology. By making the most of this core technology, companies

in the printing industry can take on the challenge of new markets and start

down the road to a brighter future.

Akira Ishida,

President of Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

President Akira Ishida of Dainippon Screen Mfg.

Co., Ltd. making a presentation to Japanese

printers at Screen's user's membership seminar

meeting in Tokyo (July 2004).

2

The key is to use both processinnovation and product innovation

In today’s increasingly global economy, many industries strive to be more

competitive in terms of costs, as well as to develop new markets and spur the

advance of international business. What about the printing industry? A group of

printing equipment users from Japan recently enlisted the help of its members

to investigate printing prices and the state of cooperative international business

collaboration worldwide.

According to their research, about 80 companies in Japan ship printed

products worldwide, or are involved in some sort of international cooperation

with other businesses. Of those, 60 have either international subsidiaries or

international sales offices.

Using international connections to improve production by reducing costs is

one example of process innovation. Some of these same companies are also

working to develop new markets and different business opportunities through

product innovation.

The most important thing is to consider product innovation even while

working on process innovation. Companies need to develop their business

beyond straight printing and offer customers a quality of service that includes

new information solutions, value added services, and improved product content.

Expanding to offer different products and services is the key to remaining a

viable business in today’s business climate.

Has the process innovationera really ended?

It’s been a difficult few years, but the world economy finally seems to have

started to recover. The U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement, with

economic growth of 3% to 4% expected in 2004. According to one research

institution in the United States, 40% of those recently polled at the 30,000

companies in print related industries in the United States predicted that

conditions this year would be excellent. That’s a 13-point increase from the last

time these companies were polled (in the early spring of last year), and the

highest level of confidence in four years.

Nonetheless, many of the same persons stated that they did not think that

their current business model would lead to growth, and that developing new

types of business was therefore critical. Business attitudes are clearly shifting, at

least in the United States.

In Japan, on the other hand, the economy is only expected to grow about

1.4% in 2004, making it difficult to increase printing equipment sales by any

significant amount. Given these conditions, can we really declare that there is no

room for growth through process innovation?

At a seminar at the PAGE 2004 show at Tokyo, John Fellman, a CIP4 market

officer, lectured on the profit potential of CIM. Using the model case of the

billion-yen printing industry in the United States, he demonstrated how CIM, or

taking advantage of CIP4 to improve productivity, could reduce inventory,

increase customer satisfaction, and decrease management costs. According to

his model, connecting production systems through computers using CIM has the

potential to increase profits by over five million dollars in five years, and the

concepts he discussed are a clear example of process innovation.

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Screen recently conducted a study on printing prices

worldwide, in order to understand trends in the printing

industry better. In this study, Screen gave printing

companies in major cities worldwide a questionnaire

requesting an estimate for the printing of Screen's

NewsBox magazine (a 16-page, full-color document with

opaque varnishing), assuming the following conditions:

The design was complete, and fully digital PDF data would

be submitted. The printing company was expected to carry

out impositioning, CTP output, printing, proofing, and

post-press, and provide estimates for 5,000, 10,000, and

30,000 copies.

Japan

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

(Unit: Japanese Yen)

China Hong Kong Singapore U.

68,100

567,302 (Total)

151,962

141,450

205,790

Binding

Paper

Printing

Prepress

Figure 1: Comparison of printing prices worldwide (for 10,00

17,550

287,293

110,623

94,900

64,220

28,000

271,600

105,000

79,800

58,800

339,200

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Four companies in Japan, three in China, two each in Hong Kong, Singapore,

and the United States, one each in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

and two companies in Australia have responded to the questionnaire. Their

estimates were converted to yen using exchange rates as of February 2004, and

compiled in a table (Figure 1).

The results of the study areanalyzed below

Results

Singapore U.S.A. U.K. Netherlands Australia

orldwide (for 10,000 copies)

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339,200

69,214

248,734

196,104

95,050

609,102

102,258

95,220

253,575

132,480

583,533

519,915

638,265

132,600

770,865

Printing sample for estimates: NewsBox Vol. 13 (16-page magazine)

Reviewing these results while considering conditions in your area should help

you determine whether international cooperation is right for you, and where you

might best enter new markets. In this article, we will discuss what this data

indicates specifically about Japan.

Over 50% of businesses in Japan's printing industry are believed to have

advanced into China recently, so we will first compare printing prices in Japan

and China. Prepress costs in China came to roughly 32% of those in Japan

(Figure 2), while binding prices in China came to about 28% of those in Japan

(Figure 3), indicating that China is significantly cheaper than Japan. This is largely

due to differences in the cost of labor in China and Japan.

The labor costs in printing and prepress in China are cheaper than that in

Japan, and prepress and binding, both of which require more labor, are much

less expensive as a result. Printed products that require a great deal of labor,

such as packaging and other products involving step and repeat processing, can

also be produced more cheaply in China than in Japan.

There are already print shops in Japan that outsource image input, clipping,

and other time and labor intensive processes to China and Southeast Asia with

the aid of the Internet. This kind of outsourcing results in lower costs and

quicker turnaround times.

According to the responses received, the printing itself would cost 100,000

yen in China, roughly 70% of the 140,000 yen price tag in Japan, while the cost

of paper in China comes to about 78% of that in Japan (Figure 5). Printing

companies in China, which are considered relatively high quality, tend to use

imported printing presses, which cost about the same in China as in Japan. Note

that the lower labor costs for printing press operators in China do not reduce

printing costs all that significantly. High-end paper in China is almost all

imported, and, as is apparent from these results, the cost of that paper is about

78% of the cost of similar paper in Japan, which is not all that significant of a

price difference.

When considering outsourcing printing from Japan to China, one must also

bear in mind the added cost of shipping. Shipping costs for 10,000 copies of

NewsBox from Shanghai to Japan came to about 100,000 yen if shipped by sea

and 300,000 yen if shipped by air. This means that, if shipping by air, the cost of

outsourcing the product to China was actually higher than printing it in Japan

(560,000 yen, the average of the four Japanese companies' estimates, is higher

than 280,000 yen, the average of the four Chinese companies' estimates, plus

100,000 yen). The only way the proposition made economic sense was if ocean

shipping was used, in which case costs were indeed reduced. This means that

for Japanese printing companies that cooperate internationally with Chinese

printing companies, if jobs with relaxed deadlines are outsourced to China, the

Japanese company can theoretically charge 560,000 yen for a job that only cost

380,000 yen, providing 32% profit.

Printing prices in Europe and the United States, on the other hand, are slightly

higher than in Japan, and there wasn't much of a difference between the

estimates. For this reason, there doesn't seem to be any significant benefit to

Japanese companies ordering work from European or U.S. companies. On the

other hand, the production of printed products in China and Southeast Asia by

European and U.S. companies is already quite common. It is still important to

consider which specific companies in China to do business with, however, and

to negotiate prices.

Improving production and reducing costs by outsourcing to printing

companies worldwide, including in Japan, is one way to increase the health of a

business. Process innovation of this sort can result in product innovation, and

help businesses develop fresh markets and expand into new business

opportunities. In other words, working on process innovation is an important

step in advancing product innovation, and is therefore a critical stratagem for

success in today's competitive market.

4

So what kind of changes can be expected in the future? Even if all the trends

continue to their logical extreme, and the industry enters a fully digital on-

demand era, prepress will most likely continue to coexist with the new

information processing technology. Still, one cannot ignore the fact that the

printing industry is undergoing a period of dramatic change.

The industry is moving from mass production of a single type of product to

small lot production of different, more carefully targeted products that provide

added value. So how can anyone keep up with all of these changes? Both

manufacturers and print-related businesses have outgrown the older era of

process innovation, and find themselves in a new era, one that demands

product innovation.

To succeed in product innovation, one must put oneself in one's customers'

shoes. The past 60 years have seen a great deal of change and competition, and

many specialized equipment makers have failed to survive. Screen may not have

always been the biggest winner, but it has managed to endure through it all. The

reason Screen has lasted is that it consistently works with its users and

customers to figure out what their needs are, and then develops suitable

products for those needs, no matter what stands in the way. Screen looks

forward to continuing to face the challenges of the future with its customers.

Keeping abreast with productinnovation

The changing world of prepress

*Note that this is an independent study. The prices quoted should only be used for general reference.

