KENNESAW, Ga., September 20, 2004 – At Graph Expo/Converting Expo 2004, Heidelberg USA will unveil Prinect Signa Station 1.0, a completely new imposition software that significantly simplifies the planning, creation and management of print sheets and substantially reduces makeready thanks to the preparation of preset data for press and postpress. The new software, to be shown for the first time in North America following a successful global launch at drupa 2004, offers easy-to-understand tools, an intuitive user interface and a new impositioning concept in which the folded sheet and print sheet are separated from each other. Separating the print and folded sheets ensures maximum flexibility. In addition, Prinect Signa Station uses open data formats such as the Job Definition Format (JDF) and the Print Production Format (PPF). “To succeed in this industry today, customers are finding that it is essential to keep costs down as much as possible,” said Dennis Ryan, Heidelberg USA’s Prinect Prepress product manager. “By providing users with complete control over the workflow, Prinect allows them to manage the entire print process efficiently and cost-effectively. Signa Station 1.0 paves the way for an efficient, flexible and reliable workflow, making it an invaluable addition to the Prinect portfolio.” Prinect, Heidelberg’s answer to computer integrated manufacturing, is a portfolio of products designed to help printers streamline their workflow from start to finish. Signa Station, a staple of the Prinect umbrella, is a print production tool that integrates all production steps of a print media product. Signa Station 1.0, an upgraded version, is the latest addition to the Prinect family. Key benefits of Prinect Signa Station 1.0 include: - Easy, reliable operation, shorter job processing - The new software features an assistant that guides the user step-by-step through the impositioning process. Print sheets for the job can be created in a few steps and since the user can select from a range of templates therefore processing times are cut per job. Jobs are displayed and structured in a way that corresponds to the product and production structure. A job might consist of several parts such as cover and contents. The appropriate folding and print sheets are displayed for each part, in order to satisfy the needs of both print room and postpress. The user can also print out this information in tabular form, if necessary. - Seamless integration in the JDF workflow - Integrating the new Prinect Signa Station 1.0 in a PPF- or JDF-based workflow comes with a great many advantages. The Prinect Signa Station can process information from a job costing system based on JDF. It can extract from the JDF enough data to automatically create an imposition template. It also generates presetting data for printing and finishing operations, thereby ensuring shorter makeready and increased reliability throughout the entire production process. - High flexibility - The impositioning concept allows considerable flexibility. Thanks to the separation of folding sheets and print sheets, changes in production can be effected quickly. Users, for example, can reconfigure a job from a Speedmaster SM 74 to a Speedmaster SM 102 in a few seconds. In addition, several folding sheets can be positioned on one printing sheet or a folding sheet can be combined with individual data sheets, resulting in greater efficiencies and reduced costs. - Easier job setup, rapid postpress - The new version offers many functions to make jobs easier and quicker. It is possible to assign mark sets (trim, fold, cut) to the print sheet that dynamically adapt to the paper size used. As the sheet size changes all marks are automatically resized and repositioned according to the new sheet size. The user then avoids the task of assigning individual marks in every job. Using a powerful folding scheme editor, which allows virtual folding on the monitor, customized schemes can be created for sheetfed, web offset and digital printing. Prinect Signa Station 1.0 supports five different binding types, which can also be combined in one job. For postpress, the new software can automatically incorporate a gripper fold or a postfold into the folding sheet and supplies presetting data for Prinect Auto Register, cutters, folders and saddlestitchers. - High-quality graphic display - The monitor shows the folded sheet, print sheet, a print sheet list and a page list along with the content. To ensure that the print sheet is really printable, the display includes the paper, the individual folded sheets and the printing plate – with the dimensions if required. It also takes into account the gripper margins of the imagesetter and the start of printing on the press. A printout from a standard desktop laser printer can be used to coordinate press and postpress. This visual check allows timely intervention and prevents expensive printing errors.