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Questions and Answers

Q: Do you PIN jobs in the Printflow schedule for anything besides Client on Press?

A: [Sam Shaffer] Yes, but only in a limited way, we pin customer press checks and certain tasks that need to happen at a predetermined time that we do not want Printflow to change.  It is best not to pin and let the power of Printflow work for you.  Pinning is in essence like sticking a thumb tack in a schedule board.  Pinning does not allow Printflow to move the task from where you have pinned it.

Q: When Vectra does their analysis sessions each week, which are the most frequently addressed areas on a tactical and strategic basis?

A: [Sam Shaffer] Most focus is on identifying and reviewing areas of improvement to lower operational cost.  Job submission is a hot topic at present with continued focus on PE's, OT and Temporary help use.  New purchases to cut labor cost when there are ROI and obvious savings are commonly discussed.

Q: Vectra - Are you live with Printflow right now and do you Schedule the entire plant or just the pressroom?

A: [Sam Shaffer] Yes, we have been in Printflow since May, 2004 and have been scheduling our entire plant from art/files and DP through prep, paper, press, bindery, mailing, projects and shipping.  We have over 100 cost centers in our Printflow schedule.

Q: Re:  Scheduling and Platemaking -  CTP?  Do you use ink fountain presets?  When do you decide what press a job will run on?  When do you make plates --- how long before a job run?  Are your presses fingerprinted?  Do you alter platemaking curves depending upon what press a job will run on? 

A:

[David Bennett]

CTP: Yes – Creo Trendsetter with Brisque front end
Fountain Presets: Yes – Sent from Brisque using Creo InkPro to Heidelberg PrePress Interface
Press Decision: Both presses use same plate size. Decision based on workload and difficulty of job
Plates: Since presses use the same size plates, they are made as soon as the final proofs are approved.
Fingerprinted: Yes
Curves: Same curves for both presses. Curves are based on paper stock rather than press.

[Sam Shaffer]

We schedule from art/files, mac assembly, 2 rounds of proofs out and back (when necessary) through CTP.  We use ink fountain presets all the time.

When do you decide what press a job will run on....when we write the job ticket.  We do not change job tickets for manufacturing deciding to change from sheetfed press to another.  However, we do change the job ticket when we bounce from web to sheetfed or vice-a-versa.
               
When do you make plates....as soon as we can after a job has been approved.  Keeping a buffer of plates is key efficient workflow.
 
Are your presses fingerprinted..absolutely!
              
Do you alter platemaking curves....yes, as part of the finger printing process..

Q: Prior to putting in a MIS system how were you able to prove a ROI?

A: [David Bennett] With 3 manual, non-integrated systems, we had to rely on our vendor as well as our own judgment. No hard ROI performed.

Q: Secondly, how did each decide which system to go with?

A: [David Bennett] Product quality, investment required, but mainly, comfort with vendor team

Q: At what level of sales volume is it justifiable to intergrate these systems?

A: [David Bennett] Different volume based on system chosen 

This free event is made possible by EFI

About EFI

EFI (www.efi.com) is the world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for commercial and enterprise printing. EFI's award-winning technologies offer document management tools from creation to print, including high fidelity color and black and white Fiery® print servers that can output up to 2000 ppm; powerful production workflow and print management information software solutions for increased performance and cost efficiency; VUTEk superwide format printing; and an array of business-critical enterprise and mobile printing solutions. EFI maintains 22 offices worldwide.