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

Figure 5: Binding costsFigure 4: Paper costs

Figure 3: Printing costsFigure 2: Prepress costs

Japan China Hong Kong Japan China Hong Kong

Japan China Hong Kong Japan China Hong Kong

205,790

151,962

64,220

110,623

58,800

105,000

141,450

68,100

94,900

17,550

79,800

28,000

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

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50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

(Unit: Japanese Yen) (Unit: Japanese Yen)

(Unit: Japanese Yen) (Unit: Japanese Yen)

Because of the technological advances that took place in the 1980s, the life

cycle of prepress products has shortened dramatically. The amount of

preparation required before printing has gradually been reduced, thanks to

advancing process digitalization. The result has been more efficient and

streamlined production. Printing presses and platemaking equipment have also

improved during the past two decades, of course, but their basic structure and

functioning are much the same as before. Prepress equipment, on the other

hand, has undergone many drastic changes.

For prepress equipment makers, the ability to keep up with advancements in

technology and quickly develop products that provide users with good value has

been critical. In today's market, where infrastructure has improved and many

network environments include broadband access, data is published in a much

wider variety of forms. The use of so many different media creates different

requirements for prepress and calls the very value of printed products into question.

Most of the information collected by an MIS consists of information generated during prepress, which is then

used as parameter information for press and postpress. Under current conditions, it is most efficient for the

operator engaged in prepress processing to input detailed parameters that anticipate every stage of the

workflow (except for order receipt), and it is logical to divide up the role of entering the required JDF information.

For this reason, even in a JDF workflow, prepress operation plays a critical role in the workflow.

Moreover, we believe that a JDF workflow should pursue not only the cost reductions that can be achieved

through automation and increased efficiency, but also improvements in quality. The typical example of this is the

problem of color quality control. It is reasonable to consider it the prepress vendor’s mission to create the

specifications required to solve the problems related to this important theme.

5

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The role of prepress in CIP4

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CIP4 presumes the existence of an MIS at the core of the workflow that facilitates true information exchange.

CIP4 has taken CIP3 a step further. It is designed to allow control of the entire

workflow by connecting not only the production departments that use

equipment from major manufacturers and vendors, but also mission-critical

business and control departments, so that all the processes involved in creating

a printed product can become part of a single, integrated workflow. The core of

CIP4 is JDF (Job Definition Format). The main difference between CIP4/JDF and

CIP3/PPF is that while PPF is entirely unidirectional, providing parameters for

certain processes but unable to accept any data in return, the JDF workflow has

two major information routes, JMF (Job Messaging Format), which allows for the

receipt of instructions and status information, and JDF, which is used to transmit

all the parameters needed to create a printed product. JDF information is

gathered when the order is received, and can be applied throughout the

production workflow, including postpress.

JDF is more flexible than PPF, and enables users to analyze their records for

strengths and weaknesses. The use of MISs (Management Information Systems)

as the core of JDF workflows prevents the information discrepancies that can

arise with repeated input of the same data. JDF is intended not only to increase

production automation and efficiency, but also to enable the sharing of useful

information between the sales and production departments (with the aid of the

MIS), and to increase the efficiency of the entire business, through better

estimating, ordering, and pricing control, as well as better printing and postpress

processing control.

Another development of JDF is the concept of Intent. Intent includes

information the creator adds to describe the job, and information that is fed

back using JMF. With Intent, the client can become a part of the workflow, when

an order is received as a JDF-compliant document. The Intent is information

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The role of CIP3 in the CTPworkflows of the past

The advent of CTP changed workflows dramatically, quickly driving the rapid

digitalization of prepress and printing. This fueled the increased demand for

integrated workflows that encompassed prepress, printing, and postpress

processing. CIP3 was established in 1995 to meet that demand. CIP3, which was

positioned at the core of the digital workflow until CIP4/JDF was developed,

was designed mostly around the prepress process. CIP3 enabled the generation

of PPF (Print Production Format) files containing ink distribution information,

imposition data, and various parameters that were relevant during postpress

processing such as binding. These files could be transmitted to printing and

postpress equipment to create a new type of workflow.

At the time, however, most companies contracted with different companies

for prepress and postpress processing. Companies that introduced CTP to their

workflows didn’t give much thought to postpress, and devoted themselves

almost entirely to the processes involved in prepress and printing. But as

competition grew fiercer and printing prices dropped, a new trend emerged:

these same companies created internal postpress departments in response to

the need to reduce costs. Since most companies couldn’t afford to hire and train

specialized operators for postpress, however, many expressed interest in the

notion of adding post-processing parameters to PPF to enable better post-

processing automation.

CIP3 started out as a tool for communications between prepress and printing.

Over time it became more robust, enabling the use of PPF files that included

postpress parameters and could be moved along the workflow with a job.

Unfortunately, the information flow was one-sided; data from prepress could be

transmitted to printing and postpress only, and it was difficult to ascertain if the

information was being transmitted correctly, or how useful it actually was.

Client Print BuyerClient Approval team Client Creative team

Sales

Terminal for sales

personnel

Processingprogress data

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Order voucherProcessing

instructions form

Estimate formInvoice formProcessing progress data

Order form

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Processinginstructions

form

Processinginstructions form &

customer submittedPDF files Processing results data

Processing progress data

Processingprogress dataResults data

Imagecoverage dataImposition/signature data

Processinginstructions

form

JDF workflow(Trueflow 3)

Processinginstructions

form

Prepress equipment

Image coverage dataPress

Manager(Ritecontrol)

Print controlsystem

Postpressmanager

(Ritecontrol)

Postpresscontrolsystem

Imagecoveragedata

Processingprogress dataFolding/cutting/binding data

Processingprogress dataResults data

Postpress equipment

Processinginstructions form

Processinginstructions form

Printing press

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Processing results dataProcessing progress data

Processinginstructions

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7

The purpose of including prepress in the JDF workflowFor printing companies, the advantages of using MIS to control the printing

press include better printing cost monitoring and easier deadline monitoring.

MIS in the printing industry was originally intended to focus on cost and

deadline monitoring, but it never caught on among print shops and prepress

departments. The difficulty of making prepress part of a JDF workflow that

includes an MIS has to do with the fact that prepress involves many different

detailed processes that must be completed in the short time allotted before

printing is scheduled to start. This makes it very difficult to plan the prepress

process itself. What’s more, it’s difficult to divide the prepress process up into

smaller steps, and since prepress involves not only machinery but also human

operators, the amount of time required for prepress can vary greatly depending

on the personnel involved. To complicate matters, data rarely arrives all at once,

and changing client requests and unexpected events can make it even more

difficult to manage the time used for prepress. These are all obstacles to the

successful incorporation of prepress in a JDF workflow.

On the other hand, most people in the industry today feel that including

prepress in a JDF workflow could yield great benefits. A particularly striking

example is the benefits that can be gained when the MIS’s process control is

notified of prepress processing results. Two of these benefits are improved

prepress process planning and estimate accuracy. When the same kind of work

is repeated many times, the MIS collects information that enables the creation of

remarkably precise prepress process planning. Another important benefit is

more specific deadline control for prepress processing. The data that is collected

every day can help determine how long it will take a particular team to do a

particular type of job, which makes it easier to set precise deadlines.

Yet another benefit is the elimination of duplicate information entry. Once an

order is received at the MIS, the sales department simply enters the number of

pages and colors, paper type and size, number of impressions, and other similar

data. Everyone, from the prepress department on, can share this data, so there is

no need to reenter it before each new processing stage, which both reduces the

time required for jobs and helps prevent data entry errors. A JDF workflow can

also be used to keep track of processing time and pricing information for

consumables, as well as for resource control (including information on operator

capabilities, for example).

In a JDF workflow, the MIS can collect a wide variety of information. Much of

that information is generated during prepress and then used as parameter data

for printing and postpress processing, of course. In other words, even in a JDF

workflow, like in a CIP3/PPF workflow, prepress operations play a critical role.

received when a job is ordered, which is made part of a JDF file. When an Intent

workflow is used, the client and the printing company communicate using JDF

files that include ordering data, which enables automated prepress, printing, and

postpress processing.

The JDF workflow is a completely new concept for process control, and is

leaps and bounds ahead of CIP3/PPF.

Other relevant issues

Issue 1: There are many limitations on imposition formats

It is very common to combine jobs from different orders on a single plate.

