PALO ALTO, Calif. – HP today announced that a new HP SmartStream Director solution installed at Houston-based print service provider (PSP) Ideal Printers Inc. has created a robust, streamlined workflow, integrating with the company's production and fulfillment operations to generate new business opportunities.

Ideal Printers installed HP SmartStream Director this summer after searching for a workflow solution that could take it to the next level in terms of complete, integrated ordering solutions. The combination of HP SmartStream Director and on-demand print production with Ideal Printers' two HP Indigo press 5000s yields substantial efficiency enhancements and cost-savings benefits.

"The productivity advantages the HP SmartStream workflow portfolio offers reflect our commitment to helping PSPs grow in the digital age," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "With HP SmartStream Director, Ideal Printers has the power to handle more jobs while reducing expenses, a combination that can increase the value and range of the company's services."

Winning with HP in workflow
The improved, customizable solutions offered following the HP SmartStream Director installation made Ideal Printers the winner in a competitive bid to provide print collateral fulfillment for an international energy industry firm based in Houston.

Ideal Printers' offset-quality HP Indigo digital printing and its robust HP SmartStream workflow have valuable features for the firm to market to its customers, including:
    •    cash flow management benefits for fulfillment customers based on the transition from larger-volume print ordering to streamlined print-on-demand production;
    •    reduced warehousing and the elimination of the waste from obsolete, stored documents;
    •    significantly reduced prepress time and expense using web-to-print tools that enable customers to update and proof orders online and submit them directly to a press's print queue;
    •    accurate corporate brand consistency across printed collateral, including exact brand color reproduction based on HP Indigo presses' ability to print using true PANTONE-licensed spot colors.
    
"HP SmartStream Director empowers Ideal Printers to sell to larger corporate customers by giving us the robust workflow needed to efficiently handle multiple aspects of our comprehensive fulfillment solution," said Larry Vaughn, president, Ideal Printers. "We can even do business cards – an essential customer offering that is typically a no-margin product – and with the streamlined Director workflow, that type of work becomes a profit center."

Streamlined, end-to-end productivity
HP SmartStream Director helps small to large PSPs grow revenues and reduce costs with simplified, end-to-end workflow automation, from job creation through fulfillment. Based on industry standards such as the Job Definition Format, HP SmartStream Director uses a framework built on the Press-sense iWay version 5.0 platform.

HP SmartStream Director also includes HP-developed components such as HP SmartStream Designer 4 for Adobe InDesign CS4, which provides variable-data design and impositioning solutions that can be integrated with print buyers' desktop publishing operations.

PSPs can use HP SmartStream Director to achieve streamlined ordering on a full range of print products, including collateral-on-demand, books-on-demand, versioned publications and personalized direct mailers. Plus, HP SmartStream Director's customization tools enable storefront branding, e-commerce, enhanced production queue management, and batch and stacking capabilities.