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 CIP4 Innovation Awards 2007 again honoured three HIFLEX users. The CIP4 Innovation Awards are given to the world-wide most successful users of process automation technology.
For the third year in succession, HIFLEX users won two out of three categories and achieved second place in the remaining. |
| HIFLEX knows these results are also due to its customers consistent goal of striving for process optimization. Says Stefan Reichhart, Managing Director of HIFLEX GmbH:
"Our customers aim at the automation of their processes via Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). This involves the integration of all organizational and
technical IT functions that are related to the production processes in the HIFLEX MIS and by making full use of all data relevant to production. The results of the 2007
CIPPI again demonstrate that HIFLEX users are highly successful with their automated workflow solutions, showing very high returns on investments." And Thomas Reichhart,
Board Chairman of HIFLEX Group, explains: "Our main objectives are customer benefit and customer satisfaction. Especially in the field of JDF-connectivity.
We work closely and intensively together with leading manufacturers in the graphic arts industry. This enables our customers to have sustainable automation solutions.
We want to make sure that our customers really profit from our unbounded spirit of innovation and the resulting technological developments." And with respect to
the CIPPI results he adds: "Remarkably enough we again realized two world premieres in the area of JDF-connectivity in this year's CIPPIs." |
 Canadian Ampersand Printing positioned itself as one of the leading print service providers in Southern Ontario, Canada. They achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Certification in January 2007. The JDF implementation began in April 2006, one year later the automated workflow included HIFLEX MIS, Kodak Prinergy and the Heidelberg
Polar Cutter.
Ampersand benefits from the following effects of the JDF project: Automatic Job Create in Prinergy, automatic load of Preps imposition schemas based on JDF StrippingParams,
better access to archived jobs / very fast search and response times, automatic booking of material consumption, prepress progress visual for the CSR, up-to-the-minute
plate status for the scheduler, tracking of authors' and house corrections, seamless and accurate billing process, inventory checks of plates no longer show any
discrepancies, tight integration of the customer into the prepress workflow, automatic processing of received files, no unnecessary correction cycles / clear job content,
increase of sold productivity on the presses due to ameliorated transparency and flexibility, automatic and accurate creation of cutting program
(dramatic reduction in make-ready).
In the first period after implementation (2006 compared to 2005) Ampersand realized a turnover increase of 34,78%. The Net Present Value (NPV) is CAD 1,527,940.39,
and the ROI is 1815.8% in five years (investment is paid back nearly 20 times).
Damian McDonald, Vice President and Production Manager at Ampersand states: "The automation benefits utilized from both HIFLEX and Prinergy, paired with the ability
to integrate the two systems has placed us light years from where we were prior to our process efficiency enhancements. Moreover, efficiency enhancements we already
reached had a positive impact on customer responsiveness." And he adds "The truly exciting part is the fact that we have only scratched the surface and are just
beginning to realize the true benefits of this level of integrated automation." |
 PDC Tangen was the first Scandinavian printer that implemented JDF connectivity. Starting in April 2006, their JDF network today includes products from five
different vendors: Kodak's Prinergy and InSite, six printing presses (37 units) from Komori and Mitsubishi and the first JDF-integration Mitsubishi/MIS world-wide,
three folding machines from MBO for postpress and HIFLEX for their MIS. In the realized automation workflow, prepress receives parameters for automatic imposition
where HIFLEX sends job init data as well as JDF StrippingParams to Prinergy. Their MBO folding machines are preset with type and position of folds, folding
catalog and all details about side and head alignment as calculated in HIFLEX MIS.
The integration of their production with HIFLEX MIS led to an overall increase of transparency, job tracking, planning horizon, and flexibility. Mr. Halvor Boressen,
Production Manager at PDC Tangen states: "With regard to the very high level of wages in Norway, the step into automation technology was a strategic
decision in order to decrease the share of labor costs on value added. We set out achieve reality Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) and now we have
realized a fully automated order processing from the print buyer all the way through to postpress. The results of the JDF implementation projects with
HIFLEX MIS have exceeded our expectations by far." |
| The direct effect of the JDF connectivity project was an increase in the turnover by 20% (+ EUR 5.2 Mio / USD 7,17), and a productivity increase of 25% on the
presses and 15% on the folding machines. The profit after taxes was increased by almost 900%. Calculated on a five year's period, the cash value (NPV) is EUR
5.180.906 / USD 7,131,880.25 and their investment pays back nearly 20 times. |
 This CIP4 CIPPI accomplishment was awarded for the innovation that provides a JDF-enabled, web-based automation tool called "HIFLEX Print Support"
(www.printsupport.com) that supports important aspects of print procurement. HIFLEX Print Support
makes the integration of print buyers and suppliers into a JDF workflow possible and thus enabling the connection of all partners of the procurement and
manufacturing processes. Examples are print buyers, printers, and the printer's vendors for outsourcing, in example and does so within a single platform.
