ROCHESTER, N.Y., September 9 – At Print 05, Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group (GCG) is unifying traditional and digital printing processes, delivering greater automation, integrating business systems, and providing an extensive web production portal for customer and printer collaboration. These Unified Workflow solutions help printers work more efficiently, improve print quality, reduce cycle times, and expand their service offerings to customers. “Our Unified Workflow provides new business capabilities that are practical and profitable for printers,” said Judi Hess, general manager and vice president, Workflow & Prepress Equipment, GCG. “Our integrated solutions meet our customers’ needs for automated production in both traditional and digital printing. We are providing better ways for printers to expand their businesses and deliver greater value to their customers.” What Is Unified Workflow? Kodak recognizes that issues such as a reliable digital file supply, consistent color quality and matching, and workflow efficiency are issues common to printers in the offset, packaging and digital printing environments. Kodak’s Unified Workflow integrates highly automated processes with open standards and interfaces, such as JDF, PDF and ICC, with a common workflow solution to increase efficiency, reduce turn-around times and introduce new products and services. A Unified Workflow automates production environments with integrated creative, production and business systems, driving all types of printing and finishing equipment. It relies on a single web-enabled production portal for job specification and submission for all offset and digital print projects, allows asset management for storage and repurposing of creative content, and a single, managed online process for automated file pre-flight checking, normalizing, proofing and approval. A seamless process enables easy production and management of blended traditional and digital print work (such as early runs, reprints or late runs). A Unified Workflow also helps ensure faster output with better print quality. The use of open standard technologies in a Unified Workflow allows KODAK solutions to be easily integrated with products from other vendors. A Unified Workflow allows the printer and print buyer to collaborate and communicate on the production and status of jobs, and relies on a distributed workflow in a flexible, modular environment. Kodak is delivering powerful blended solutions to the graphic communications market that cross the boundaries of both traditional and digital technologies. At Print 05, Kodak is demonstrating several major developments in the Unified Workflow Vision. Introducing Intelligent Automation To enable printers to increase their productivity and reduce costs, Kodak is introducing unprecedented workflow automation in the PRINERGY 3 workflow system family with Rules-based Automation. A new generation of intelligent automation allows printers to easily create custom “rules” at a customer, job or system-wide level. These rules specify conditions to automate workflow tasks in the PRINERGY workflow management system and to integrate KODAK products with custom and third-party systems, eliminating manual steps, reducing errors and improving predictability. Layered PDF versioning allows for quicker, more accurate versioning. These integrated value-add modules help decrease prepress costs, and increase speed and productivity. The PRINERGY 3 workflow management system also features automated job creation, planning and imposition via JDF from the SYNAPSE software tools. Enhanced Web-Based Production Portals To provide printers with more ways to offer compelling new services to print buyers while streamlining aspects of prepress production, Kodak introduces digital asset management within a collaborative online environment with SYNAPSE EyeMedia and SYNAPSE TeamWorks software. Both SYNAPSE EyeMedia and SYNAPSE TeamWorks software integrate with SYNAPSE InSite Internet portal into prepress to offer users a powerful web portal connecting both end users and production staff to production jobs, asset libraries and project-based content creation. Integrated Business Enterprise Management System The new KODAK Enterprise Management Solution software can be integrated with prepress workflow systems to report on costs, supply chain management and process automation. It is also capable of managing both conventional and digital print jobs. Kodak is demonstrating the Unified Workflow Vision at Booth #6707 during Print 05, North America’s largest trade show and conference for the graphic communications industry, September 9-15 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.