By Gail Kailing with WTT staff February 27, 2003 -- Heidelberg has discontinued development of the Prinect Internet Portal e-services solution, launched at Graph Expo in October 2002. The goal was to combine Heidelberg’s commercial printing expertise with the technology strengths of: - IBM Business Consulting Services, developed the ASP software. - RealTimeImage, product enabled real-time viewing of color separations, automatic tracking of comments and approvals, and pixel-level resolution. - Sun Microsystems, Sun ONE software provided the architecture. In an interview with WTT yesterday, Heidelberg’s Wolfgang Pfizenmaier said the timing was not right. “There may be a future demand for the Prinect Internet Portal but current economic conditions prevent us from continuing development. We are encouraging our customers to take advantage of the world-class services offered by RealTimeImage’s remote proofing solutions by working directly with RealTimeImage.” Wolfgang Pfizenmaier is president of Heidelberg’s Digital Solution Center and Heidelberg's Management Board Member responsible for digital solutions. The decision does not alter the company’s commitment to the JDF standard or its Prinect workflow management solutions. Heidelberg may incorporate certain Internet Portal functions into some of the other Prinect Solutions. Heidelberg says that all products are scheduled to be JDF-enabled by drupa 2004. WTT Analysis: Prinect Internet Portal was described as a new kind of e-portal that would allow print providers to communicate directly with print buyers through a designated Web site. It would enable an array of e-services, from remote proofing and online requests for printing quotes and orders, to job management and secure file transfer. The portal featured custom branding of individual print businesses and was to serve as their online gateway. Heidelberg is only the latest company to decide that the ASP model is a solution looking for real demand. Other discontinued versions of this hope include Collabria, Impresse, myfujifilm.com and Adobe Design Team. Companies still providing ASP-type services for printers and/or print buyers are Printable, printChannel (owned by Printcafe), Printcafe, Smartworks, ImageX, iGetSmart and Noosh. These are just a few of the companies hoping to facilitate the interface between the print buyer and the print service provider. Some have failed utterly, some are still struggling, and a few are having some success. The real promise of the Prinect Internet Portal was its interface to Heidelberg’s Prinect products and of course, Heidelberg’s market presence. The Solution – CIM? CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) is, according to Joe Mize (Guide to Systems Integration, IIE, 1991), “an open system that combines planning, sales, purchasing, production planning & control, computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, and computer aided quality control through a centralized database so all data can be accessed and used for control purposes.” It appears, based on the challenges faced by – and in some cases, that defeated – companies trying to revolutionize the “print supply chain,” that they were approaching the problem from the wrong end. Heidelberg, Adobe, Creo, Printcafe, MAN Roland and others have launched various initiatives to educate printers about the advantages of JDF (Job Definition Format) and the productivity benefits of CIM. Heidelberg and Adobe formed a partnership to promote JDF and Prinect as solutions to achieve greater efficiency in printers' business processes, end-to-end networking, and associated software applications. Heidelberg’s seminars highlight the Prinect portfolio, a CIM system using JDF as a common data exchange format and comprising a network of integrated workflow components including estimating, quotation, ticketing, tracking and delivery. The Creo, Printcafe and MAN Roland seminars cover all print production, prepress, MIS and post-press processes, and include a look at the current state of the JDF standards and the value of a shared data network. Presentations highlight their integration efforts and cover specific applications. For example, Creo focuses on Synapse InSite and Synapse Link to collect and share production information, particularly with a printer’s management system. MAN Roland emphasizes two PECOM modules: JobPilot and PressMonitor. Printcafe looks at the role of an integrated management system in a CIM environment, and reviews PrintFlow, a dynamic scheduling system. - It should be noted that EFI intends to acquire Printcafe. Getting the Printer’s House in Order First There are a number of vendors providing a wide range of products of interest for commercial and digital print services providers who are considering CIM for their manufacturing operations. While these companies offer “Internet-enabled” applications, some of the modules and applications are further along in the integration of XML/JDF and other file formats and protocols for sharing data. Speaking about Printcafe’s effort, Ted Shaw, Information Systems Manager, Dynagraf (Special Report, Printcafe-EFI-Creo: What Printers Think) clearly articulated the dilemma: “We are looking for as much data as possible to flow between ALL our equipment, from the plate maker to the pallet wrapper and it can't happen fast enough.” “We were hopeful that [the Web-based Customer Collaboration front end] would be accepted by our customers, but there just wasn't much interest. They all thought it was neat technology but either they didn't think it fit their needs, or they still wanted the "hands on" support of a Customer Service Department, or they had another solution in mind,” said Shaw. “If the customers aren't yet ready and willing to use this technology, no amount of ‘spoon feeding’ will make the transition happen... In short, we built it - but no one showed up.” A more automated and seamless printing plant may provide a better incentive for printers to plug in their customers last. As one pundit has repeatedly told us, “Until printers get their own workflow automated, no one should expect them to be able to effectively sell these solutions to their customers.” The Graphic Arts Industry is seeing the maturing of technology. It is extremely encouraging to watch the development of ever more sophisticated and customer-oriented products and services being developed. The industry pioneers – those with the arrows in their backs – paid a high price, but contributed to the continuing development of better solutions.