Talk about digital workflow

When digital workflow came to China's printing industry, it was a voice of praise. After a period of development, at present, the process management systems introduced by major manufacturers aim at satisfying the digital requirements of users as much as possible, and help companies gradually realize digital workflows that meet the requirements of the enterprise's equipment, processes, and personnel. At the same time, with the vigorous development of digital printing in China, some process manufacturers and equipment manufacturers have also launched their own digital printing systems or process products.

The digital workflow is good, but the market application does not seem to be as good as one would expect. This "authority viewpoint" has specially invited relevant people to express their views. Regardless of whether these ideas and your ideas are resonating or arguing, they all hope to inspire ideas and jointly promote the application process of digital workflow.

Talk about the process in traditional printing

Background: Since drupa 2004, the concepts and technologies of workflows have also been taken seriously by the industry in China. Various related discussions and articles have appeared more and more in related seminars and newspapers. Some have developed rapidly and are forward looking. Sexual traditional printing companies have actively researched and established work processes that are compatible with their own production environment and applications, with the support of manufacturers with strong technical capabilities.

People: Mr. Li Wenping, General Manager of Gaoshu Corporation

Point of View 1: Prepress digital development is fast, but the workflow has not yet reached the system integration status

With the gradual promotion of CTP applications, the digital development of Chinese traditional printing companies before printing is progressing rapidly, especially in high-end printing companies. However, most of the low-end and middle-end printing companies are still in the process of transforming from traditional craftsmanship to modern craftsmanship. Due to various restrictions, the benefits brought by digital technology before printing cannot be fully enjoyed.

Prepress digital technology includes CTP, digital proofing, imposition, digital color control, work flow, etc. Most applications in the country are still used independently, rather than system integration. Imposition and digital proofing are most commonly used, and the penetration rate of CTP and workflow is not high. Digital color management is basically still in the concept promotion stage.

Point Two: Small Processes Solve Big Problems

Printing is an industry that requires technical accumulation and gradual understanding. The lack of accumulated technology in traditional printing companies is a major obstacle to prepress digitalization. Most domestic printing companies lack the most basic processes such as make-up and digital proofing, and experience in the use of color management software. They suddenly enter the integrated process and lack intermediate transitions, often resulting in indigestion. However, a flexible, small process can solve this problem very well, and achieve greater improvement in efficiency and cost with smaller investment.

The company has introduced a flexible RIP digital workflow in the field of commercial printing. Its main feature is the integration of various function software, such as RIP, imposition software, digital proofing software, ink preset software, output control software, etc. A digital process chain covering prepress and printing. Each of these rings can be disassembled and replaced. Due to this feature, the user's original system (software and equipment) can be used to the maximum extent possible. The user can select according to the characteristics of his original system and connect with his own system. A common problem for domestic users when using digital workflows is the inconsistency of domestic standards for typesetting files. The post-RIP process can completely solve this problem.

Point three: Avoid blind investment

From the perspective of the application of digital technology, the domestic application base is certainly not comparable to the foundation of European and American companies. Therefore, the construction of digital technology also needs to be gradual and gradual according to the actual situation. We believe that in the process, the following points need attention.

1 Select a digital workflow that is suitable for the company's equipment, processes, and personnel quality requirements to avoid blind investment; 2 Combine the company's production and development status, examine the compatibility and scalability of the digital workflow; 3 Choose a reliable, can provide effective The solution vendors cooperated; 4 digitalized pre-press transformation in a gradual manner to avoid “digestion” caused by one step.
We will give full consideration to the existing equipment, personnel, technology and other factors of domestic enterprises, and provide targeted, practical and continuously updated solutions.

Character: Mr. Ye Jian, Director, Beijing Office, Da Nippon Screen (China) Co., Ltd.

Point of view: Buying a workflow is like going to the supermarket

The concept of the process, the way it is sold, and the way that users purchase it are completely different from the previous RIP and printing equipment. For example, buying a work process is a bit like shopping in a supermarket. Before entering the supermarket, you may not know what you want to buy, but rather, you need to see what you need and use it again. After you enter the supermarket, you may have bought what you need. You may also find that you bought something that you didn't want to buy but you really need. You may also buy something that you don't need but will need in the future. How much money you spend depends on how much is in your shopping cart. Packaging these requirements is your process. The process itself has no fixed pattern.

Point 2: The development of the work process has experienced a "simple - complex - simple" process

When the workflow first came to the Chinese market, everyone felt that they would be treasured and established a set of processes from the front to the back that could solve many problems. The concept of workflow and the concept of RIP in the traditional sense have been very different. From the perspective of development, the workflow has gone from simple to complex, and from complex to simple.

The earliest work flow was developed based on RIP. Some different modules were added to RIP to develop software that can accommodate more output media. Later, some management functions were added and some modules were added. After a period of development, vendors have found that too many modules increase the complexity of the operation and are not suitable for users to select and apply workflows. Therefore, many workflows are now developing in a simple manner. This simpleness does not refer to the simple function, but refers to the simple operation interface and composition. This is a trend in the development of workflows.

