Workflow
Ricoh Europe Implements PuzzleFlow Solutions
Tuesday 05. January 2010 - Recently PuzzleFlow Solutions Europe and Ricoh Europe have signed the distribution agreement. On its basis, the Colour Server solution, based on the ACCHSHs PuzzleFlow production system, will be bundled with Ricoh digital printing presses in the European countries. The first country to practically use the agreement is the Netherlands, where Colur Server has been bundled with Ricoh 900 Pro system.
On the agreement basis, each Ricohs operating company (OPCO) can decide how to sell the solutions and which presses willl be bundled with our software – says Toon de Munnik of PuzzleFlow Solutions Europe. – In the Netherlands, following the implementation of Colour Server, there are special ISO versions of Ricoh Pro 900 available. We have also started training courses for Ricoh Europes employees from several countries in the area of installing, setting up and maintaing the solution. Moreover, we provide a full service level agreement to support Ricoh Europe companies and their customers.
Currently there are demo systems in Ricohs international demonstration & technical centers in Woerden (Netherlands) and London (UK). Here the PuzzleFlow Solutions Europe representatives demonstrate the solution to Ricohs employees and their customers. Our aim is to have an operating demo system in each Ricoh operating companys demonstration center- Toon de Munnik continues. – The Colour Server solution driving the Ricoh presses will be also shown at shows like Ipex 2010.
Colour Server solution was commonly created by ACCHSH and PuzzleFlow Solutions Europe companies, with support from Infotec Netherlands. It is used within the prepress workflow to manage the output of the customers printing engines controlling colour and colour consistency – from very simple configurations up to very complex, multiple printing engine installations. Colur Server eliminates the need to implement colour management controls within the DFE (digital front end) controller of the printing engine. In complex installations it limits the amount of colour management knowledge required as one solution is responsible for managing colour print output to many devices with various engine controllers.
The Colour Server solution will allow customers for mapping colour output of their printing engines to one of the following: colour printing standard like ISO 12647, a specific printing engine or an in-house printing standard – Toon de Munnik adds.
Colour Server comprises of three modules. The profiling module is used to create the ICC profiles of the printing engine and the device links used in Colour Server. The processing module is used to automatically manage print files using specific colour management setting and the generated device link. The validation module is used to measure the actual colour output against its target colour profile. The module reports the variance between both values as an industry standard deltaE value.
Colur Server is not a stand-alone solution. It can be upgraded to much more complex PuzzleFlow workflow or even to the Printing On Demand solution, an extensive application supporting and automating tasks of printing houses.