This specific workflow has been realized for the first time, ever, on a world-wide basis.
The actual winning workflow relationship includes an Austrian print buyer called 'Gutenberg-Werbering' and their German printer called
'Printing House Berlin-Mitte' aka 'DBM' who provide Gutenberg with print products and also purchase external work from their partner printing company
called 'Walter Grieger Offset' also situated in Germany. HIFLEX Print Support is used by the three of them for their individual procurement processes.
The HIFLEX Print Support System acts as a 'transaction forum' and utilizes the internet and e-mail to communication the procurement processes.
A print buy enters the specs for a job into the system and then sends an RFQ to its chosen vendors. Once the job is awarded to the printer they
export a JDF attachment, including customer data and all job specifications that are generated by the print buyer, in the background via
HIFLEX Print Support. The JDF data is automatically made available and easily imported into HIFLEX MIS as it has bidirectional JDF capability.
Once imported into HIFLEX MIS, the JDF job definition is used in the course of the job estimate and (as soon as the estimate is converted into a live job)
also forwarded to JDF-connected production systems, like Printing House Berlin-Mitte's Kodak Prinergy, KBA Logotronic Press Systems and MAN Roland Printnet Systems.
This is also the case with Walter Grieger Offset where they have HIFLEX MIS as well and ensures the fastest, most productive and automated manufacturing
integration capabilities available. |
This innovation enables the transporting of the Job Definition Format "JDF" beyond the boundaries of internal print manufacturing processes so that a cross-company
JDF workflow is accomplished. This workflow and use of our JDF-enabled HIFLEX technology is saving significant amounts of money and time as requests and
quotations are communicated in an extremely efficient manner. The effective result of this realization is a complete end-to-end workflow.
Gary E. Marron, President of HIFLEX Corporation, North America comments: "We are very proud to have been recognized as the first company in the world to offer
these advanced capabilities to our customers and to their customers and also to help them to achieve significant reductions in administrative labor and burdening.
These innovations in technology were designed to be used in the true spirit of JDF which is 'from-content or customer-to-delivery' ". |
| Asking Herbert Preissler, General Manager of DBM, about his intention to initiate the development of HIFLEX Print Support, he explains: "Plant-wide standardizing,
internal automation and communication processes were already highly developed at DBM. What we lacked was a consistent workflow in the field of print procurement -
whether this involved external communication processes with our customers or those with our suppliers (where we are the customers). We felt time was due to
integrate the print procurement process into the JDF workflow." |
| DBM has been using JDF technology since 2003 and implemented the world's first JDF workflow in live conditions. In the 2005 CIPPI Awards they achieved an honourable
mention for "Best cost/benefit realization in an implementation." |
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The CIP4 Innovation (CIPPI) Awards are announced in three categories and are given to world-wide most successful users of process automation technology. 2007
they were awarded for the third year in succession. In each year HIFLEX users won two out of the three awards and achieved second place in the remaining category. |
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| HIFLEX offers a fully integrated, enterprise level, Management Information System (MIS) specifically developed for print and media. HIFLEX estimating and order processing
system supports all printing methods and has key differentiators for offset litho, digital printing, fulfillment, direct mail and web-to-print. HIFLEX provides its customers
ultra high levels of automation for estimating, production planning, order entry and procurement. Its open API allows buyers to place on-line orders that are processed
with zero administrative costs. HIFLEX's name was chosen to indicate its high flexibility in configuration and use. The HIFLEX charter is to help make the shareholders
of its customers more profitable through the use of HIFLEX automation, integration, systems and consulting services. |
The HIFLEX MIS contains several modules: Office, Factory and eBusiness (Office: Estimate, Order Management, CRM, Materials Logistics, Document Management.
Factory: Shop Floor Data Collection and Production Data Collection (PDC), Scheduling, Shipping, JDF-interfaces. eBusiness: Online PDF Creation, Finished Goods
Ordering, Info-Center, Fulfillment, Data Handling, Online-Proofing).
HIFLEX is known worldwide as the technological leader in JDF integration. A close cooperation exists with all well-known press and system suppliers in the
print and media industry. HIFLEX is a member of the Networked Graphic Production (NGP) Initiative as well as partner member of the CIP4 organization.
In 2007, HIFLEX for the third year in succession (!) won two out of the three categories and received second place in the remaining categories of the
CIP4 International Printing Innovation Awards. These results demonstrate how HIFLEX continues to lead the field in real-world JDF with actual
'functionality on the floor'. HIFLEX is the number one MIS provider in Europe and has more JDF integrations than all the other vendors combined.
HIFLEX software is in use worldwide and available in 24 languages. HIFLEX reinvests around 30% of its revenue in research and development. |
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