Unfortunately, with JDF specifications, it is very difficult to associate more than

one order ID with a single plate. What’s more, with offset web presses, where all

the parameters for printing, cutting, and folding have to be set correctly in

advance, printing impositions that involve the simultaneous use of plates with

different page counts is so complex that it is almost never done. Other processes

that are difficult on an offset web press, such as printing two sheets on a single

plate, or using roll paper in a double-web two-sheet format, are even more

difficult to automate in a JDF workflow. For this reason, JDF is suitable for use

within a certain range of imposition styles only, and is rarely used for work

outside that range (such as web offset printing). Furthermore, JDF is only

compatible with rectangular pages at the moment. For this reason, although

there have been conferences on the notion of using JDF for gravure (label) and

package printing, little progress has been made in this regard.

As you can see, there are obstacles to printing companies’ use of JDF

workflows. CIP4 recognizes these issues, however, and all the manufacturers

involved, including MIS manufacturers, are continuing to search for ways to deal

with them. Dividing up the responsibility for decision making between MIS and

prepress is one temporary method for dealing with these issues.

Issue 2: How is the timing for post-processing (printing) determined, by the MIS or prepress?

The processing of pages involves finishing each side of each plate sequentially

during prepress. Processing proceeds for the front of the first signature and then

the back of the first signature, and when both sides are done, printing of the

entire signature, front and back, can commence. Since MIS control is linked to

the entire order, however, the order to print can only come from the MIS once

every single

signature for a given order is ready for printing. This can lead to significant

time loss and efficiency problems. What's more, this problem only gets worse as

the number of pages and signatures increases.

This problem actually goes beyond the JDF specifications. The greater the

freedom within a process, the greater the chance of catastrophe. In this instance,

it might appear that the problem can be solved with the aid of both the MIS and

prepress, but in fact, each MIS manufacturer has a different approach to this

issue at the moment, and the market must wait for each company to come up

with its own solution.

Issue 3: Creating a repeat output plate workflowHandling an order that involves re-outputting plates is easy if the PDFs for

portions that are unchanged have been saved. Failing to reuse data, and

therefore having to recreate it from scratch, is a huge waste. In an ideal world,

reusing old data would increase efficiency, but the reality is that exactly how

data is re-output to plates is currently determined by each individual MIS

manufacturer.

The ultimate JDF workflow would have MIS in control of every stage of the

production process. The equipment and systems would function automatically

according to instructions from the MIS. With new jobs, it is unfortunately

impossible for the sales department to enter all the information in the MIS, so

fully automating new jobs is difficult. With repeat output jobs, on the other

hand, all the necessary parameters have already been input, and the only work

that is required is switching out those parts of the PDF where there are changes,

during prepress. Repeat output is therefore the type of job in which users should

experience the greatest benefits from JDF automation. We believe that the

capability to archive JDF instructions and data will soon be an indispensable part

of MISs for this reason.

Issue 4: A JDF workflow should also provide better quality

People tend to talk about the cost benefits of JDF, which result from increased

automation and efficiency, but the pursuit of improved quality is also important.

For example, dot gain curve control is still used for color control. This method

both requires a great deal of time and depends on the skill of the operator,

which makes it all too easy for variations in quality to emerge. The problems of

color control must be solved, both in order to achieve greater efficiency and to

ensure better quality. It is the prepress manufacturer’s mission to create new

specifications that will help solve these problems.

Conclusion

The relationship between prepress and MISWhat should be evident from the discussion so far is that a JDF workflow

requires detailed information on each process, and that much of the

information required is collected during prepress operations. For example, let’s

look at impositioning and postpress. Although the postpress operator can make

settings for processing, the settings he or she makes are largely controlled by

what happened during the prepress stage, to the point where the operator

actually could be said to be forced to make a certain set of settings. Similarly, it’s

no easy matter for a sales department to enter detailed imposition parameters.

Even if a job involves just the four standard process colors, it is impossible for

another department to predict what sort of data will reach the prepress

department, and determining the suitable plate layout for whatever printing

press becomes available is also the job of the prepress operator.

In other words, the personnel who work in prepress are the only ones who

are capable of entering detailed parameters that anticipate every stage of the

workflow (except for order receipt). The burden of entering data is therefore

divided between prepress operators and the sales personnel who enter order

receipt information into the MIS. In fact, these two groups are the core

personnel for the entire JDF workflow.

The division between information handled by the MIS and that generated

during prepress operations is roughly as follows.

The role of MIS:

Estimate creation

Order receipt

Process planning based on past results

Process, pricing, and resource (including personnel) control and

monitoring.

The information entered into the MIS includes instructions, such as

deadline and number of proofs for a client, as well as number of colors,

paper size, page size, page count, binding format, imposition scheme,

and other similar information. This information is entered into a JDF file

that is passed from the MIS to the prepress department for use during

prepress processing, but since detailed information for all of these

settings cannot be entered using the MIS, a specification known as

GrayBox has recently emerged. Whatever data is outside the expertise of

the sales and engineering personnel is left to the prepress operators. In

other words, this is yet another concept in which the role of prepress is

left somewhat vague.

The role of prepress:

Automated job creation

Entering as much of the information left blank during MIS as possible

(especially imposition scheme/imposition)

Notification of proofing and plate output results to the MIS

Recently, a concept called Prepress Manager has emerged. Prepress

Manager allows the exchange of ink control and binding information, for

which MIS control is less than ideal, at the production site.

So far, we have discussed the benefits and issues associated with JDF

workflows in general. Before we conclude, we’d like to take a moment to

discuss Screen’s activities with JDF in particular.8

DTP

DTP

Customer

Onlineapproval

Creation of CertifiedPDFs using Riteportal

Plate Recorder Press Postpress

Printedproduct

Plate

CIP3/4 PPF

FlatWorker

MIS

LabProof (Color proofing system)

CIP3/4 PPF

PDF

CertifiedPDF

JDF

JMF

JDF

JMF

JDF

JMF JDF JMF

PDF/PS

Screen recently coordinated Japan’s first CIP4 interoperability

tests, which were performed in the latter part of October 2004,

in Kyoto. Past interoperability tests have been carried out near

major JDF vendors and manufacturers, and it was an honor to

have Japan’s tests take place in Screen’s back yard.

Screen developed the Trueflownet concept as a base for JDF workflows.

Trueflownet is compatible with CIP4/JDF standards, and unites production and

the MIS to increase production efficiency, improve quality, and generally

revolutionize the way printing companies do business. The core that makes all of

this possible is Screen's JDF-compliant, next generation workflow system,

Trueflow 3. The MIS offers unified control of the information flowing between

mission-critical systems and production processes, for seamless information

exchange. Trueflow 3 is connected to the MIS, but also enables automation of a

variety of processes, and provides the MIS with the information required for

pricing calculations. Riteportal, Ritetransfer, and Riteonline, which provide online

job submission and ordering capabilities for customers, can be connected to the

Trueflow 3 environment through JDF and production-ready PDFs to enable

further automation of the production process. Riteapprove provides an online

approval solution for Trueflow 3, to streamline the final prepress process before

platemaking. The resulting combination is an advanced solution that is ideal for

the needs of the near future.

Screen is also actively pursuing solutions for various issues, such as those

mentioned earlier. PDF/X-1a, which is designed for printing, is expected to be an

excellent format for smooth PDF data delivery, and will therefore help take care

of concerns regarding data receipt and entry. Screen's Trueflow 3 already offers

PDF/X-1a input and output capabilities. In addition, Trueflow 3 can deliver a

variety of all-purpose file formats that help maintain quality, and promotes more

highly automated environments.

To help with the first issue, imposition formats, Screen offers imposition

scheme software known as FlatWorker. FlatWorker offers flexibility in imposition

schemes and impositioning within JDF workflows, and increases efficiency by

enabling the user to share data, e.g., by outputting PPF data for post-processing.

To help with the second issue, the timing for starting printing, Trueflow 3

offers a job container workflow. When the job container workflow is used,

prepress processing starts with whichever pages are input first, and folds are

output to plate as soon as all the pages in a given fold are ready. This means

that even if the MIS uses order numbers for control, no time is lost waiting for

the last page to arrive, and printing can be done in the most efficient manner

possible.

Regarding the third issue, repeat output of plates, we mentioned earlier that

the capability to archive JDF instructions and data will soon be an indispensable

part of MISs, but Screen has decided to take on this task as well by developing

Trueflow ArchiveManager, an archiving system that is supported by Trueflow 3.

ArchiveManager archives the entire job, including the data used at the front end,

without operator involvement. This provides the user with much greater

flexibility when repeat output is required.

