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 The Neidhart + Schön Group in Zurich has embarked upon a new era in enterprise-wide networking, by
implementing the Job Definition Format (JDF). Neidhart + Schön is being helped along the way by an
impressive trio of external suppliers - Creo, HIFLEX and MAN Roland. The result is that the Administration,
Prepress and Press departments are enthusiastically sharing digital information, creating greater
transparency and more precise and efficient processes. |
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"Managing director Olivier Neidhart can sum up his corporate philosophy in two sentences:
"A collective approach is very important to us. To achieve this, we integrate enterprise-wide business
processes, opening up significant potential synergies for our customers by allowing cross media
production." |
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The Neidhart + Schön Group is a growing presence on the Swiss printing and media scene. The members of
the Group are Neidhart + Schön AG for offset printing, AAA AG for digital printing and via one! Multimedia
Solutions AG – all three based in Wipkingen, Zurich. The Group has a total of 60 employees, of which 50
are involved in offset printing. Managing director Olivier Neidhart can sum up his corporate philosophy in
two sentences: "A collective approach is very important to us. To achieve this, we integrate
enterprise-wide business processes, opening up significant potential synergies for our customers by
allowing cross media production." Against this background, the Neidhart + Schön Group develops concepts
for its customers, allowing data to be entered only once and then automatically processed for a range of
media depending on requirements. This approach would not be possible if our employees did not think and
act in a networked business context. But customers, too, need help in order to recognize the new
opportunities. That is why the Group proactively uses newsletters and workshops to inform the market of
new communication and production methods.
Integrating technology in a network is also the key to efficient production throughout the value chain.
Over the last ten years, the offset printing arm of the Group has managed to more than double its turnover
and greatly increased the number of orders it handles. HIFLEX MIS system was introduced back in 1992, and
this has been one of the major factors underpinning the Neidhart + Schön success story. "It is important
for us to input and evaluate data from all the orders we handle. That allows us to analyze each order
individually, and to draw conclusions on the basis of informed, factual operational data," explains
Olivier Neidhart. |
By the start of the '90s, Olivier Neidhart had already formed the vision of eventually integrating the
entire family firm in a network. During his studies and on a number of placements abroad, he had seen
how consistent networking had succeeded in making other sectors much more productive and profitable.
Since the summer of 2003, Neidhart + Schön is now one giant step closer to realizing his vision. That
was when Neidhart + Schön - with the support of partners from the supply sector and thanks to the
opportunities presented by the Job Definition Format (JDF) - started the process of networking to link
the Administration, Prepress and Printing departments.
The company uses the HIFLEX MIS system, featuring all available software modules, to handle a range of
activities: all administrative processes, quotation processing, costing, invoicing, production planning
and plant data collection. A total of 15 employees work full time on all the system modules, with a
further 10 using the modules from time to time when they need to. The HIFLEX sector solution is where
networking begins and ends. The software is used to input and manage customer data and order data, and
to transfer the technical data to the integrated production planning system and on to production.
Information flows in the other direction too - from production back to the sector software via plant
data collection - and is processed for final costing, cost accounting and statistics. |
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The HIFLEX sector solution is where
networking begins and ends. The software is used to input and manage customer data and order data, and
to transfer the technical data to the integrated production planning system and on to production.
Information flows in the other direction too - from production back to the sector software via plant
data collection - and is processed for final costing, cost accounting and statistics.
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In Prepress, the output-oriented production processes were made JDF compatible using a Creo Prinergy
workflow management system. The investment was linked to the introduction of digital plate imaging
using a fully automatic Creo CTP device of type Lotem 800 Quantum with online plate development.
The print floor of Neidhart + Schön AG predominantly uses 3B format. The top performers are one
seven-color and one five-color Roland 700. These two sheet-fed offset press in 3B format did not need
a hardware upgrade to implement JDF-based networking - a software update of the PECOM system was all
that was necessary.
Daniel Schnyder, technology and overall production manager at Neidhart + Schön, and therefore
responsible for implementing the JDF project, explains: "It was crucial for us to be able to set up
JDF-based communication between Administration, Prepress and Press without the need for major
technical upgrades in the existing infrastructure." According to him, the most important factor was
the solid project design and planning, with Creo, HIFLEX and MAN Roland all working together. Each of
these manufacturers appointed a project manager who could be contacted by everyone else involved in
the project. The fine tuning happened in weekly conference calls. Thanks to the thorough preparation,
it took only three working days to set up JDF communication in practical terms - including installation
and training. |
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Daniel Schnyder, technology and overall production manager at Neidhart + Schön, and therefore
responsible for implementing the JDF project, explains: "It was crucial for us to be able to set up
JDF-based communication between Administration, Prepress and Press without the need for major
technical upgrades in the existing infrastructure."
