ADAC Motorwelt was relaunched in January 2010 with a major facelift for its cover and layout. But the changes to Europe's most widely read magazine (13.8 million copies a month) were more than merely cosmetic. System integrator SNAP Innovation interfaced the K4 Cross-media Publishing Platform with Dialogue, an online soft-proofing application from Dalim. This integrated solution makes workflows more efficient and improves collaboration with the printing service by eliminating media discontinuities – that is, unnecessary switching of interfaces and format conversions. Now, editors coordinate directly with ADAC Motorwelt's new media and printing services provider to fine-tune layouts within the integrated systems.

"Integrating K4 with the soft-proofing application at our media service provider Laudert's cuts entire days off our turnaround time," notes Georg Zähringer, head of production of ADAC Motorwelt. "For one, we no longer need hardcopy proofs and can view layouts online with accurate color-rendering. In addition, the system lets us know in real time when a proof is available for approval."

The two systems communicate across an interface programmed by SNAP. When a layout in K4 reaches the status "Layout to repro," the publishing system sends a notification to the Dalim application alerting Laudert employees, who then check and process the photographs before they post a PDF soft-proof in Dalim Dialogue. This application automatically sends an XML job ticket via EnFocus Switch to K4, letting ADAC employees know that an online proof is available. The head of production checks the page in Dialogue. If he likes what he sees, he approves the soft-proof in Dalim's Dialogue application, which then sends this information to K4. At the same time, ADAC Motorwelt's ad desk can view the layout in Dalim Dialogue to ensure customers' ads are rendered correctly. Once the editor and ad staffer have both approved the proof in Dialogue, the application forwards this information as metadata to the K4 system, which automatically advances the layout's status to the next level. All this is done without delay, so the document is immediately ready for further processing.

"We eliminated the last of the media discontinuities in ADAC Motorwelt's production process by integrating K4 and Dalim Dialogue," says Ingo Röseler, head of the ADAC Motorwelt project at SNAP Innovation. Thus, the publisher has not only achieved a fresher look for its publication, it also gained impressive efficiency benefits in its workflow. ADAC relaunched the ADAC Motorwelt for several reasons, for example, to present a fresh look and team up with another reprography service provider. Now, the revamped ADAC Motorwelt not only treats its readers to engaging new visuals, it has also brought the benefits of more efficient technology to its publishing house.