Finally, regarding the fourth issue, printing quality, Screen is now using P2QM

(Prepress & Print Quality Management) to advance the development of systems

that adjust the color on plates in JDF workflows, and feedback the color from

printed products to prepress, in order to enable automated color management.

P2QM is Screen’s color management workflow, which automatically controls ink

density at the printing press and links the printing and prepress processes to

enable color matched proofing.

This concludes the explanation of how Screen is dealing with each of the four

issues mentioned earlier. Screen is also collaborating with other manufacturers

to explore solutions to other JDF issues.

What other issues should be explored to advance the creation of better JDF

workflows? This is a question that Screen is particularly well equipped to answer

in its role as a manufacturer of prepress equipment. The solutions to various

issues are well within our grasp thanks to our vast experience and technical

knowledge. Screen is a business that always goes beyond the ordinary. We will

continue to lead the industry with our focus on the future of JDF.

9

Shenzhen, an industrial city located at the border between

Hong Kong and mainland China, has recently become the

focus of a great deal of attention, owing to its dramatic

growth. Luk Ka International Limited has production facilities

in Shenzhen. Their Henggang, Shenzhen site is the center for

their manufacturing of gift boxes, corrugated boxes & boards,

premium gift items & books, and more, which are produced

for shipping worldwide. We visited the Luk Ka International

Limited (hereafter "Luk Ka") facilities in Shenzhen to find out

more about the goals of this thriving company of over 4,000

employees and the huge "city" that is their production facility.

When you visit Luk Ka's production facility in Shenzhen, the first thing you

notice is the perfectly tended gardens between the U-shaped rose pink

buildings. The site also features a golf driving range and a recreational park

behind the factory. Luk Ka is obviously a company that cares about making its

employees happy during their time off.

Luk Ka has sales of about 500 million Hong Kong dollars per year (roughly 8

billion yen, as of June 2004) and its sales continue to increase by about 10%

each year. The company focuses on three different areas of business: offset

printing of gift boxes for packaging, corrugated boxes & boards, and premium

gift items & books. The Shenzhen production facilities boast a full range of

cutting-edge equipment.

Luk Ka's gift box offset printing department features a variety of large

machines, including Heidelberg Speedmasters, Mitsubishi sheet-fed offset

printing presses, a wet laminator, a UV coating machine, and Screen CTP

equipment (PlateRite Ultima 32000, PlateRite 8000), to name just a few.

The corrugated box & board department features a variety of equipment for

producing boxes and boards, including corrugators, flexo printing presses, and a

variety of die cutters, stitchers, and gluers, among others. The premium gift item

& book department boasts DTP design and the latest offset printing equipment,

as well as a full range of finishing equipment. Products that require manual

processing are handled by female employees who use an ISO9001 certified

quality control system.

The management does not hesitate to invest large sums of money to ensure

that the company's equipment and management systems are suitable for

customer needs in today's fiercely competitive markets. Luk Ka routinely adds

the latest equipment to its production lines. The company also provides training

to improve labor quality and techniques, and continually strives to enhance its

management systems. As a result, Luk Ka's production facilities are always ready

to meet new demand.

Fully equipped facilities forbetter employee satisfaction

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President Ma Wai-mo and the PlateRite Ultima 32000

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Company overviewCompany name: Luk Ka International Limited

Headquarters: Unit BCH, 3/F Winner Factory Building, 55 Hung To Road,

Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

Phone: 852-2342-1161; Fax: 852-2343-5171

www.lukka.com.hk

Established: 1970

Founder and Chairman: Mr. Ma Wai-mo,

Employees: Over 4,000

Company historyLuk Ka was established in 1970 as a paper products manufacturing

company. The business developed steadily, and in 1978 the company

began active investment in a production site in Henggang, Shenzhen.

Luk Ka has grown into an 8-billion-yen a year business, focused on the

manufacturing of corrugated boxes & boards, premium gift items & books,

and gift boxes for packaging. Mr. Ma Wai-mo, who is famous throughout

China as a leader in the paper products industry, was the Chairman of the

Hong Kong Corrugated Paper Manufacturers' Association in its 13th, 14th,

and 16th terms, as well as in its current 17th term, and is also the Vice-

Chairman of the Asia Corrugated Cases Association, now in its 1st term.

Luk Ka is huge and diverse today, with a production facility so large that it

truly deserves the moniker "Industrial City," but the company originally got its

start owing to the enterprising spirit and technological knowledge of a single

young man.

When the current CEO of the company, Mr. Ma Wai-mo, was 13 years old, he

moved from Chaoyang, Guangdong to Hong Kong. 11 years later, after working

at a paper packaging company in Hong Kong, Mr. Ma founded Luk Ka — at the

tender age of 24.

Luk Ka grew steadily thanks to Mr. Ma's superior management skills, and one

day his brother, Mr. Samuel Yu-hung Ma, decided to join the company. Together,

the brothers quickly increased the size of the company. In 1986, they moved Luk

Ka's headquarters to Hong Kong, while holding on to their property in

Henggang, Shenzhen, and began expanding production. They built their new

production factories on a 93,000 square meter lot that was subdivided into two

sections. Luk Ka's investment in the buildings and production equipment totaled

500 million Hong Kong dollars (8 billion yen), and resulted in the creation of

facilities covering one million square feet — a true industrial city.

Luk Ka is justly proud of both the scale and the quality of its production

facilities. The company did more than just expand the production floor. Luk Ka

was among the first in the region to develop a quality control system (their

system received ISO9001 certification and Q-mark certification in 1998). In 1999,

the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) awarded Luk Ka its Certificate of

Merit in Productivity. This award provided further proof of the high regard within

China for Luk Ka's productivity and quality. In 2004, Luk Ka was ranked number

2 among the top 100 packaging companies in GuangDong province, and

number 4 among the top 100 printing companies in the GuangDong province.

No matter how large the company becomes, however, what continually drives

Luk Ka forward is the brothers' excellent management and their employees'

superior skills. The brothers, who told us, "We want to offer the highest quality

of service to the market at all times," feel that the key to achieving their

corporate goals lies in the capabilities of each of their employees.

Luk Ka offers employee training and a terrific welfare and pension system —

and that's just the beginning. Management visits the production facilities daily to

check if the management system is being applied optimally and to confirm that

employees are thriving.

Luk Ka's motto: Synchronize!

Luk Ka's motto is "Synchronize!" The company's goal is to move in parallel

with the world as it advances, and to maintain its leading position in the

industry. In China, whose economy has maintained rapid growth in recent years,

the demand for high-quality printed products continues to increase. For Luk Ka,

the growth in demand is expected to be most noticeable in the fields of offset

printing for gift box packaging, corrugated box & board production, and

premium gift items & book manufacturing.

Luk Ka looks forward to investing in new equipment and quality control

systems that will enable the Luk Ka group to improve its quality, service, and

management in each of these three areas. And rather than resting on its laurels,

the company continues to look even further into the future. Luk Ka is

establishing a new paper and printing production facility in Qing Dao. This will

make the company even more multi-faceted and increase the size of the Luk Ka

group as a whole.

site

The design and printing departments, with their leading-edge equipment

Main products

12

Innovative Belgian commercial printer Bulckens Drukkerij

has successfully discovered a lucrative niche market and

developed it with the aid of Screen equipment. The company

delivers posters using the same business model as a pizza

home delivery service – if it doesn’t arrive within a specified

time, there’s no charge.

Located in Herentals, a north Belgian town renowned both for its monuments

(one of the local church belfries is a UNESCO World Heritage site) and for its

remarkable sporting and entertainment facilities, Bulckens Drukkerij works

differently from most commercial print companies. Two days a week they serve

an unusual niche market which now constitutes a reliable part of Bulckens’ core

turnover.

“We identified a demand within the Belgian and Dutch nightclub culture for

posters to be delivered at short notice on fairly short run production,” explains

proprietor Manu Lemeur. “We also figured out that the Internet was the best way

to communicate with them, as most people who are heavily involved with

dancing and clubbing seem to inhabit a slightly different time zone – we couldn’t

guarantee to be awake and reachable when they would want to phone us!”

Bulckens was established 13 years ago in its current form as a printer –

previously the family business was a publishing house producing advertising

freesheets. The discovery of the hard-core dance club clientele blazed the trail

for more conventional organisations and companies which have subsequently

bought into the Bulckens’ short-run fast turnaround business model. This is, as

Manu explains, similar to the fast-food pizza delivery service that originated in

the United States.