The screen company is very familiar with the prepress, printing, and post-press processes, and it can be described as handy. The screen company's production workflow manages the CTP front-end and back-end to meet the needs of users.

Viewpoint 3: Slow development of integrated workflows throughout prepress, printing, and postpress

Now many workflows are not as popular as previously thought. As far as I know, 90% of our work flow is sold to CTP users, and the workflow is basically used as RIP. In fact, the workflow has not only one explained function, but also includes the front-end and back-end management functions. These management functions have not been used, and JDF has not been popularized. Not only at home, but also abroad, it has not been applied on a large scale. The reason is that there are many influencing factors and it is necessary to implement digital management in all aspects of the front, middle, and back ends. For a business, this requires a lot of investment and integration. Judging from the current situation in the Chinese market, whether it can invest so much is an important issue for many companies to consider.

Of course, among the customers of the screen, there are also some printers and pre-printers that are well connected through work processes, such as Beijing Yachang and Shanghai Longshang, because their data has become a standard. The industry should form a unified standard, and now the standards of each family are different. This requires both vendor support and user understanding of digital workflows.

The breakthrough in solving this problem lies in the improvement of printing quality by Chinese printing companies. I think this is the most crucial issue. In fact, what kind of equipment to buy, what kind of work process, is not determined by the printing plant, but by the printing plant's customers. When printing customers have such a demand, they will "force" the printing factory to buy these products.
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Second talk about the process of digital printing

Background: In December 2003, Founder Inkjet Digital Printing System was released. Founder Inkjet Digital Printing System integrated rich, mature graphic arts technology and leading digital printing technology, integrating digital printing production process software. In China Print 2005, Fuji Xerox officially launched the landmark free flow process (FreeFlow) for digital printing workflows. The key point is to solve the existing bottleneck problem for digital printing users, bring new applications to customers, and open up new business opportunities. Digital workflow will inject new vitality into the application of digital printing.

Character: Mr. Fu Chunsheng, General Manager of Beijing Shengsheng Color Printing Co., Ltd.

Point One: Digital Printing Also Needs Workflow

Needless to say, the workflow is very important in the digital printing industry and is an important part of business management. However, there is currently no mature, scalable, and standard work flow in this industry. The current situation is that each digital printing company has its own way, customer base, and model. In addition, everyone is groping on the road to establish a complete digital workflow.
Point 2: The poor stability of digital printing production undermines the foundation for establishing a workflow

In the field of digital printing, it is still difficult to establish a standardized and unified digital workflow, which is related to the stage of digital printing development and the characteristics of the industry. Digital printing has the characteristics of immediacy, so it can not be arranged like offset printing, film comes, the above are solidified information, there are rules to follow. And traditional printing has a certain period of time, and there is a certain amount of time for further urgency. And digital printing is usually the one who does the rush. In our actual production, we often encounter such a situation: In the face of a more imminent print and livelihood, we stop the current Indian work and change it to be a print job. This caused some confusion and the workflow was forced to stop. Moreover, digital printing equipment is also a problem. The production and operation of offset presses are relatively stable. For example, it is expected that the two or three hours that can come out of India will usually come out in two or three hours, and the digital printing equipment is not very stable. If the above two issues are not solved by the digital printing industry, there is no basis for workflow.


People: Mr. Ruan Shui, Product Director of Founder Injet Digital Printing Systems


Point of View 1: Digital Printing Workflow and Traditional Printing Workflow are ultimately the same

Traditional printing workflows and digital printing workflows have the following differences: Digital printing workflows require fast, simple, variable and personalized content requirements; traditional printing workflows focus more on comprehensiveness and wider use. The equipment connected to the digital printing process is a digital printer, while the traditional printing workflow connects more types of equipment and needs to provide a wider range of applications; the traditional printing workflow requires a higher printing accuracy, and digital printing is relatively low. Some digital printing workflows require faster speeds than traditional printing workflows; in terms of printing format, the digital printing workflow is still relatively fixed at the present stage, and it is much simpler than traditional printing in the application of folding (imposition), but There are some new requirements for folding.

However, although there is a certain difference between the two in terms of application level or operation method requirements, in the final analysis, the ultimate goal of the process is to provide users with acceptable prints. Actually no matter what the process is, it is convenient for printing. Fast service, from this point of view, is the same thing.

Point 2: The digital printing workflow is designed to ensure that digital printing equipment is exported to foreign countries efficiently and stably. Many people in the industry have a cognition of the workflow: in a digital printing system, the role played by the process may be the entire system. 93% of the digital presses of different models are just a production device. If there is no work flow, it will directly bring with it a variety of troubles and losses.

Founder Ingenie does not produce its own hardware device products. The hardware devices connected to the system are provided by some hardware manufacturers. Founder Injet is most concerned about process software