i-graphix.com, April 2009

PageSet's facilities management solution has integrated Heidelberg workflow for Print Bound.

When Melbourne print company Print Bound decided to integrate prepress into its production workflow it faced a major hurdle: the fact that it has always outsourced its prepress requirements.

Its current situation has the country's largest prepress trade house PageSet operating a prepress department within Print Bound under a facilities management arrangement. Print Bound is a general commercial printer with a high level commitment to environmental sustainability. It employs more than 40 and has recently moved into a custom designed facility in Oakleigh in Melbourne's south east.

Mauro Mattarucco of Print Bound explains the situation. "We were keen to implement a continuous Heidelberg workflow throughout our plant, and prepress was the missing step. All our equipment is Heidelberg - printing presses, folders, saddlestitchers, guillotines - so we could see iignificant benefits in having the front end Heidelberg also.

"But we are printers and taking on prepress ourselves was not really a viable option. PageSet is our prepress partner and we were happy to continue the relationship. But for us to integrate prepress into the workflow, PageSet needed to invest in the Heidelberg front end solution that would suit our needs."

The motivation for Print Bound to bring prepress into its workflow was driven by the desire to capture data across the entire production spectrum to enable the analysis and measurement of the company's performance.

Print Bound operates two 40" Heidelberg presses - a Speedmaster CD 102 six-colour and a recently installed late model pre-owned Speedmaster 102 12-colour perfector press sourced from Heidelberg in Germany. Both presses feature Management Gate software, but to maximise the data available through this programme the front end needs to be linked to the pressroom and finishing.

Mattarucco says, "The data available through this software gives us the ability to analyse every job on the presses and monitor each printer's performance. This assists us to look for greater efficiencies in the pressroom and aids in producing more accurate estimate times and more accurate quoting. Integrating prepress into the workflow gives us a complete picture."

The new premises also gave Pageset the opportunity to tailor its investment in equipment and software for the Print Bound prepress facility. PageSet chose Heidelberg's Prinect Prepress Manager software (previously called Printready) and the Suprasetter 105. This sale in fact marked the 200th Suprasetter unit sold worldwide and was recognised at drupa 2008 with a presentation to PageSet CEO John Della.

Pageset currently operates 12 FM sites for its printing clients. Della says adopting a Heidelberg front end solution and integrating it into Print Bound's existing workflow wasn't a major step for his company.

He says, "We launched off with Heidelberg's CTP products about nine years ago. Heidelberg has to be credited with a huge part of our success because their products are stable and enable us to achieve what our customers'demand: quality, reliability and performance.

"Our job is to stay abreast of the technology trends to ensure we deliver a superior service. We provide our customers with more than just plates. We focus on achieving the highest levels of quality and colour accuracy so that when the job gets onto the press the operator has absolute confidence the plates are correct. This attention to detail is crucial particularly in the current market where ISO certification is a marketing differentiator.

"In terms of managing the digital workflow our service extends from prepress right through to finishing. When Print Bound came to us to talk about their objectives for their own workflow we were more than happy to tailor our service. Every single FM site we run is different. We refuse to bludgeon the customer into a particular solution, it is a consultative process where we talk to the customer find out what they like, need, want, and then deal with that process."

Della says it wasn't just loyalty that led him to the Heidelberg solution. "Our decision was based on finding the most suitible configuration for Print Bound and Heidelberg's was the turnkey solution from our perspective.

"Our colour management specialists really enjoy working with the Heidelberg solution and are particularly impressed by the research and development that has gone into Image Control. Heidelberg's commitment to colour has been most satisfying. It has embraced what is a highly technical and often very subjective process and created a system that is quantifiable."

But the heartbeat of his business, says Della, is Heidelberg's Signastation. "Prepress Manager is driven by Signastation. We've been using this software since 1993 and it is undoubtedly one of the most impressive imposition solutions. Its ability to control many processes in our workflow is advantageous, and our operators wouldn't want to be without it."

Della says the new workflow has sped up the process, improved productivity and enabled them to push more work through in the same amount of time. "The efficiencies gained are significant and there is an upgrade path which is extremely important in an age where technology is continually advancing."

Mattarucco says in conclusion, "From a print perspective this system has delivered significant improvements in efficiencies. We are now working with higher quality job data transfer from prepress and press, reduced make ready times, and a reduction in make ready sheets which all add up to the bottom line. We now have the complete Heidelberg workflow we were looking for."