“It’s like a ‘grab-and-go’ pizza firm – the kind that promises to deliver within

30 minutes or they don’t charge you. If the customer orders posters before

Wednesday, we guarantee the order will be ready for collection on Friday. They

can pick it up from our premises here in Herentals or from a variety of collection

points around Belgium and Holland,” says Manu. “It’s a very simple contract –

everything we promise, we deliver. Our clients, whether they are clubbers or

corporate types, do not want us to compromise on quality, so the Screen

PlateRite 8600 is perfect.”

Bulckens use Screen’s hybrid Spekta screening technology as well. “This

allows us to achieve real quality and detail easily, as well as conserving ink.

Spekta is used on a variety of different jobs and where previously we would

have encountered moiré problems, Spekta does not have any difficulties. A lot of

the club posters can feature quite complex patterns and designs – Spekta is

perfect in these cases.”

Having received the week’s print orders, Bulckens Drukkerij goes into poster

production mode from Wednesday night through to Thursday. The run lengths

are relatively short, typically 60 to 80 copies of a particular poster in sizes

ranging from A3 to B1. The bulk of the posters are cut and wrapped on

Thursday afternoon for collection the next day.

The cross-section of clients who pick up their ‘pizza-fresh’ posters hot off the

presses has grown over the years, says Manu. “The original target audience of

dance culture, nightlife or general ‘happenings’ now represents about 60% of

our client base; in a logical progression they have been joined by other

entertainment clients such as theatres, local cinemas, and recording companies,

but also other big consumer businesses such as food companies and

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Increasing sales by focusingon a niche market

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Bulckens DrukkerijBelgian

Bulckens's website

Lasgo, a musical dance group from Belgium.Bulckens produces posters and flyers used for the promotion

of bands such as Lasgo.

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supermarkets have now jumped on the bandwagon.” As a result, Bulckens can

list multi-national businesses such as EMI and Unilever/Bestfoods among its

clients, so the Wednesday/Thursday poster run can feature images ranging from

‘trance’ music groups like the Ian van Dahl collective to Lipton Tea.

Top speed and quality

site

This church belfry in Herentals is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Netepark, a famous center containingvarious sports and amusement facilities,

is located in the city of Herentals.

Company overviewCompany name: Bulckens N.V. Drukkerij

Headquarters: Hemeldonk 11 (Ring), 2200 Herentals

Phone: 014-28-58-78; Fax: 014-23-04-98

www.bulckens.com (Dutch only)

Established: 1991

Proprietor: Manu Lemeur

Employees: 20

Company historyBulckens started out in 1991 as an advertising freesheet printing center.

Their sales increased dramatically after they introduced superfast printing

of shorts runs – in the 60 to 80 copy range – of posters for nightclubs and

other small performance venues. This service also attracted the attention of

other clients, such as those in the food and supermarket industries.

Bulckens also offers standard commercial printing of items such as

brochures and advertising freesheets, but two to three days a week they

focus entirely on poster production, which has helped them develop an

extremely efficient business environment.

For a company which is serving more than 4000 clients with a staff of around

20, the choice of platesetter, workflow, and automation options was especially

important, explains Manu. “We previously had an imagesetter from another

manufacturer, an excellent machine, but way too slow for the needs of an

expanding business like ours. We needed to normalise the hours of the pre-

press team, which was working shifts all through the day and night – that’s

unusual in prepress although printers often work odd hours.”

Bulckens Drukkerij undertook an in-depth examination of the range of

possible solutions available on the market. “We looked at all of the major

manufacturers and obviously the need to automate the process and remotely

monitor the machine was a big factor in our minds. We selected the Screen

solution because it was an ideal combination of workflow and platesetter at an

affordable price, maybe not cheapest, but definitely the best solution for the

best price. The Trueflow workflow system looked simple and fast and has proved

to be easy to train staff to use. No other manufacturer had the kind of

comprehensive but open solution that we were looking for.”

An obvious advantage of the Screen PlateRite 8600 high-speed B1 thermal

platesetter for Bulckens special poster production runs is that it can keep

running unattended all night long. The operators can go home and check on

production status via the Internet during the night or receive alerts should a

problem develop.

“We also needed a system with the power and speed to keep our presses fed

with plates,” continues Manu, “so we chose the MA-L8800 multiple automatic

loading and feeding option together with the PlateRite 8600.”

This can provide up to five cassettes online and cater for five different plate

sizes with maximum unattended production of 500 plates. Bulckens has three

presses, a Mitsubishi 3H (72x102), a Sakurai 472 (52x72), and a Sakurai 258

two-colour, so the MAL that has been installed has three cassettes (one for each

press). The presses were supplied by WIFAC, who are also Screen’s distributor

for the Benelux region. The Screen PlateRite 8600 produces between 600 and

700 plates per week, using KPG plates.

It's just two days a week, “the rest of the time we're a typical commercial

printer,” Manu emphasises. “Brochures, flyers, letterhead, everything. The

advantage of the two-day poster run is that we have a reliable income and are

not continually worrying about the next job. If anything, the only problem is that

we have too much work!”

14

Sydney, Australia's largest city, is a cultural and economic

center, a beautiful metropolis dotted with greenery and parks

that faces onto the lovely port of Sydney Harbor. Agency

Printing, possibly the most modern print shop in the Southern

Hemisphere, is based in Sydney. Agency Printing has set itself

apart from other companies through active capital investment

in new equipment, which has helped the company enlarge its

business, especially in publication work. The company has

recently moved to a JDF workflow to help increase both

productivity and profitability. We asked the directors of

Agency Printing how the company has achieved so much

success, and what their plans are for the future.

Although today Agency Printing constantly strives to be at the leading-edge of

technology, just a few years ago the company was a typical suburban print shop.

Established in Sydney in 1980, Agency Printing was initially happy to do

"anything [they] could get [their] hands on" with two single-color presses and

one two-color press.

After some modest success, the company moved to the suburb of Seven

Hills, at which point they installed two second-hand four-color presses and

expanded their bindery area into a second factory. The company continued to

grow. But then Noel Boltwood, Don Elliott, and Geoff Elliott, the company's

three directors, came to realize that the industry had reached a turning point. Mr.

Boltwood tells us, "We got to a point where we owned everything, we didn't

owe anybody anything, and we were cruising. The company was doing all right

working one shift five days a week. We were gentlemen printers! But we could

see the way the industry was heading, and realized that if we didn't do

something we were slowly going to self-destruct."

Don Elliot concurs. "We could see that competitors with high-tech machines

were stealing the work. We looked at five-color machines, then six-colors, but

Noel suggested eight-colors, and we looked at some machines in plants – not in

fancy plants in Germany, but in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, so we could

inspect them under severe conditions… Back then, five- and six-color presses

were the norm, and we considered that, but we would have been just another

fish in the pond."

Setting themselves apart with theacquisition of an eight-color press

Reinvigorating the company bychanging locations

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Investment in newequipment improvesproductivity andattracts business

Agency PrintingAustralia

Stimulated by pressure from other printing companies, Agency Printing's

directors decided to move the company into larger premises and refurbish it

with new equipment. The turning point came at about the time of PacPrint 2001,

which was held in Australia in May 2001. Agency Printing decided after PacPrint

2001 to acquire a new, fully optioned eight-color Heidelberg SM-102 press and a

Screen CTP system, including the PlateRite 8600 plate recorder, which was the

world's fastest at the time, and the Trueflow workflow system. That may seem

like a big investment for a mid-size print shop, but as Mr. Boltwood modestly

tells us, "That kind of [equipment] tends to generate its own work." Just one

year later, Agency Printing had shifted from its one shift, five days a week work

cycle to a 24 hours a day, six days a week work cycle.

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High expectations fromthe new JDF workflow

Company overviewCompany name: Agency Printing

Address: 13 Stanton Road, Seven Hills, NSW 2147

Representative: Don Elliott

Phone: 2-8825-8900; Fax: 2-9674-1270

Established: 1980

Capital: 10,000,000 yen

Employees: 75

Annual sales: 20,000,000 Australian dollars (about 1,600,000,000 yen)

Company historyAgency Printing was established in northern Sydney in 1980. After moving

to Seven Hills, the company purchased two used four-color presses and

moved their bindery area into a second factory. The company continued to

grow steadily, and one day its three directors, Noel Boltwood, Don Elliott,

and Geoff Elliott, realized that the industry had changed directions and the

company had to do the same. In May 2001, Agency Printing moved to

larger premises and installed an eight-color press and a CTP system. Just a

year after that, the company invested in a new ten-color press and

additional equipment that has helped make Agency Printing one of the

most modern print shops in the Southern Hemisphere. Agency Printing

now operates 24 hours a day, six days a week to keep up with all the work

they get, especially from the publishing industry.

