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Aachen, Germany (18.07.2003). The world’s first JDF workflow to operate under real-life production
conditions was installed by industry software provider HIFLEX and MAN Roland at
Druckhaus Berlin Mitte GmbH (DBM) already in February 2003. And now the results achieved
in practical operation so far are available for evaluation. |
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Caption: The basis for the data to be forwarded to production is the job sequence in the categories rough
planning, outline planning, and fine planning determined by production planning and control (as the process
control system). The precise manufacturing description will be generated in the course of costing. If
there are any last-minute changes, the job costing is converted into a production costing. Machines
with a JDF interface receive their data directly from the process control system. Feedbacks take place
via production data collection (PDC = HIFLEX PDC).
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JDF is the key technology for complete networking of the printing plant. As Christian Gugler, PECOM
Product Manager at MAN Roland explains: "We already announced it at IPEX 2002 and now it’s a reality:
the first installation running under real-life production conditions. This is the start of the next
integration phase". MAN Roland is one of the four initiators of the JDF standard and a driving force
behind its use in practice. "We contributed our many years of integration experience to the DBM project
and with this JDF-based installation we are resolutely pursuing our conviction: workflow software is
intended for professional production environments where it must prove itself as early as possible."
Herbert Preißler (DBM) briefly summarizes the effect this development has had on his company: "The
JDF link between HIFLEX and MAN Roland saves us around three hours office work every day, with some
90% of all jobs being passed to the MAN Roland presses without any further processing being needed.
This streamlining has given us an important competitive edge and also provided the prerequisites
to respond better to our customers’ delivery requirements. For the next step we are looking to
integrate the Heidelberg Speedmaster and the finishing operations into the system so that all
suitable jobs can be completely controlled with JDF."
"Between now and DRUPA 2004 there are quite a number of other installations planned with
different partners," reports Christian Gugler (MAN Roland). And nor is HIFLEX content with
just this one installation. Stefan Reichhart, General Manager of HIFLEX, advises that: "We
provided a Swiss customer with a JDF link to a Creo Prinergy System back in June this year so
we don’t restrict ourselves to printing press integration alone. There are more installations
already planned together with MAN Roland before the end of this year and we will be working with
several other CIP4 members to finalize numerous JDF installations prior to DRUPA."
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HIFLEX has been a full member of the CIP4 consortium (successor to CIP3) since January 2002.
CIP4 is an international body and the name stands for "Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in
Prepress, Press and Postpress". The integration of these processes is technologically based on the Job
Definition Format (JDF) developed by CIP4. JDF is XML-based and incorporates existing partial solutions
such as the Print Production Format (PPF) developed by CIP3 and the Portable Job Ticket Format (PJTF)
from the Adobe company.
Die Integration der vorgenannten Bereiche basiert technologisch auf dem Job Definition Format (JDF) von CIP4.
JDF ist XML-basiert und baut auf bereits bestehenden Teillösungen wie dem Print Production Format (PPF) von
CIP3 und dem Portable Job Ticket Format (PJTF) von Adobe auf. (more Infos to CIP4 / JDF)
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HIFLEX has its headquarters in Aachen, Germany and manufactures the HIFLEX Print industry
software which maps and supports all the business processes of printing plants. The HIFLEX system covers
all relevant functions and tasks to be found within a printing company: estimating, quotations, order
acknowledgements, job envelopes, delivery notes, invoicing, historic costing, statistical evaluations,
inventory management, production planning and control, production data collection, machine interfaces,
shipping, and job progress tracking. The company has also developed an e-business module as well as a
Document Management system. Every year HIFLEX re-invests around 50 % of its earnings in research and
development. HIFLEX software is represented all over the world and is available in 15 different languages.
www.hiflex.com |
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