Darmstadt, Germany (October 14, 2005) - The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4) today announced that Druckerei Bauer KG of Vienna, Austria is the winner of the 2005 CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) award in the category of "Most innovative use of process automation technology." Bauer Druck's application was selected as the result of ballots cast by CIP4's advisory board. The CIPPI award program is a unique global program and Bauer Druck has been singled out for recognition as "best in the world" for an innovative automation program. Bauer Druck's automation project incorporated the Hiflex MIS System, Muller Martini AG PrimaPlus AMRYS saddle-stitcher, and MAN Roland presses equipped with the PECOM system. According to the application, Bauer Druck was the first company (worldwide) to go live with a fully JDF-integrated postpress implementation using JDF (Job Definition Format) and JMF (Job Messaging Format). Stefan Reichhart, Managing Director of Hiflex GmbH says: "For the automatic set-up of the folding unit, feeding stations and trimmer of the Muller Martini saddle-stitcher, it is essential that the MIS provides detailed information about the product to be produced. Specifically, this information includes the gross format, the folding geometry, such as size of head trim, size of foot trim, position and size of overfold. Furthermore, information about the position of the folding sheet on the printing sheet and the assignment of the different signatures to the stations is needed. In order to provide the necessary data, special mathematical functions and formulas were developed and implemented in our MIS." Prior to the JDF implementation at Bauer Druck, its workflow typically required re-entry of data three times: * The first data entry was done when the customer order was specified and estimated in the Hiflex MIS (which also generated the job ticket). * The press machine operator had to manually key in relevant job data from the job ticket into the PECOM system (customer name, job name, order number, format, paper thickness etc.). * When the job arrived at the postpress department, the machine operator had to manually re-key the relevant job specifications from the job ticket into the control console (AMRYS) of the PrimaPlus saddle-stitcher (customer name, job name, order number, run length, deadlines, and product specifications). Bauer Druck wanted to eliminate inefficient steps, such as the re-keying of job specifications, especially since the relevant data was already available within the Hiflex MIS. Bauer Druck's automation project streamlined information exchange between the corporate-level Hiflex MIS, the Man Roland PECOM system and the Muller Martini AMRYS system of the PrimaPlus saddle-stitcher. Multiple data entry is overcome as the Hiflex MIS provides downstream systems with job specifications, via JDF, from data that already exists in the MIS and scheduling is constantly updated by the online feedback from production. Bauer Druck reduced the make-ready process for the initial set-up of eight stations from seventy minutes to twenty minutes on the saddle-stitcher. Bauer Druck's managing director Michael Bauer comments: "The JDF data transfer from Hiflex greatly reduces the make-ready time for our saddle-stitcher and MAN Roland presses. This increases the productivity of this valuable equipment. Through the direct JMF status feedback from the machine control, we acquire production status and accurate data for job costing." Overall, Druckerei Bauer reported a $622,741 improvement in net profit that they attributed to faster make-ready on presses and stitchers, improvement of the (now digital) internal communication processes and an increase in automation, transparency and flexibility of its production operations. Druckerei Bauer calculated a return on investment (ROI) of 220% in the first year of operation of the new automated production processes. An honorable mention was awarded to Williamson Printing Corporation of Dallas, TX. Williamson incorporated Esko-Graphics Scope workflow version 1.0 with Kodak (Creo) UpFront Version 3.1 and Heidelberg cutters. Its original objective was to eliminate manual imposition and Williamson was able to reduce the amount of prepress operator time needed to recreate an imposition by 95% per job and they reduced job latency by one hour. Williamson already had JDF-enabled Heidelberg cutters, and once JDF data was available, it was also able to save time in cutter set-up using JDF data. This is the third of three 2005 CIPPI awards to be announced. Instructions and applications for the 2006 CIPPI awards program are now available online at http://www.cip4.org/cippi/index.html. Nominations may be submitted by a printer, publisher or a prepress service, or by one of their supporting vendors on their behalf and candidate applications are reviewed and ballot on by CIP4's Advisory Board. The candidate that receives the most Advisory Board selections in each category is selected the winner. Nominations are due by 28 April 2006.