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Their workload continued to expand rapidly until the eight-color Heidelberg

press reached its capacity as well, and Agency Printing had to come up with a

way to process all the new work. "When we got to 120 hours a week, we knew

we'd have to look seriously at getting another press. We were working 24 hours,

six days a week with maintenance and overload on Sundays, so we were close

to full capacity, " Don Elliott explains. "When we were looking for a new press,

we recognized that a lot of clients, particularly larger clients, were looking for

spot colors or varnishes, and we weren't certain, but it seemed that a ten-color

press would give us some advantages in the marketplace. Why have two similar

presses when for a small extra investment we could have the ten-color press

and have the opportunity to go after the next market up the line as well?"

"When it arrived, we pressured the Heidelberg techs to get the press running

to meet a job demand, and in the first two weeks the press printed just short of

two million sheets, and we changed 1,010 plates. And the eight-color press was

printing to full capacity at the same time."

Today, Agency Printing's production line features the premier equipment in

the Southern Hemisphere, including a PlateRite 8600 with an autoloader and a

fully automated plate loading system that ensure that their remarkable 10-color

and 8-color presses are utilized to their full capacity. In fact, Agency Printing is

now one of the most productive print shops in Sydney. The installation of new

equipment has also helped set the company apart from the crowd, and

contributed to increased sales.

"We target publication work because we like it and we're good at it," says

Geoff Elliott. "We're now also very well geared for it. Our factory is as productive

a plant as you can get at the moment. And it works. That's the thing. It saves us

a lot of time. Makereadies are less than 30 minutes, and with the automation of

the presses, the printers can unload and reload the feeder and delivery areas

while the press loads the new plates and prepares the ink settings."

Noel Boltwood is looking forward to the benefits of the JDF workflow. "The

automation and CIP4 connectivity will give us higher throughput in the factory,

and we will get fewer production problems on jobs as well. Production output

has doubled, but we've only had to add another 20 percent in staff numbers.

Work seems to be finding its way here for the ten-color press, like it did for the

eight-color press," he tells us.

"We are set up to go to a full JDF workflow by the end of the year, and we

calculate that that should improve our productivity, and profitability, even more.

We will be in a position for management to be able to oversee all production in

live screen by remote, to check on any job and what's happening from

anywhere. Our turnover doubled in 18 months after we installed the eight-color

press, and we expect that to happen again with the addition of the ten-color

press," he adds.

Don Elliott tells us that there were some unexpected benefits from the new

equipment as well. "We have no trouble getting the right staff, because the shop

floor is now so high-tech – that's attractive to experienced staff in all

departments – but also because it's very clean and fully air-conditioned."

Capital investment in new equipment has helped Agency Printing attract

better personnel and get into new lines of work. The company's flexibility and

willingness to adjust to the changing needs of the market are sure to lead to

continuing success.

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The PlateRite's autoloading system and Trueflow's JDF-basedproduction management are essential to full capacity production.

Don Elliott talks in front of the PlateRite 8600.

Adam Henley, press operator for the ten-color Heidelberg SM-102B printing press

16

Hyderabad, located about a one hour plane flight from

Mumbai, India's largest commercial city, is experiencing such

rapid development as a high-tech city that it has recently

come to be known as the second Silicon Valley of India.

Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd., India's number one printing company,

has its headquarters in the center of Hyderabad. There, it

continues to develop its worldwide printing business while

pursuing the latest in printing technology and IT solutions. We

visited the internationally respected Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd.

(hereafter "Pragati Offset") to ask about their management

policies and find out what their plans are for the future.

"Pragati" means "progress" in Sanskrit. The company was given its name in

1962 by journalist and founder Hanumantha Rao, and its progress has now

continued into a second generation.

Pragati Offset's development has been supported by talent and active

investment in equipment. The sons of the founder, Narendra and Mahendra,

who are currently the managing directors of the company, have installed top

production equipment from manufacturers throughout the world. In 1979, they

acquired southern India's first photo typesetting machine, and in 1985 they

added a four-color offset printing press. More recently, they have acquired

everything from a CIP3-compatible printing press to CTP equipment, workflow

solutions, spot UV coaters, and multiple screening technology, all of which have

been incorporated successfully into the business.

In 2001, Pragati Offset developed its own MIS (Management Information

System). This excellent system can of course be used to control and monitor the

printing process within the company, but it also allows clients to check job status

on the Internet, and has proved useful in increasing customer satisfaction.

The printing products created by Pragati Offset with the aid of their leading-

edge technology are highly regarded worldwide. In 2004, Pragati's excellent

quality was highlighted when the company won a remarkable four Printer of the

Year awards in Sappi's "Trading Printer of the Year" competition (in the Books,

Brochures and Catalogues, General, and Packaging and Labels categories), as

well as the overall Trading Printer of the Year award.

"Pragati = Progress"

Pragati Offset prides itself on being a one-stop shop. In other words,

customers who visit Pragati Offset can get everything a printing job requires —

from prepress to binding, wrapping, and shipping — done in a single place. Best

of all, Pragati Offset's corporate philosophy of focus and dedication permeates

everything the company's employees do. At Pragati Offset, employees don't treat

jobs as simply products being ordered and shipped; they view themselves as

their customers' partners, and work to help their customers achieve their goals.

The quality of the service Pragati Offset provides starts with the dedicated

attention of employees who attend to their customers in a holistic way, and

Pragati Offset is proud of the trust it receives from its many customers.

Pragati Offset places great stress on training its employees to maintain daily

communication with their clients. In addition, management personnel

participate in employee training of their own accord, to ensure that there is

ample opportunity for each employee to learn that the latest technology works

best when paired with solid teamwork. Pragati Offset's professional attitude,

loyalty, and thorough understanding of customer needs are the company's best

weapons in the competitive marketplace.

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Pragati Offset also never loses sight of the most important points in printing:

speed and cost. With the aid of an ordering and estimate system that functions

over the Internet, a modern workflow system, and the latest IT technology, the

company has managed to shorten turnaround times. And rather than focusing

merely on reducing costs, the company stresses quality per unit cost, and the

added value of better communication with their customers, to offer better price

performance overall while maintaining complete transparency as to the costs of

each stage of processing.

In addition to its bases in Hyderabad and Mumbai, Pragati Offset has a

location in Chicago, IL, USA. The company hopes to take advantage of the

relatively low cost of labor in India to break into the American printing market,

which is said to be worth about 200 billion dollars. And Pragati Offset hasn't

stopped with book and catalog printing. The company now also produces DVD

labels and other packaging. Pragati Offset's continuing growth is a concrete

reminder of the meaning of the name the founder gave the company.

Developing an internationalbusiness

a P.

Company overviewCompany name: Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd.

Headquarters: 17 Red Hills, Hyderabad 500 004, India

Phone: 40-23304835

e-mail: info@pragati.com

www.pragati.com

Managing directors: Narendra P. & Mahendra P.

Established: 1962

Employees: 260

Company historyPragati Offset was established by journalist Hanumantha Rao. The

company started with a factory containing a single printing press, but

through the superior technical knowledge of managing directors Narendra

P. and Mahendra P., who believe in investing actively in equipment, the

company has grown dramatically. Their inexpensive yet high-quality printed

products are highly regarded in both the United States and Europe, and the

company continues to use its added value service to increase the success

of its business. Pragati Office has won the Sappi Asian Printer of the Year

award four years in a row, and has received myriad awards in India as well.

Planning & Design

Prepress

Printing

Binding & Wrapping

18

Thinking Big Leads toMore Opportunities

Litho Graphics Inc. USA USA

Investment in Technology SavesWisconsin Printer Money,Improves Efficiency

Litho-Craft Co.USA

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Litho Graphics Inc.1300 SW Army Post DriveDes Moines, IA 50315Phone: 515-287-1795www.lithographics.biz

Litho Graphics Inc. has always thought big. That trait, combined with many years of printing experience and a drive to succeed, helped draw the commercial printer to Screen’s Riteportal™ Customer Relationship Management tool.

