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 KBA and HIFLEX Implement Digital Workflow - German media group Universal in Munich has converted to digital networking. A JDF network embedding a KBA Logotronic
Professional management information system went live in February following the installation of dedicated HIFLEX software
in January. HIFLEX will be showcasing its applications software in a JDF workflow on KBA’s stand in hall 16 at Drupa.
Both KBA and HIFLEX are members of the CIP4 consortium and collaborate in Creo’s NGP (Networked Graphic Production) Initiative. |
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Universal is an ISO-accredited sheetfed offset operation with a workforce of around 50 people. It was formed in
spring 2000 from the merger of four veteran Munich printing houses. |
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In February Universal’s joint managing directors, Helmut Stoppe (l) and Albert Contzen, installed a JDF workflow supported by
dedicated software from HIFLEX |
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Alongside its offset printing activities (business reports, magazines, books, promos and calendars), Universal’s service
spectrum also embraces pre-press (including composition and litho), database publishing, website design and the production
of CDs. Its press room houses two Heidelberg Speedmasters – a five-year-old B1 (40") and a four-year-old B2 (29")
– plus a B1 (41½") KBA Rapida 105 that came on stream last year.
The HIFLEX software installed in January greatly facilitated the transition to a fully fledged, JDF-compliant production network.
"The conversion to HIFLEX print support software was completed in a matter of weeks and went without a hitch. The system
was accepted without reservations by all our staff because it offers us concrete benefits in job scheduling, production control
and management analysis," says Albert Contzen, joint managing director of Universal and a member of the Institut für rationale
Unternehmensführung in der Druckindustrie (IRD, Institute for Rational Corporate Governance in the Print Industry). "Our
prime objective was to take on board the most advanced technology in the marketplace to enhance our efficiency and to raise
our competitive profile." |
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Michael Barth at the delivery of the Rapida 105 five colour installed last year |
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"The entire process of networking Universal’s operations was co-ordinated and managed by a production planning and
control system functioning as a host computer," explains Stefan Reichhart, managing director of HIFLEX.
Reinhold Stange, Logotronic product manager at KBA Radebeul, takes up the tale. "An exact description of the production
sequence is generated during preliminary calculations and initial job costing. Once the data have been captured in the
HIFLEX system they can be made available to the Logotronic Professional system via the JDF interface."
The HIFLEX schedule supports the optimisation of the production workflow and compliance with deadlines. It also doubles
as a master JDF computer within the production sequence. A shift timetable is embedded in the program to enable daily
schedules and shift work to be organised more effectively, and this can be amended at short notice in response to changes
in plant capacity caused, for example, by failures or special shifts. The time allocated to the various links in the
production chain in the preliminary calculations can then be assigned by the scheduler to the relevant cost centres, based
on either the individual sheets or individual signatures. This provides the option of assigning jobs to a number of presses,
which each print specific sheets, or splitting up the signatures on a sheet and reassigning them to other sheets if necessary. |
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The data for the next job can be transferred to the Rapida 105 from the console, reducing the time press operator
Michael Barth must spend on makeready at the press |
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"The HIFLEX scheduling software furnishes us with a high-precision tool for making our production processes more
transparent and our scheduling more effective. It is much easier for us to change schedules at short notice if something
unexpected crops up," says Albert Contzen. "Since production scheduling is now implemented electronically,
internal communications can be embedded at the click of a button – for example are the plates ready? Has the job been
approved? When is the client due? Has the paper arrived on time? It’s all so much more convenient."
Once the job data have been transferred to the Logotronic Professional computer the CIP5 data are downloaded from pre-press
via a hot folder system. Preset values for the ink keys etc are calculated using press-specific conversion curves, factoring
in the type of stock The job queue is displayed at the press. As soon as the operator has selected the job, the JDF preset
data or repeat job data are downloaded automatically onto the press.
"The big appeal for us is that makeready is very much shorter, so output is much higher," says Albert Contzen.
"But above all it has cut out the repeat input of data already captured by the software. This saves time and eliminates
error sources." |
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Densitronic S quality control directly at the press |
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Data exchange between KBA and HIFLEX is two-directional. During the production run press status is reported in real time to
the HIFLEX control software via the JDF/JMF interface. The status, speed and saleable sheet count are displayed in the
HIFLEX monitor. So the scheduler and administration staff can track production instantly.
"While press data such as speed and sheet count are reported directly to the scheduler via the JDF/JMF interface,
feedback relating to production economics and job statistics is routed via the HIFLEX software," Stefan Reichhart explains.
"The JDF workflow at Universal is a showcase installation. More joint installations with HIFLEX are in the pipeline
prior to Drupa," says Reinhold Stange in conclusion. |
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Job data, complete with setting values such as ink-key timings, are transferred digitally from pre-press to the Logotronic
system and can be used for press preset |
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| Data screen for a print job on a Rapida, using HIFLEX scheduling software which also functions as a JDF controller.
The press data displayed in the lower left corner are downloaded from the 105 via a JDF/JMF interface. |
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