Washington, DC — MAN Roland revealed that it is supporting fully functional JDF workflows at five commercial printing companies to verify the interoperability of its PECOM press operating and automation system. The announcement was made at a well-attended reception at the VUE/POINT conference here. “The printers who are attending VUE/POINT are all wondering out loud when the JDF workflow will be ready for prime time,” says Christian Cerfontaine, Director of Marketing for MAN Roland Inc. “Our five working beta sites provide a two-word answer: ‘Right now.’ “ Workflows at the JDF-equipped sites all have one thing in common: Their pressrooms are equipped with MAN Roland PECOM, which enables their presses to network with each other and interface with JDF-driven workflows. The beta sites are: • Germany’s Druck Haus Berlin-Mitte, which runs a Hiflex MIS and Lüscher prepress to support two ROLAND 700 five-color presses and a four-color ROLAND 900. • Kraft Druck In Ettlingen Oberweier, Germany, which utilizes a Hiflex MIS and Creo prepress, connected to eight-color, five-color and four-color ROLAND 700s. • Neidhart + Schön AG in Zürich, Switzerland, which prints with Hiflex and Creo in conjunction with a five-color and a seven-color ROLAND 700. • RöslerDruck in Schorndorf, Germany, which has a Proseco MIS and Agfa prepress, feeding a ten-color ROLAND 700. • Moscow’s Media-Pressa, which publishes Pravda and runs with an SSB MIS and Screen prepress in support of ten-, six-, and five-color ROLAND 700s and a five-color ROLAND 300. “All of these sites have been up-and-running successfully for several months and they’re already starting to enjoy the efficiencies that the JDF workflow puts on the table,” Cerfontaine notes. MAN Roland also announced at VUE/POINT that the interoperability between PECOM and Hagen OA, an MIS solution from EFI, was successfully tested at the last CIP4 test round in Switzerland in March, opening the door for its use in the U.S. PECOM and Hagen OA will demonstrate the full extent of their interooperability in the CIP4-JDF-parc in hall 4 at drupa 2004. “Most of the comments I heard at VUE/POINT reinforced the fact that printers are tired of waiting for an end-to-end JDF workflow,” says Cerfontaine. “The success of our beta sites and CIP4 success means they no longer need to be patient. Their JDF solution arrives at drupa, and any press that’s PECOM compatible can take advantage of it.” Throughout the VUE/POINT conference, several panel participants said they are running PECOM on their MAN Rolands or are about to install it to bring Computer Integrated Manufacturing into their pressrooms. Mark Steputis, President of Vision Graphics in Loveland, Colorado, is networking a ROLAND 900, two ROLAND 700s and a new ROLAND 500 with PECOM. “We were one of the first to install MAN Roland’s PECOM,” he said. “We use it to preset the presses for makeready, and have found that has been very valuable in terms of saving money and doing a better job for our clients.” David Kornbau, Vice President of Operations of Strine Printing in York, Pennsylvania, told the conference that Strine is adding a six-color 73” ROLAND 900 XXL to its pair of six-color 56” ROLAND 900s, and that a third 56” 900 is also planned. He intends to network all of the presses with PECOM. “It will give us a competitive edge in terms of quality and speed,” he says. In another panel discussion, Joe Grimmett, General Manager of Midland Lithographing in North Kansas City, Missouri, said he replaced a fleet of nine sheetfed presses with two ROLAND 900s to actually increase the company’s output and return it to profitability. His next step is the installation of the PECOM press operating system and an EFI MIS solution, which is scheduled to take place this month. “As far as I’m concerned, you can’t get enough information about how your presses are operating,” he says. “PECOM will give it to me.” A range of MAN Roland presses will be at the heart of several JDF workflow solutions operating at drupa next month. The demonstrations will be the focus of the PrintCity pavilion in Hall 6.