Private High School Saves by Printing In-House A private high school in a Minneapolis suburb was looking for a way to in-source their printing jobs. Aside from the expense of sending print jobs to an outside print shop, the school also needed the ability to print projects such as brochures, newsletters, flyers, and graduation booklets on demand. The ability to print in-house would make proofing much simpler. Moreover, because regular printouts needed to be sent to the printers as well, the school needed document systems that could output high quality printouts that were user friendly. Technology solutions After testing the systems, the school decided to purchase a 75 page per minute (ppm) MX-7500 Sharp (Formax, Booth 2243) Pro Series Color Document System and a 120 ppm Sharp MX-M1204 Monochrome Printer from Advanced Imaging Solutions for its in-plant production area. The Pro Series Color Document System is able to collate and finish full-bleed color booklets, helping to reduce outsourcing costs as well as production time. Additionally, the integrated Pro Series’ Fiery Color Print Server with Command Workstation allows for late stage edits and set up of jobs before print from the operation panel of the machine. The MX-M1204 High-Speed Light Production Monochrome printer combines Sharp’s micro-fine toner technology with 1200 x 1200 dpi print resolution and true Adobe Postscript with 120 ppm monochrome printing. Both document systems’ easy-touse interface allow them to be used for non-production related jobs as well. Ultimate Gangs Up On Prepress Ever since the idea of workflow automation gained traction in the industry, the emphasis has typically been on automating prepress leading up to and including printing. However, postpress functions have often been given short shrift as candidates for automation. That all changed when Ultimate TechnoGraphics (Booth 541 ) launched its Ultimate Bindery, and at last year’s GRAPH EXPO the company made a big splash with version 4, bringing workflow automation and reduced “touch points” to the finishing process. Users were able to set up and preflight postpress processes during the prepress stage. This year, in the Software: Workflow & Design/Prepress show floor pavilion, Ultimate is showing some of the new features and enhancements to Ultimate Bindery, specifically, new drivers that expand the number of finishing devices and systems that are supported by Ultimate Bindery. These include the Horizon SmartStacker which works inline with the HP Indigo 1000 Digital Press. “This new machine has new capabilities that needed to be taken into account both in prepress with Impostrip, and in finishing with Ultimate Bindery,” says Joanne David, President and CEO of Ultimate TechnoGraphics. As a result, “There’s no job going to print that are built outside the capabilities of the machine. That’s the role of the custom driver.” New drivers also support the Duplo 646 slitter/cutter/creaser, which is a replacement unit for the popular 645. The 646 introduces perforation, so a new driver needed to take into account his new functionality. Ultimate has a Duplo 646 on hand in their booth and is demonstrating Ultimate Bindery on this machine. Ultimate Bindery now also supports the Plockmatic Pro 35/50 booklet maker, which is a popular unit in Asia and Europe. Ultimate is also launching a new product at GRAPH EXPO 15 this week, the AutoFlow Estimator, designed to improve imposition and estimating for gang runs. Gang run optimization is required when print service providers want to print multiple short runs that use the same substrate together in one run. The AutoFlow Estimator software eliminates manual imposing of multiple variously sized PDF pages of different quantities and allows the estimator to better plan the press loads. Gang runs are created upstream by an MIS or a web-to-print system and sent to AutoFlow Estimator to get the best possible imposition for a press sheet or multiple press sheets. The software then communicates back to the MIS or web-to-print system the results of the impositions for final decision. AutoFlow Estimator is available as a module to Ultimate’s classic Impostrip imposition software, or it can function as a standalone application. “The demand came because a certain number of MIS systems that have several modules and are very scalable but one thing that’s missing is the ability to do imposition,” says David. “All of them are strong in calculating, but none have engines to produce PDFs or generate an algorithm that will tell you the best way to impose a gang run.” Ultimate is also showing new features and enhancements to Impostrip. Results After setting up the document systems in its in-plant print shop, the school invited teachers to use the MX-M1204 as their primary production printer whenever 30 or more pages needed to be printed out. In order to keep costs down, the school assigned key employees to handle the color print runs on the MX-7500 Pro Series Color Document System. Because of its intuitive interface, minimal training was needed on the document systems. In particular, they were impressed by the color quality of the Series’ Fiery Color Print Server and the Pro Series’ finishing capabilities. Because the school no longer needs to outsource most of its printing, it is able to save approximately $1,250 per month in costs related to outsourcing, such as courier and mail services, laser proofs, and, of course, printing. A private high school in a Minneapolis suburb needed to in-source their printing jobs and turned to Sharp. Allegra Network Chooses Avanti Slingshot from Ricoh Ricoh Americas Corporation (Booth 1231) and Avanti Computer Systems Limited (Booth 654) have announced that Allegra Network LLC has chosen Avanti Slingshot as the core of WorkStream, a fully integrated web storefront to MIS workflow automation solution that will be offered across its North American network of 270 marketing and print communications franchises. The Plymouth, MI-based franchisor sought a solution to help its franchise members improve customer relationships, more efficiently manage their day-to-day business operations, and maintain a competitive edge. The company selected Avanti Slingshot for its ability to provide a cloud-based easy-to-use platform, support franchises of all sizes, and integrate seamlessly with other key software tools that will form its WorkStream technology package. “We pride ourselves on providing our franchise community with the technology and tools they need to efficiently manage their businesses, and Avanti Slingshot delivers with its robust suite of modules and ability to handle multiple lines of business,” says Joe D’Aguanno, Chief Technology Officer, Allegra Network. “By having essential business information at their fingertips, our franchise members gain a better understanding of their most profitable customers and products.” According to Allegra Network CEO Mike Marcantonio, “This network-wide arrangement with Avanti Slingshot is a significant win for our franchise members. A robust and advanced Print MIS solution like this has been out of reach for a small independent operation, but we are now able to make it available in cost-effective solution that is easy to implement and deploy across the franchisee network. “Our relationship with Allegra is one we are extremely proud of at Ricoh. A truly innovative company, Allegra sees the need for tools that can effectively help their business grow and their operations to continuously enhance,” says John Fulena, Vice President Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Americas Corporation. “Avanti Slingshot is an award-winning and proven solution that has brought similar results to many companies around the world. We are very pleased that Allegra has chosen this solution and look forward to our continued collaboration.” Avanti Slingshot, launched in 2013, is browser-based, providing franchise members with the flexibility to access the system at any time and from anywhere. It was designed to help users easily get started with a base system for quoting, job ticketing, costing and tracking, right through to billing. Avanti Slingshot scales as the business grows; additional modules can easily be added as the franchise member potentially expands into new lines of business, such as large format. “Avanti Slingshot is a fantastic tool to help cultivate a more meaningful customer relationship, helping our clients remain competitive in the ever-changing print market landscape,” says Patrick Bolan, President and CEO of Avanti. “This is the beginning of a long-term relationship between Ricoh, Avanti, and Allegra Networks and we look forward to helping contribute to their continued growth and global expansion.” 22 September 15, 2015 | GRAPH EXPO Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com
GraphExpo Show Daily September 15 2015
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