“We tend to be attracted to new technology that no one else has in our area,” remarks Rodney Lossnor, president. “We decided to install Riteportal as a means of growing our print sales.”

Lossnor’s father founded Litho Graphics in 1976. The company, located in a modern and ultra-clean 12,000-square-foot facility, employs about 25 people. Such standard commercial fare as newsletters, brochures, booklets, and sales collateral for corporate clients and nonprofit organizations makes up the vast majority of Litho Graphics’ print volume.

Several sheetfed presses populate the pressroom, ranging from a 20-inch to a 36-inch sheet width. Litho Graphics moved to CTP in April 2004 with a Screen PlateRite 8100 eight-up platesetter and Trueflow PDF workflow system.

“We hope to reap the full advantages of the PDF and JDF formats, such as easier file transfers, faster proofing cycles, and higher print quality,” Lossnor notes. “Working with a single equipment supplier enables us to receive the technical service and support we need with one phone call.”

Litho Graphics has been utilizing the Riteportal software in partnership with a graphic artist who works for one of its longtime customers. The content creator uses Riteportal to prepare and automatically upload production-ready PDF files to Litho Graphics’ Riteportal server. The files conform to specifications defined by Litho Graphics.

“The graphic artist has gone through the learning curve step by step with us on about 20 jobs a month,” Lossnor says. “By obtaining a thorough understanding of how Riteportal works on both ends of the workflow, we believe we can maximize the benefits for our existing and new customers.”

Riteportal simplifies the complete sequence of PDF creation, preflight, certification, encryption and delivery of files. Riteportal appears as a virtual printer on the client’s computer. Content creators “print” documents directly to Riteportal’s print driver module. Riteportal automatically does everything else.

Riteportal uses an advanced code library on the customer end to create certified PDFs with additional Trueflow-specific information. Files easily integrate with Trueflow at the receiving end.

The certification details and preflight report remain embedded in the PDF throughout the life of the file, providing proof that the PDF was created to Litho Graphics’ profile specifications. The profiles form the basis for preflight checks, and determine which problems trigger a failure.

Riteportal can resolve RGB colors, hairlines and other common errors in the PDF. In the event the problems cannot be fixed automatically, Riteportal produces a report that identifies what the problems are, where they occur in the job and how to fix them.

“When the files arrive, we’re confident they will output properly,” Lossnor observes. “They are automatically placed into predetermined hot folders. Print jobs get on press with fewer delays, and results are guaranteed.”

Litho-Craft Co.N94W14588 Garwin Mace DriveMenomonee Falls, WI 53051Phone: 262-255-4030www.lithocraftco.com

Successful printing companies have one thing in common. They build their business by taking the technology they have now and looking for other opportunities.

For Litho-Craft Co., that has meant using the Internet to create web portals that the commercial printer’s customers can access to place job orders.

Founded in 1948, Litho-Craft specializes in four-color short-run printing. The company has developed strong roots in its community, and takes pride in being a complete source for business communications services. It prints an array of business communications products, from calendars and manuals to newsletters and presentation folders. Litho-Craft also offers document reproduction services, digital file duplication and data output.

Litho-Craft’s management understands that an investment in technology can actually save money by improving efficiency. The company consists of two facilities totaling 25,000 square feet. The main plant houses conventional printing and binding equipment. The LC Digital Imaging Center contains the latest digital printing and electronic prepress technology, including Riteonline™, Screen’s online ordering system.

“In this day and age, the faster you can turn things around, the better,” says Robert Mason, president. “As a printer, we have to supply our customers with an easy avenue for downloading files. If it’s easier for our customers, it’s also easier for us.

“Riteonline allows our customers to order any kind of print job online. Our digital manager sets up a password-protected portal that is customized for each customer. The user interface is very operator-friendly. Customers can download a particular job, view PDF files, and make edits as necessary for approval. It’s ideal for multiple orders. Customers can monitor the status of their jobs as well.

“The proofing process is very important to us. One tiny error or omission can ruin a project. We go to great lengths to include our clients in the process of ensuring accuracy on every job. With Riteonline, customers can preview PDF proofs for online editing, content approval, and proofing. The approved orders are output as production-ready PDFs. Riteonline eliminates the lag time associated with physically delivering the proof and waiting for signoff.”

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Riteportal and Riteonline are innovative web browser based Customer Relationship Management tools.

As part of Screen’s Trueflownet suite of workflow products, Riteportal (a customer artwork submission

technology) and Riteonline (a robust print-ordering software) can operate independently of the prepress

system or integrate into a comprehensive JDF-enabled workflow. The printing companies profiled here

describe the benefits of implementing these systems.

19

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Technology Leader Strives forBest Quality, Price, and Turnaround

Cottrell Printing Co., Inc. USA

Faster Turnaround Times andHigher Quality Thanks to thePlateRite 4100 and Trueflow

Nova Printing & Litho Co. USA

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Cottrell Printing Co., Inc.7255 S. Havana St.Centennial, CO 80112Phone: 303-790-4600www.cottrellprinting.com

Nova Printing & Litho Co.2711 N Pulaski Rd.Chicago, IL 60639Phone: 773-486-8500www.novaprinting.net

For more than 30 years, Cottrell Printing has demonstrated a willingness to lead in technological advancement. The family-owned commercial printer was among the first offset printing firms in Colorado to anticipate the demand for digital reproduction. It added digital printing to its mix of services in 1985 and has continually expanded its digital capabilities ever since.

Cottrell Printing recently became one of the first U.S. printers to install Screen’s Riteonline™ print-ordering software.

Riteonline is a web browser based workflow component within the Trueflownet operating environment. Riteonline can operate independently of the prepress department or as part of a JDF-enabled workflow. It is integrated into Cottrell Printing’s prepress workflow, which is built around the Trueflow workflow management system and PlateRite 4100 six-up thermal platesetter.

Rick Hillbrand, plant manager, considers online automation “the wave of the future.”

“We have a highly professional prepress department that is capable of solving a lot of customer issues,” Hillbrand explains. “Our ultimate goal is to turn around accurate proofs in the shortest amount of time. Riteonline will improve the ease of proofing and enable quicker customer service.”

Established in 1971 by the Cottrell family of Denver, Cottrell Printing is a leader in both one-color to full-color sheetfed printing and high-speed digital printing. The company primarily utilizes 20 by 29 inch perfector presses in two-color and six-color configurations along with black-and-white and color digital presses to service its 2,000-plus clients. From a 65,000-square-foot facility, the company’s 60 employees produce all manner of projects, including postcards, brochures, marketing materials, and annual reports.

Riteonline gives Cottrell Printing the ability to recall lists of previous jobs online and either order reprints of a particular job without changes or edit the files. The printer can remotely administer, process orders, and update the Riteonline system all via a secure web browser.

Riteonline runs on a Windows PC. A web server creates customer-specific sites. Access to the sites is password protected, and the same client company can implement different levels of access to their job details.

With Riteonline, customers can communicate with Cottrell Printing entirely via their computers. For unaltered reprints (called static jobs), customers can view low-resolution PDFs on their computer screens and visually confirm that they have selected the correct file.

At the same time, Riteonline creates dynamic job templates using QuarkXPress. Customers can edit some or all of the printer-designated text, while also importing pictures from a library of graphics. Again, they see a low-resolution PDF proof before placing the order.

Online ordering offers a number of benefits, such as fewer errors, lower costs, and better communication, according to Hillbrand.

“Once Riteonline is set up, no manual operation is required,” he says. “The customer assumes some of the workload and the responsibility for accuracy. That lifts some of the burden from our staff and leaves them available for other tasks.”

Ask any customer of Nova Printing & Litho Co. to describe their experience with the Chicago-based commercial printer, and you will probably receive a similar answer.

“Nova Printing has retained most of our clients for a long period of time because they enjoy doing business with us,” say Robert Ardisana, vice president. “We offer a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, and bend over backwards to accommodate our customers’ requirements. If you need the finished job tomorrow, you get it tomorrow.”

Since installing a complete computer-to-plate workflow, including the Screen PlateRite 4100 six-up platesetter, Trueflow PDF workflow system, and Spekta AM/FM hybrid screening technology, Nova Printing has found a “faster way to deliver a better product,” Ardisana says.

“The Screen package was way ahead of the competition in terms of the cost of ownership, the reliability of the individual components, and the ease of transition from a computer-to-film workflow to CTP,” Ardisana explains. “We compared both violet technology and thermal systems from all the major vendors, and decided we wanted thermal imaging. After several demonstrations, our prepress staff was convinced that the Screen workflow was superior to the competition.”

