Prepress
Data One Cuts Production Times by 50% with Alwan PDF Standardizer
Monday 01. February 2010 - Data One, has solved its workflow and color management issues, and slashed its production times by up half since using Alwan Color Expertises PDF Standardizer.
Data One is one of the largest digital printing companies in France specializing in full color industrial label applications and direct mailing activities. They have five high-speed full color Kodak Versamark ink jet printing systems installed and an impressive selection of B&W xerographic systems, including three Xerox iGen 3s, two Xeikon 6000s, four OCE PS 440s, and two IBM 4100s. “Our customer base comprises large telcos, banks, insurance companies and retail chains,” says Laurent Quéré, Data One’s customer integration manager. “We use our xerographic machines to print personalized marketing collateral as well as personalized direct mailings and our ink jet systems to print invoices and other transactional documents.”
Workflow automation
Despite its advanced printing equipment, until recently Data One relied on a relatively basic prepress workflow. “We typically received native QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign files from our customers,” explains Nicolas Halabura, project manager in charge of color solutions at Data One. “We didnt rely on an automated prepress workflow system, as our requirements were too specific for most out-of-the-box workflow products.”
However, workflow automation was not the only challenge. Data One was also struggling with color management issues. “We were facing an ink coverage issue with our ink-jet machines,” says Quéré. “Excessive total area coverage (TAC) resulted in paper bloating, which in turn created problems with our folding and envelope conditioning systems.” Plus color consistency between different printing units was often insufficient, producing unreliable results in a distributed printing configuration.
Implementing Alwan PDF Standardizer
Data One discovered Alwan Color Expertises PDF Standardizer at the Intergraphic trade show in Paris: “The product has a flexible workflow architecture, so we can assemble our own bespoke system by linking components together,” says Halabura. “And PDF Standardizer includes the CMYK Optimizer engine, which automatically adjusts the color of incoming images and pages to match our accepted color standards and TAC limits.” After an initial two-week trial using PDF Standardizer, Data One was very impressed with the results. “The solution is really easy to use – setting up the system and training our users took less than two days,” says Quéré. “It has solved all of our issues.”
“The system has reduced our file preparation overheads dramatically. Previously, manually checking a complex document like a catalogue could take up to three or four weeks. Now, files are preflighted on the fly and customers get confirmation that everything’s OK within minutes. The business impact has been huge – weve cut our production times by half.”
On the color management side, PDF Standardizer has delivered what Data One needed most – color consistency. “All documents receive identical treatment, resulting in stable and consistent color output,” says Halabura. “Weve done away with unpredictable color deviations from one machine to another. Also, our TAC is now under control, with a maximum value of 300%, which is well below the generally accepted offset threshold. Plus ink bleeding has been greatly reduced and our envelope conditioning issues are gone.”
“PDF Standardizer has given us a huge productivity boost and is extremely reliable,” concludes Quéré. “And, crucially, weve had great feedback from our clients, who are enjoying the many benefits of the new system.”