How automated technologies and manufacturing processes including workflows, job management, computer to plate and the PDF file format have delivered on the promise of increased efficiencies, reduced rework, standardized processes, and reduced headcount in commercial printing. Print has squeezed out the excess and is setting its sites upstream, looking directly at you.

Print is lean and mean and has its act togeth-uh, baby – can content creators say the same?

Unlike most, if not all, other manufacturing processes, print doesn’t control the beginning of their own workflow. Can you imagine not being able to control the beginning of your own manufacturing process?

As content creators, you are the primary supplier to the manufacturing process of print, so let’s look at the track record. According to the Electronic Prepress Section 2004 Digital Workflow Survey: 32% of all printers surveyed stated that 75-99% of all incoming files need repair and 26% of all printers surveyed stated that 50-74% of all incoming files need repair according to Joe Marin, Senior Prepress Technologist/Instruction of PIA/GATF, [1] www.gain.net.

So, over 50% of the printers surveyed indicate, on average that 75% of all incoming files require intervention and repair. Could any major auto manufacturer survive such massive flawed supplies? For example, could print survive 75% flawed paper supplies?

And yet, print, America’s largest manufacturing industry in terms of establishments, with over 44,000 printing plants in 2003, providing 1.1 million jobs and producing around $157 billion in printed products and services annually, continues to deal with the fact that their primary supplier, in spite of all kinds of technological advances, continues to submit error-filled files. Just how has print dealt with this issue? Well first, they decided to affect change where they actually could – they cleaned house.

Print renovates the manufacturing process

Yes, since 1452 (more or less) print, as a manufacturing process, has pretty much been able to call the shots in the delivery of your creative content. Of course, the computer revolution changed all that. Print found itself having to transform like never before in its history, because you, the customer, demanded that they do so. In the last 20 to 30 years print has undergone massive changes – more so than any other manufacturing process than I can think of.

Knocked them on their ass, turned them on their ear, but they got the message and as the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” and the next thing you know, everyone is jumping in to help print transform itself. Press manufacturers, computer to plate manufacturers, suppliers, software developers, and let’s not forget industry standards – committees, have all conspired to reinvent print.

Changing the way we buy print

With the advent of the internet the competition for distribution of content was on. Cheaper and quicker became the pressure points. eCommerce and the dynamics of supply chain economics shifted, and suddenly print finds itself competing as a commodity purchase. No longer do you have to take your work to the commercial shop up the road. A content creator can literally choose a printer anywhere in the world. And of course, since we’re only talking ink on paper (tongue firmly planted in cheek) what’s left on the old RFQ?

Print buyers are savvier now than ever before and today’s RFQ may include job tracking, remote proofing, impossible turnarounds, and rock-bottom competitive pricing. How competitive – well, I’ve just noted, they’re not competing with the shop next door – they’re competing with China. These are high expectations and print is delivering, baby.

Computer to Plate Technology and the no-brainer ROI

We’ll start with computer to plate technology which began to take hold just before the turn of the century (wow, I can’t believe I just wrote that), and despite a pause due to the economic conditions triggered by 9/11, CTP technology is now found in more than 50% of commercial printers in this country. Eliminating film and the chemistry associated with it has increased turnaround times, but placed more pressure upstream. Meaning – you can’t fix an error on a plate. You gotta go back to the file and run a new plate. And they don’t want to have to do that – spoilage, rework, time, press time, “time is money” time.

Automated Workflows are in the Mainstream

And speaking of upstream, on to the next big contributor to this industrial reinvention: the rise of the automated, PDF-based workflows. Specifically workflows like, Creo’s Prinergy, Artwork System’s Nexus, and Agfa’s Apogee, etc. These workflows are in the mainstream. One of my favorite printers, Pentzer Printing of Columbus, Indiana ([2] www.pentzerprinting.com) – shop-size of about 20, give or take, is using Artwork System’s Nexus to get the job done! And if it’s happening in Columbus, Indiana, baby, it’s happening everywhere.

Where did all the production operators go?

Another byproduct of these new efficiencies, is reduced headcount in the manufacturing process. I hate to say it, since my career has spanned almost 17 years, I’ve seen tremendous changes in the production professional – some good and some unfortunate. The demographics of the print employee have and are shifting with 30% of the workforce retiring in this decade. Making way for the next generation? Not likely. Their jobs are disappearing and are not likely to be replaced.

In their place is automation. Those left will have to have incredible skill sets. Those skill sets will have to span the full breadth of the workflow. As these systems offer more sophisticated solutions, the problem-solving will undoubtedly become more complex as well. So we have fewer production personnel as a significant amount are retiring or are displaced by technology.

Creo’s Prinergy holds the largest market share for automated workflows

Coming off a successful Print ‘05, let’s listen in as Creo gives us their viewpoint on the last 5 – 10 years of print:

According to Larry McIntyre, product manager for Creo’s Prinergy workflow, “We had an outstanding Print ’05 show, with sales exceeding our targets. Kodak’s acquisition of Creo has meant expanded sales and marketing support with tighter integration to the Kodak product line up.”

McIntyre observed that “traditional printers are not succeeding like early adopters of technology. Those that are adopting and leveraging technology early are experiencing continued success. The ROI on CTP is so compelling.”

Prinergy 3’s biggest draw is automated versioning and rules-based automation which allow for complex layered PDF versions as well as built in standards or decision-making, right in the workflow. Products in the line up that directly impact you, the creative, would by the Synapse suite of products that include a web portal for job submission and a new digital asset management solution. For more information about Creo, or other Kodak products, go to [3] www.kodak.com.

PDF is the swiss army knife of file finishing!

I won’t spend much time in this article waxing endlessly about the PDF file format (I’ll save it for another time) and, let’s face it, much like my career, this file format’s “overnight sensation” status belies a long road to the top – it was actually just way ahead of its time (I know the comparisons are startling). Nonetheless, these workflows have been built around this ideal file format. Lest the young producers complain, I remember the days when early adopters (the jurassic period of postscript) were grappling with postscript code – so be quiet and go back to Pitstop and count your artifacts. PDF/X, a file format for commercial print, rocks and represents a win-win for both creatives and producers.

JDF, the acronym that binds

Tie all these manufacturing processes together with job management software capable of watching and recording all processes and events and you have an automated plant or “smart factory.” JDF, which stands for Job Definition Format, is a comprehensive XML-based file format designed to streamline information exchange between different applications and systems, according to the CIP4 organization ([4] www.cip4.org). If you have a copy of Acrobat Professional 7 you have the ability to attach a job ticket in JDF to your PDF to automate the processing of your file.

I think I’ve sufficiently demonstrated that print manufacturing has done plenty in the last decade to examine its technology or processes and have squeezed out, with the help of industrious developers, as much waste as possible. Although there’s still more to be done – automated preflight, direct to press, on-line proofing, JDF-enabled workflows (stop the presses, RR Donnelley just announced its first integrated JDF enabled plant in Atlanta)—they’ve come a long way baby.

The Challenge, or Throwing down the Gauntlet

So, part two of this subject: Let’s take a look at the content creators. Have they kept pace with their producer brethren when it comes to optimized workflows, organized assets, excellent project structure and documentation? Are creatives constructing solid produce-able files? Do they have quality control checkpoints in their own processes? Have they adopted industry standard best practices for file formats and documentation? Can they turn around work quickly and efficiently with the proper tools and skills? Surely good construction and creativity aren’t mutually exclusive? Let’s explore the world of the creative and how they’ve put technology to good use.