Top 500 Print Company Turns to Adaptive for Automated File Transfer and Preflight Workflow
Download PDF Version (150 Kb)
The Company
A leading manufacturer of educational books and training manuals, Ashford Colour Press provides a range of Litho and on-demand printing services to customers throughout the UK. Working with the latest litho and digital print technology, excellent customer services and high quality standards are top of the agenda for this Gosport based company.
The Problem
Ashford Colour Press contacted Adaptive with a view to automating the delivery and preflight checking of incoming PDF's. Following analysis of their existing workflow, Clive Andrews-Lewis, Repro Manager at Ashford Colour Press (ACP) reached the conclusion that valuable time was being wasted on manual processes. Customer service representatives were tracking and reviewing incoming PDF's from multiple solutions including disk, email and FTP. If unsuitable for print, the client would then have to be contacted to discuss any amendments.
In light of these observations, Clive determined that they needed a solution that would:
- Simplify and automate the delivery of incoming files, and notify customers when the file is received.
- Automate the preflight checking of files and the delivery of preflight reports to customers.
- Make it possible to manipulate the content of PDF files in preparation for the Apogee workflow.
- Hand the approved files and associated instructions over to the Apogee workflow.
The primary short-term objectives were to lower costs and increase productivity by removing the manual processes taking place in the production chain. In their endeavour to achieve complete automation, it was crucial that ACP's chosen solution had the potential to integrate with other technologies in the business including MIS and imposition software.
The Solution
During his research of the premedia marketplace, Clive came across the Enfocus product range. He approached Adaptive, a Certified Enfocus Reseller to discuss his workflow requirements. It became evident that no single solution could effectively accomplish all of the criteria outlined in their project.
As independent workflow consultants, Adaptive were able to recommend a combination of cost-effective solutions that would work together to achieve ACP's desired outcomes.
In terms of file transfer, Hermstedt StingRay offered a simple yet efficient way for customers to upload files whilst providing the additional functionality Ashford Colour Press required. StingRay enabled them to create and distribute branded desktop droplets to clients and using bespoke, customisable job tickets capture unique job identification details during file upload. These details included clients information, ISBN and imprint page numbers, which were then converted into XML job tickets and forwarded to StingRay with the submitted files.
Over and above it's file transfer capabilities, StingRay offered ACP an extensive feature set. Most significantly, this included the ability to auto-forward files into their preflight workflow. ACP also valued StingRay's detailed email notifications that can be sent to internal and external users with a manifest of successfully received files.
When it came to preflighting, Enfocus PitStop Server proved to be the most appropriate solution. Apart from its ability to generate comprehensive preflight reports, PitStop Server was proficient in handling the initial preflight check of files in accordance with ACP's bespoke technical specifications. The next challenge was to automate the dispatch of preflight reports to customers. Utilising the automation capabilities of Enfocus PowerSwitch, reports were immediately sent to customers upon preflight failure, with all errors highlighted as annotations. If passed, the PDF's were moved onto the next stage of the workflow process.
Another key requirement of the preflight workflow was the ability to extract information from, import information to and rename the PDF files received. PowerSwitch's intelligent metadata tools enabled Ashford Colour Press to add bespoke imprint/edition information to, and renumber each page within a submitted publication. The Apogee workflow could then use this information to position each page correctly in preparation for the print run. Once the preflight process was complete, all files were uploaded to the company's Apogee workflow and a copy of the amended pages emailed to both the CSR and customer. Using the updated page numbers, Apogee could then autoplace the amended pages in their appropriate places in the print runlist.
Besides the immediate results this workflow solution delivered, its extensive integration potential will support the ongoing development of Ashford Colour Press's business workflows. More specifically, it will allow them to embark on the second phase of their workflow project - integration with their MIS and automated imposition technologies.
The Results
Instantly Ashford Colour Press began to recognise the benefits of their automated preflight workflow. When asked about the impact this workflow has had on their internal operations, Clive commented, "The implementation of our automated preflight workflow has resulted in a significant reduction of wasted repro time. I would say that these time savings and the professionalism demonstrated by the instant return of preflight reports, have been valuable to our customer facing relationships and productivity."
The combination of products supplied and integrated by Adaptive has enabled Ashford Colour Press to take a vital step towards a fully automated production workflow. Perhaps more importantly, it has given them a suitable platform from which to grow their workflow in future years.