PRINT ’01, Chicago, Illinois – September 6, 2001 –Agfa introduced Apogee Series3, the next generation of its award-winning workflow solution. The system offers a more advanced level of automation, control, openness, scalability, and ease of use. As one of the initiators of the Job Definition Format (JDF) standard, Agfa enables JDF import into Apogee Series3 to further expand and streamline workflow. Apogee’s scalability enhancements let any size organization - from a small printing shop to a global operation - benefit workflow automation. Because Agfa designed and developed Apogee in close cooperation with customers and partners, Series3 includes a wide range of customer-driven enhancements such as flexible process control and automation. Load balancing can be designated with ease for any task from input to rasterizing to proofing to output. Site to site transfer of digital film becomes as straightforward as sending jobs to a local output device. Apogee also offers the flexibility of working with full flats or a late binding page-based workflow to accommodate different work styles and production requirements. To help minimize the risk of errors and responsibility, Agfa has integrated Enfocus’ latest ‘Certified PDF’, enabling everyone in the production chain to find out by whom and with which profile PDF’s were preflighted, or which changes were made. "With Apogee Series3, Agfa has truly taken automation to the next level, bringing the concept of the 'digital smart factory' closer," said Johan Berlaen, worldwide director of Agfa Digital Solutions. "With JDF working hand-in-glove with PDF, users can begin to integrate business processes with production processes for true workflow integration and end-to-end automation." JDF Compliant for End-to-End Automation. Apogee Series3 enhances Apogee Pilot production manager by adding JDF specifications. JDF is a set of open, extensible, XML-based job ticket standards that create a flexible, comprehensive solution for the entire workflow—from the time a customer places an order to the delivery of the final printed materials. It is more complete, powerful, and extensible than any previous format for job tickets. JDF links Management Information Systems (MIS) groups and solutions with the print production area. JDF is an extremely flexible solution that can adapt to organizations of any size.