CIP4 Announces 2007 International Award Program Winners

TOKYO—September 21, 2007—The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization announced at IGAS 2007 the first and second place winners in all three categories for the annual The Jürgen Schönhut Memorial CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) Awards. The CIPPI awards are given annually to the applicant with the most compelling case study in one of three categories, which are:

• Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation

• Best cost/benefit realization as a result of process automation implementation

• Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation

The surprising first place winner in the “Most innovative use of process automation” category was not one, but two printing companies and a publisher/print buyer who submitted a joint application. Druckhaus Berlin-Mitte GmbH (“DBM” - Germany), Walter Grieger Offsetdruck OHG (“WGO” - Germany) & Gutenberg-Werbering Gesellschaft m.b.H. (“Gutenberg” - Austria) teamed up with Hiflex MIS, Hiflex Print Support, KBA, MAN Roland and Kodak Graphic Communications Group. Lead by DBM, the team instituted the new print procurement system “Hiflex Print Support” that allows Gutenberg to generate RFQ’s (Request for Quote’s) in an efficient manner and submit them electronically (email + JDF attachment) to DBM. The exchange between DBM and Gutenberg uses JDF for both administrative and process data. Once the job is approved for production, DBM’s internal JDF-enabled workflow uses the data created in the RFQ and estimating process via Hiflex MIS and then sent to the JDF-enabled prepress systems

and software from Kodak, as well as JDF-enabled presses from MAN Roland. Package printing aspects of any RFQ are subcontracted to WGO, who is also using Hiflex Print Support, a Hiflex MIS system and JDF-enabled KBA presses. The DBM, WGO, & Gutenberg case study is the first CIPPI award application to feature JDF-enabled integration between multiple companies. According to CIPPI Award Judge Patrick Cahuet of 1Prime|Concept, “DBM has set up new standards of success in JDF implementation in a multi-vendor and multi-company environment.”

Second place in the “Most innovative use of process automation category” went to Daimu Co., a Japanese print shop with a staff of 35 employees. Daimu’s objective was to completely digitize its workflow. This company built their automation project around Olive’s PrintSapiens MIS system and integrated it in stages with Trueflow from Screen and K-Station from Komori, allowing Daimu to automate job planning, prepress and printing. In the process, Daimu integrated two facilities, eliminating waste in production operations and communication and creating a new proof workflow, dramatically reducing manual mistakes, and allowing employees to focus more on intellectual work, as opposed to repetitive and routine work.

In the category of “Best cost/benefit realization as a result of process automation implementation”, first place went to PDC Tangen of Norway. PDC Tangen provided a very detailed description of situation before and after introduction of JDF in their case study. To date PDC Tangen has used JDF to integrate six printing presses (37 units from Mitsubishi and Komori), three folding machines (MBO), and prepress (Kodak), which are all networked with a JDF-enabled MIS (Hiflex MIS). Prepress receives Stripping and folders are preset with type and position of folds, folding catalog, and details about side or head alignment. The first fully automated order was produced in June 2007. With an ROI of 1847.2% their investment paid itself back 20 times in 5 years. They also reported a 25% increase in productivity on their presses, a 15% increase in productivity on their folders, and an overall increase of transparency, job tracking, planning horizon, and flexibility. Compared with 2005 results, after its automation implementation PDC Tangen experienced a 20% increase in job turnover and a 900% increase in profit after taxes in 2006.

Reflecting on PDC Tangen’s approach to implementing JDF-enabled process automation, CIPPI Award Judge John Leininger of Clemson University said, “It is like a healthy life style; it is a change in the way you do things forever, not a quick fix. They get the point.”

Second place in the “Best cost/benefit” category went to Yamazen Communications (Japan). Yamazen provides conventional printing services as well development of custom web portals. It has 86 employees and revenues of ¥1.2 billion (about ≠7.28 million or $10.12 million US). Yamazen set up an innovative web-to-print site in 2000. In order to produce a broad range of printed materials, they have implemented Heidelberg JDF-oriented products for prepress and press, and then installed a MIS system from Tosbac Systems to complete their automatic production workflow. Yamazen was able to reduce make ready times and waste on press in prepress, eliminate 160 minutes per day in labor for job tracking and delivery date management, and reduce prepress processing time per job by 10 minutes. Their investment has a net present value of ≠2,300,290 and an ROI of 1584.16%.

In the category of “Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation”, BVD Druck & Verlag AG (Liechtenstein) took first place with an application that featured and end-to-end JDF-enabled integration project that began in 2003 and will be completed in 2008. The current system includes JDF-enabled integration via Heidelberg’s Prinect Integration System, Prinect Printready System, Prinect SignaStation, Prinect MetaDimension and Prinect Pressroom Manager and BVD is in the process of integrating postpress operations by adding Heidelberg’s Prinect Postpress Manager and will complete the implementation by tying a Xerox iGen3 with a Spire RIP into the JDF workflow with Heidelberg’s Prinect Digital Print Manager. According to BVD’s application, “The data for job production and the permanent monitoring of the production process (tracking) are consolidated into one system that offers easy access to absolutely reliable information for all th

ose involved. Job management and determining job status has become much easier.” BVD’s automation project resulted in higher production capacity from the same resources, which in turn led to a significant increase in sales volume while the cost structure in job preparation, prepress, printing and postpress remained the same. BVD calculated a 938% ROI based upon:

