Midway to the Digital Age
The prep department in this plant (in Menasha, Wisc.) has been in operation almost 60 years, so a lot of history precedes us, and the transition from conventional to digital was not without its pain and discomfort—it did not happen overnight. We began the transition in the late '80s, but with the vast technological challenges we encountered in linking the old with the new, we couldn't take digital workflow seriously until the early '90s.
There were primarily two workflows at that time—supplied film and Opticopy camera imposition for converting laser pages into plate-ready imposed film. We were "tinkering" with single-page film (output on a Linotronic 330) from our customers. These were all native files fraught with issues regarding fonts, images, etc. That was about the time I came to the Banta Book Group in early 1993.
We had just installed a large-format Lino 930 filmsetter in '93, in an attempt to compete with the Opticopies; but the imposition software—Impostrip and Preps—wasn't sophisticated enough to deal with the intense postscript/RIP issues we were having spread across six to eight pages at a time. After a great deal of trial and error, we gained some success, and imposed film became fairly commonplace for all new work. However, even as late as '97, we were still 80 percent supplied film or reprint.
WAS CTP THE ANSWER?
In 1997, we installed our first CTP device, a Creo 4555 VLF, and we still have it. We had pretty much solidified an imposed-film workflow via postscript, but PDF was still a long way off from being a solution, and the process was slow, methodical and riddled with customer/Banta corrections and expensive proofing—not particularly profitable or efficient.
We quickly found that CTP, though heralded as the answer to all problems, was woefully inefficient in a short-run book plant like ours, where we produced hundreds of thousands of plates per year. We could still spread film across multiple frames, and knock out 20 to 30 plates per hour at each frame, while our new CTP device had to "RIP and image" each expensive thermal plate at roughly eight to 10 [plates] per hour. We added more platesetters, and upgraded, but still our plates per hour (PPH) in CTP remained well under the curve.
ENTER PDF …
Things began to change around 2000—primarily with workflow on the front-end. PDF started to become a reality, replacing the proprietary workflow "big boys," and opening the doors to our customers and printers everywhere to assimilate a $300 piece of workflow software into their budgets. We found that with a little technical help and some good instructions, we could train our customers and/or their vendors to produce 'relatively' error-free pages that would RIP and plate with little or no intervention.
When I say relatively, I mean that PDF was also a slow transition, and many customers, and particularly vendors, fought the change. Because of the ease of use and success, many independent prep houses could no longer bill for system work, RIP and trap, etc.
For us, Prinergy, an end-to-end workflow management solution developed by Creo, changed all that, opening the doors for PDF. While still a proprietary, expensive workflow solution for us, it was designed around the Acrobat PDF package, and added auto-trap and single-page, post-imposition functionality. It revolutionized the prepress process and made digital workflow as error free and consistent (if not more) as our conventional workflow, and it added efficiency and profitability back into the equation.
At the same time, we elected to go with multiple automated Fuji Saber Violet platesetters, which increased our PPH to levels above and beyond our conventional plating lines. At this point, we are 100- percent CTP on all new/reprint work and have increased plate output by as much as 75 percent overall.
It should be noted that in a plant that has been operating as long as ours, we still have some legacy work, even film that does not exist in digital format. To 'digitize' these titles would be overly costly—forcing a square peg into a round hole. We decided a few years ago that we're much better off letting legacy film titles die a natural reprint death in this plant, and focusing on new, digital-based work.
There has also been a revolution in proofing, specifically digital proofing, which made the workflow complete. Each job we produce, at this point, has a content paper-based proof pulled, which is used for quality purposes at critical steps along the manufacturing process to ensure the content is as expected; this is also saved for reprint work as well. Color-accurate proofs are used to a much lesser extent, only for purposes of approval and press match.
SOFT PROOFING'S FUTURE: TOO EARLY TO PREDICT
Soft proofing is an integral part of a small portion of our customers' workflow, but is up and coming, and catching on in all markets. The key to all digital proofing—hard or soft—is to provide RIP'd, trapped (separated, then re-composited with transparency) proofs back to the customer that are representative of the final product. Color accuracy is coming, but requires extensive training and equipment calibration for it to be consistent.
Many great options exist, but it's very early in the process to say this is going to replace hard proofing 100 percent over the next few years—it's an evolution. Quite simply, many customers simply don't feel comfortable viewing/approving on-screen. Creo's Synapse InSite product (branded as E-merge), a Web-based RIP, proof, approval workflow offers great tools for both the customer and the printer in a 100-percent soft-proof environment; we're using this selectively throughout the Banta corporation facilities, but it's not for everyone. Still, it's available, and can reduce cost and cycle time if used correctly.
A SOFT PROOFING MYTH
One assumption that many customers make in soft proofing is that it will completely cut out the prepress cost. Wrong! The vendors who purchase the technology and make it available do so at tremendous costs, initially and in ongoing maintenance and support. In order to bring these efficiencies to our customers, there are still substantial costs on our end.
Having said that, the savings in time and alterations are also substantial—there's an overall benefit on both sides in both labor and time management that frees us up for more important things, like garnering new business opportunities.
The transition from conventional to a 100-percent digital environment has been a slow, but nonetheless exciting chapter in our history. In comparison to the print and bind operations, we have seen technological advances far beyond our wildest expectations completely change the way we do business; however, these changes have started to affect the back end of the business as well.
Closed loop color and variable data inkjetting are beginning to revolutionalize the way we do business, and provide many positive changes to our manufacturing workflow. Ultimately, JDF will tie our loose ends together and provide the overall manufacturing harmony from start to finish, without a great deal of human intervention. Although it's starting to happen now, we're still a ways off from full implementation. But, we're looking forward to the challenges.
-Rick Wills
Rick Wills is the prepress superintendent for the Midway Road plant of the Banta Book Group, in Menasha, Wis.
- Companies:
- Banta Book Group
- Banta Corp.
- Creo
- People:
- Rick Wills Rick Wills
- Places:
- Menasha, Wisc.
- Midway Road