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From a technical point of view, networking between HIFLEX Print and the Creo Prinergy® system was
implemented using the Creo software module Synapse Link/HIFLEX JDF Controller, which supports two-way
communication of JDF and dynamic JMF data. The new link means that new Prinergy jobs can be created
directly from the HIFLEX MIS, making it unnecessary for the 15 Prepress employees (setting, image editing,
digital platemaking) to input the data a second time. Prinergy can also use the Creo JDF interface to
supply the MIS with shop floor data from Prepress in real time. Examples of such data include precisely
tracked information about approved or rejected pages, process times and material consumption. MAN Roland
has also integrated a JDF interface in its PECOM system, which was used by Neidhart + Schön to implement a
bidirectional exchange of data. This means that the HIFLEX MIS can provide the PECOM system of the MAN
Roland presses with online access to the parameters that are relevant for printing, and can meanwhile
receive constantly updated event information from the presses.
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Even the presses are involved in information sharing.
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The introduction of JDF has not involved any fundamental change to the way the HIFLEX workstations are
operated. As before, the administrator dealing with the job creates an order with the relevant parameters.
Once the order is placed, HIFLEX Material Planning is informed of the start and end dates. At the same
time, the HIFLEX Print system creates a job in the Prinergy system. The Creo Preps Plus imposition program
is used for sheet assembly in the Prepress department, on the basis of the parameters already defined in
Administration.
If the customer issues an "OK to print" after the coordination and proofing cycle, the data for the PC
system are written from HIFLEX Material Planning. In this way, the JobPilot in the PECOM system receives
all information about the customer, the product, the format, the press run, the paper, the number of
plates/colors, etc. The paper class is also used to define target values for the CCI 2 color control
system. As before, CIP3 files are used to pass the ink key settings data generated by Creo PrintLink in
Prepress to PECOM. |
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The database-supported Prinergy system already used to track the individual processes, processing steps
(import imposition data, refine, trapping, color management, etc.) and material consumption in Prepress.
Now, using the JDF interface, this information is automatically passed to the HIFLEX Print system, where
it can be accessed for invoicing, cost accounting and statistical purposes. In particular, the material
planning and scheduling systems are kept constantly up-to-date about the order status. Individual
employees in production (Prepress, Press and Postpress) directly enter their working hours for each order,
directly in the plant data collection component of the HIFLEX Print system.
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HIFLEX sends commercial data (order ID, customer) and technical data (format, colors, weight, thickness)
to the PECOM system for the press settings. PECOM automatically reports a range of press-related events
to the MIS.
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Daniel Schnyder, who originally trained as a printer, is positive about the implementation of JDF. As
early as five years ago, abolishing day sheets and introducing distributed electronic plant data
collection already meant the company could free up half the working week of one of their employees.
"Using JDF saves us up to two minutes per order in Prepress alone. With 10 to 15 jobs a day, the overall
saving is 20 to 30 minutes - and the effect is even more pronounced on the print floor," is how the
technology manager sums up his opinion so far. On an annual basis, potential savings of between 300 and
400 man hours ought to be possible in the current phase of implementation, simply by ensuring that the
same data is not entered more than once.
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Daniel Schnyder is positive about the implementation of JDF. As
early as five years ago, abolishing day sheets and introducing distributed electronic plant data
collection already meant the company could free up half the working week of one of their employees.
"Using JDF saves us up to two minutes per order in Prepress alone. With 10 to 15 jobs a day, the overall
saving is 20 to 30 minutes - and the effect is even more pronounced on the print floor," is how the
technology manager sums up his opinion so far. |
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The people at Neidhart + Schön are also pleased with the improved quality of the data and the resulting
transparency in production. Individual orders as well as entire processes can be analyzed in detail,
creating a solid and reliable basis for decision making. The system also stores all significant events,
and records the production costs and material costs associated with any change. This allows the production
process to be tracked in detail, and means that jobs can be billed on a much more precise basis. |
The Zurich printing company is already buzzing with ideas about how to keep the networking process moving
forward. One of the items on the wishlist is the fully-automated, JDF-supported imposition of orders on
the basis of parameters defined by Administration in HIFLEX production planning.
People are also looking at automating the long-standing system of just-in-time paper supply. "Space is a
very expensive commodity here in Zurich. What we want is to trigger a paper acquisition at the same time
as an order receives the OK-to-print from the customer. That would allow us to make significant reductions
in our direct and indirect storage and logistics costs." According to Daniel Schnyder and his co-workers,
the current phase of implementation is an important milestone on the way to Networked Graphic Production.
The next steps are already being discussed and evaluated with Creo, HIFLEX and MAN Roland, with
implementation due in the months ahead. The finishing equipment, too, is certain to be integrated with
networked production. Against this background, the people making the decisions at Neidhart + Schön are
sure of one thing: JDF compatibility will be high on the list of requirements for all upcoming investment
projects.
Neidhart + Schön Group AG
Dorfstrasse 29
CH-8037 Zürich
Telefon 01 446 82 00
ds@nsgroup.ch
www.nsgroup.ch
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