• Faster reaction times

• Greater employee satisfaction due to higher process safety

• Greater customer satisfaction and hence long-term customer loyalty

• Continuous improvement of processes and internal skills

• Permanent product costing analysis without additional staff deployment

Second place in the category of “Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation” went to Canadian printer Ampersand Printing. According to the Review Panel’s summary, Ampersand, “had the best understanding of locating the hidden costs in the workflow and recovering costs for author’s alterations, other chargeable changes, time looking for tickets, etc. Ampersand provided an excellent explanation of the pains prior to implementation and of how JDF helped to stop them.” Ampersand integrated a Hiflex MIS including digital planning board and Shop Floor Data Collection, Kodak Prinergy Workflow System, Heidelberg Polar Compucut and Hiflex Shop Floor Data Collection, and achieved a 1815.8% ROI calculated on a five year basis. Some of the many improvements in efficiency that Ampersand Printing reported include:

• Turnover increase of 34.78% in the first period after implementation

• Automatic Job Create in Prinergy

• Automatic load of Preps imposition schemas based on JDF StrippingParams

• Automatic booking of material consumption

• Tight integration of the customer into the prepress workflow

• Automatic processing of received files

• No unnecessary correction cycles / clear job content

• Increase of sold productivity on the presses due to ameliorated transparency and flexibility

• Automatic, accurate creation of cutting program (dramatic reduction in make-ready)

Special CIPPI Honorable Mentions were made to McCallum Printing (Canada) and R/T Associates (USA). McCallum Printing was granted Honorable Mention for “Achieving outstanding customer responsiveness as a result of process automation.” McCallum, a Heidelberg installation, grew its revenue from its first year of business from $13 million Canadian to $17.5 million Canadian in 2007 with an increase of only one person in administration. Even more outstanding were the five pages of customer testimonials to its customer responsiveness in its CIPPI Awards application. R/T Associates was granted an Honorable Mention for “Achieving an exceptional level of automation, from customer order to distribution, in digital printing.” R/T Associates used Objective Advantage’s OASymbio to integrate its Saepio web-to-print front end with a Hewlett Packard Indigo press and a Duplo DC-645 that cuts, slits and creases in a single pass. R/T Associates achieved a level of automation that eliminates nearly all repetitive manual tasks. Although work in the shop has nearly doubled, no staff has been added and the owner estimates that a minimum of five additional production staff would have been required without the solution. They also achieved a breakeven on their investment in just six months.

“Every year the evolution of automation in the printing industry is more visible in the CIPPI Awards applications that are submitted to CIP4,” said James Harvey, CIP4’s Executive Director. “Three years ago printers were just trying to connect one department to another with JDF, which is fairly commonplace today. Now we are seeing examples of end-to-end integration and even integration beyond the printing plant to other facilities and other printers. These printers haven’t just reinvented themselves; they’ve reinvented the printing industry and the very nature of what it means to be a printer.”

Any printer, prepress service or publisher may apply for the CIPPI awards, and awards are determined by a Review Panel of judges without affiliation to any vendor, printer, prepress service or publisher. The five Review Panel judges are:

• Patrick Cahuet of 1Prime|Concept (France)

• Stephan Jaeggi of PrePress-Consulting (Switzerland)

• Tetsuo Kimura of PrinTechno, Inc. (Japan)

• William C. Lamparter of PrintCom Consulting Group (USA)

• John Leininger of Clemson University (USA)

The six first and second place 2007 CIPPI award winning case-study applications and honorable mention applications may be downloaded at www.cip4.org/cippi/ where you can also get more information on the CIPPI awards program. The CIPPI award is named after the late Jürgen Schönhut of the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt Germany. Mr. Schönhut was a founding member of CIP4 whose contribution was instrumental in creating both CIP4 and its predecessor, the CIP3 Consortium. (For more information on Jürgen Schönhut please see his biography at http://www.cip4.org/cippi/juergen_schoenhut.html) .

About CIP4
CIP4 brings together vendors, consultants, and end-users in the print communications, graphic arts industry, and associated sectors, covering a variety of equipment, software, peripherals, and processes. Members participate in focused working groups to define the Job Definition Format (JDF), PrintTalk, and other standards relevant to process automation; to study user requirements; to test product interoperability; and to develop a range of JDF software development tools. Information on CIP4, including membership details, is available from the organization’s website: www.cip4.org. Or contact: Stefan Daun, Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, +49 6151 155 575, secretariat@cip4.org. All content and ideas submitted to the CIP4 user groups and intellectual property rights subsisting therein shall become the exclusive property of CIP4.

About JDF
The Job Definition Format (JDF) is the industry specification designed to facilitate process automation and the integration of different applications and systems in and around the graphic arts industry. JDF also enables the integration of business management and job planning applications into the production workflow. JDF is based on the W3C’s Extensible Markup Language (XML), ensuring maximum interoperability between different platforms and ready interaction with Internet systems. More information is available at http://www.cip4.org