The New Print Production Mantra: Unified Offset/Digital Workflow

In another example of vendor collaboration, Heidelberg is actively working with several of the digital print engine manufacturers, including Xerox, to allow offset printers to leverage their mature offset workflows all the way up to the point of print. “Now, as the print shop owner or the CFO or production manager, you will be able to see shop status from a single inter-face,” says Schaer. You can tell what your finishing, conventional printing and CTP devices are doing, what’s going on in preflighting, and the status of your digital printing devices at the same time. And you get the same robust level of data about the digital press as you get from your offset press, as well as a seamless flow of data to and from your print MIS for both your offset and digital production operations. This is the advantage that JDF brings.”