Pittsburgh, PA -- The JDF User Group, an open forum for users and vendors of automation solutions and JDF-enabled systems, will be holding its next meeting at Democrat Printing & Lithographing Co. in Little Rock, AR on July 22-23, 2009. There will be a tour of the facility showcasing the company's prepress department, renowned for its automated workflow, on the first day. This will be complemented by a full day of meetings covering the following topics:

- Case study on creating roadmaps for setting up automation and JDF workflow within a facility
- Getting more out of your existing workflow by building upon existing flows and processes, including integration with legacy hardware
- How to bring out the automation ROI to justify the change
- Getting the best possible workflow using scheduling and optimization tools

Established in 1871 as the commercial printing division of the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper, Democrat Printing & Lithographing Co. became a separate entity in 1906. Over the next 40 years, it prospered as a high-quality sheetfed printer. 1968 saw expansion into the web market with the addition of web presses, automated bindery equipment, and completion of a new production plant in the River Port area of East Little Rock.
 
The plant currently occupies a 126,000 square-foot facility with 200 employees preparing, printing, and binding over 220 catalogs and publications. Democrat Printing now offers services including heatset web printing, sheetfed printing, binding, stitching, mailing, warehousing, and special orders of a range of printing grade papers. They are considered pioneers in integrating their workflows, and more than 85% of the work processed is via online submission and approval.   
 
The JDF User Group meetings allow printers to exchange and share ideas with their peers and vendor members. This rare opportunity to communicate with vendors in a private setting benefits the entire printing community. "A key to developing better products is having the opportunity to listen to customer needs and observe industry best practices.  I have found that the JDF User Group meetings provide an ideal forum for creating such opportunities.  Not only do we see how leaders in the print industry are using JDF, we also have the opportunity to network with other providers and explore ways that we can integrate our solutions more effectively," says Jay Foster, President and CEO of SoftSolutions, Inc.
 
The final meeting in 2009 will be held on November 11 immediately following Printing Industries of America's Converge Conference in Orlando, FL. The group welcomes a wide range of users of JDF-enabled systems as well as the suppliers of those systems. All interested parties are welcome to become members. To become a member and register for the next meeting, please visit , call 412-259-1706, or email [email protected].