Web Offset--Efficiency Is Inevitable
Ithaca, NY-based Wilcox Press, a top winner in the 1999 Gold Ink Awards for printing and production excellence, recently installed the Creo Prinergy workflow ("Print with Energy"). Adobe, Creo and Heidelberg Prepress have put together a system based on Adobe's Extreme workflow, whereby the printer need not revert PDF files back to PostScript prior to platesetting. This page-based prepress software automates the handling of PDF, Extreme PostScript or CT/LW files, by utilizing Adobe's Portable Job Ticket Format (PJTF). The result is a scalable system standardized on a file type and platform that plays well with others.
According to Electronic Prepress Manager Steve Weissman, Wilcox chose Prinergy because publishers are sold on the attributes of the PDF workflow, which include on-screen proofing, smaller file size than with PostScript and reliability. "Obviously, Wilcox wanted to select the best integrated solution for handling PDF files, and Prinergy was the right solution for us," he states.
"Prinergy has integrated trapping and color management," Weissman explains. "And, it's a single-page workflow, which is very important during the proofing process: any corrections can be made to a single page without affecting other pages in the form."
Many Wilcox Press customers have embraced CTP by standardizing on the PDF workflow. Now, the installation of Prinergy brings a well-rounded solution to this Gold Ink Award-winning, web offset printer.
Taking It to the Internet
The trend toward increased automation has also led many people to e-commerce solutions. These take many guises and involve different sets of players. A printer can offer Internet-based file exchanges or job ticket information to its client base.
A printer can offer customers a more robust workflow management solution, which is facilitated by a third-party vendor. Or a printer and print client may leave the brokering of print jobs to a third-party vendor. Whatever the approach, the phone lines are rockin', and pundits have found a whole new area of debate.