Nova Printing was founded in 1968. The 17-employee firm specializes in direct-mail pieces, promotional brochures and marketing materials for a customer base consisting primarily of design firms and advertising agencies.

Nova Printing operates from a 12,500 square foot facility that houses a mix of small-format and full-size sheetfed presses, ranging from one color to five colors with inline aqueous coating. The printer provides standard finishing services, such as binding, die-cutting, and folding. In addition, Nova Printing contributes insight on design choices and production requirements to help its customers meet their stringent budgets.

The Screen system is complemented by a digital proofer and Kodak Polychrome Graphics plate processor. Nova Printing utilizes Kodak thermal plates as well. Ardisana is impressed by the streamlined workflow.

“Compared to using film, the Screen CTP workflow has made things tremendously easy,” he says. “Jobs move through the system fast and efficiently. The approval cycle is shorter, and once we receive final approval, we push a button and have plates ready for the press in minutes. It’s rare that prepress production falls behind the pressroom.”

Ardisana adds that Spekta screening has enhanced speed and quality on press.“We experience great results using Spekta” he says. “It’s as easy to use as

conventional AM screening, with the quality of FM screening. The press operators report that it’s easier to get into register. If there are any variations, they can make adjustments on the fly. This kind of technology increases our advantage over other companies.”

s.

Rick Hillbrand, plant manager of Cottrell Printing Co., Inc.

20

New Products

The appropriate screeningfor any printing task

PlateRite Ultima 16000 High-speed, 16-page large format thermal CtP

About GLV (Grating Light Valve) Technology

GLV is a technology based on a diffractive optical MEMS (micro-electro-

mechanical system). It consists of rows of reflective ribbons arrayed on a

semiconductor chip, which make it possible to split the light beam into

multiple channels.

Screen's PlateRite Ultima 16000 is the industry's fastest 16-page thermal

platesetter. It incorporates a state-of-the-art 512-channel GLV‘ (Grating Light

Valve‘ imaging head that provides the ultimate in speed and quality for the large

format commercial printer, and meets the needs of 16-page presses.

The PlateRite Ultima 16000 is a multi-format system capable of handling

plates ranging from four-page 650 x 550 mm (25.6" x 21.7") format up to the

largest 16-page 1,470 x 1,165 mm (57.8" x 45.8") format, ideal for those printers

with multiformat 4, 8, and 16-page presses. The most productive platesetter in

its league, the PlateRite Ultima 16000 can image 23 plates* an hour at a 16-page

size of 1,448 x 1,143 mm (57" x 45") and 28 plates* an hour at an 8-page size of

1,030 x 800 mm (40.5" x 31.4").

A high level of automation is a key factor in maximising CtP production and

user profitability. Screen offers a range of scalable automated options. Inline

punching is included, so the PlateRite Ultima 16000 can be configured with

various plate handling solutions, allowing users to choose a system to suit their

specific production requirements. The standard semi-automatic PlateRite Ultima

16000 system features an inline pre-load plate delivery table that enables the

next plate to be punched and readied for loading while another plate is being

imaged. After imaging, each plate is automatically unloaded and passed to the

online processor. For those requiring automatic and high-capacity plate loading,

the PlateRite Ultima 16000 features an optional dual-cassette plate autoloader

with standard interleaf paper removal. Each cassette can hold up to 100 plates

and, if they wish, users can choose to integrate two dual-cassette systems to

provide an impressive 400 plates online to the platesetter.

* Productivity may vary depending on the sensitivity of the media.

Dainippon Screen offers three types of screening technology, which are

suitable for a variety of different print purposes. They include high-frequency AM

screening, Randot X (a superior type of FM screening), and Spekta, a hybrid type

of screening that combines the strengths of both AM and FM screening.

In AM screening, color density is altered by varying the size of halftone dots

that are placed at regular intervals. AM screening provides consistent tonal

reproduction and rich color. Screen offers high-frequency screening that allows

printers to employ rulings of 280 lpi, a good choice for the thermal CTP

production, while also having the option of super high-frequency screening, up

to 740 lpi, to ensure consistently rich texture and luxurious color gradation

quality. Super high-frequency screening produces images that rival photographs

in terms of color and detail.

In standard FM screening, on the other hand, microdots of the same size are

placed randomly, and the density of dots is increased wherever a richer, darker

color is required. Unfortunately, standard FM screening requires extremely

stringent control of the printing environment, tends to produce grainy midtones,

and may create irregular patterns within the output.

Randot X, unlike standard FM screening, uses an ordered pattern for the

midtones that results in a much smoother look. Randot X also takes advantage

of optical dot gain to increase chromaticity and color gamut in the midtones

while reducing the amount of ink required. Less ink means less dampening

solution, and, consequently, less paper stretching. The result is remarkably high-

quality printed output without the inconveniently strict environmental

requirements traditionally associated with FM screening. Like standard FM

screening, Randot X eliminates interference moiré and rosette patterns, but

unlike standard FM screening, it also prevents sharp jumps in tone and offers a

remarkably wide range of realistic midtones.

Dainippon Screen's Spekta is an innovative hybrid screening method that

combines the best qualities of AM and FM screening to produce highly-detailed,

high-quality printing output on ordinary equipment. It eliminates moiré and

broken lines and delivers print quality and detail comparable to that achieved

with 300+ lpi high-frequency screening, all without the need for special changes

to existing conventional print management facilities.

Spekta uses AM-like dots or FM-like dots depending on the color density of

each area being output. Like FM screening, Spekta does not produce jagged or

broken lines, and since there are no screening angles, moiré does not appear.

Unlike standard FM screening, however, it can be printed under standard

printing conditions, so there is no need to retrain operators. Spekta's algorithm

also minimizes tone jumping through advanced methods that control the

positioning and joining of dots.

In the highlights and shadows, Spekta uses FM screening's fixed dot size to

reproduce different color tones by varying the density of uniform dots. The dots

are placed randomly and distributed so that they overlap in some areas, and so

that there are no large gaps between them. These methods control the

graininess that is the bane of FM screening. The minimum dot size in Spekta is

set slightly larger than in standard FM screens, which makes the actual printing

process significantly easier as well.

In the midtones (10% to 90%), Spekta varies the size of the round dots just as

AM screening does. Gradations are created using AM-screening like methods,

but the placement of all dots is random, which means there are no screening

angles to contend with. The result is smooth tone throughout the midtones

without the risk of moiré or broken lines.

Spekta's rounded dot shape yields more predictable results at press. What's

more, with the latest improved screening patterns, it is possible to control when

and where dots join for each contact point. This helps eliminate the effects of

dot gain almost entirely between the midtones and the shadows, assuring

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Screening:

Source:

Scanner:

AM370

Positive film

SuperGenascan 8060

Screening:

Source:

Digitalcamera:

CMYKoptimizationsoftware:

Note the realistic reproduction of the wood,

cork, and metal, as well as the brilliant

green and yellow of the lure. Note also the

precise reproduction of the fishing line.

Spekta 400

Digital camera

EOS-1Ds (4,082 x 2,718 pixel)

ColorGenius DC2

Screening:

Source:

Digitalcamera:

CMYKoptimizationsoftware:

Note the realistic reproduction of the

metallic parts of the classic camera, and

how precisely the letters have been

output.

Randot X 10

Digital camera

EOS-1Ds (4,082 x 2,718 pixel)

ColorGenius DC2

Note the precise reproduction of the

details in the fabric, the brilliance of the

colors in the fan, and the realistic

appearance of the wood and white hair of

the mask.

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smooth gradations in this range as well. By preventing tone jumping, Spekta

also eliminates the graininess that is liable to occur when different dot sizes are

used. Like Randot X, Spekta also takes advantage of optical dot gain to increase

the output color gamut while reducing the amount of ink required.

The samples on this page were output using a combination of screening types,

to maximize output quality. This was possible thanks to Screen's Multiscreening,

which enables users to combine different types of screening on a single page.

Screen is proud to offer the appropriate type of screening for the images you are

printing - even if that's more than one type of screening at once!

* The samples on this page were output using a combination of three different

types of screening, thanks to Multiscreening.

Vol. 15

Teranouchi-agaru 4-chome, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8585 JAPANPhone 075-414-7610/ Fax 075-414-7608www.screen.co.jp

No.229-120E Printed in Japan 03-05 11FSM