The CIP4 Innovation Awards are given to the world-wide most successful users of process automation technology. For the third year in succession, Hiflex users won two out of three categories and achieved second place in the remaining.
Hiflex knows these results are also due to its customers consistent striving for process optimization. Says Stefan Reichhart, Managing Director of Hiflex GmbH: "Our customers aim at the automation of their processes via Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). This involves the integration of all organizational and technical IT functions that are related to the production processes in the Hiflex MIS by making joint usage of all data relevant to production. The results of the 2007 CIPPI again demonstrate that Hiflex users are highly successful with their automated workflow solutions, showing very high returns on investments." Thomas Reichhart, Board Chairman of Hiflex Group, explains: "Our main objectives are customer benefit and customer satisfaction. Especially in the field of JDF-connectivity, we work closely and intensively together with leading manufacturers in the graphic arts industry. This enables our customers to have sustainable automation solutions. We want to make sure that our customers really profit from our unbounded spirit of innovation and the resulting technological developments." With respect to the CIPPI results he adds: "Remarkably enough we again realized two world premieres in the area of JDF-connectivity in this year's CIPPIs."
Ampersand Printing, Guelph/Ontario (Canada):
"Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation" (Second place) Canadian Ampersand Printing positioned itself as one of the leading print service providers in Southern Ontario, Canada. They achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification in January 2007. The JDF implementation began in April 2006, one year later the automated workflow
included Hiflex MIS, Kodak Prinergy and the Heidelberg Polar Cutter. Ampersand benefits from the following effects of the JDF project: Automatic Job Create in Prinergy, automatic load of Preps imposition schemas based on JDF StrippingParams, better access to archived jobs / very fast search and response times, automatic booking of material consumption, prepress progress visual for the CSR, up-to-the-minute plate status for the scheduler, tracking of authors' and house corrections, seamless and accurate billing process, inventory checks of plates no longer show any discrepancies, tight integration of the customer into the prepress workflow, automatic processing of received files, no unnecessary correction cycles / clear job content, increase of sold productivity on the presses due to ameliorated transparency and flexibility, automatic and accurate creation of cutting program (dramatic reduction in make-ready).
In the first period after implementation (2006 compared to 2005) Ampersand realized a turnover increase of 34,78%. The Net Present Value (NPV) is CAD 1,527,940.39, and the ROI is 1815.8% in five years (investment is paid back nearly 20 times).
Damian McDonald, Vice President and Production Manager at Ampersand states: "The automation benefits utilized from both Hiflex and Prinergy, paired with the ability to integrate the two systems has placed us light years from where we were prior to our process efficiency enhancements. Moreover, efficiency enhancements we already reached had a positive impact on customer responsiveness." And he adds "The truly exciting part is the fact that we have only scratched the surface and are just beginning to realize the true benefits of this level of integrated automation." Details concerning the presentation of the CIPPI Award Certificate for Ampersand and the supporting vendors will follow soon. PDC Tangen, Oslo (Norway):
"Best cost/benefit realization as a result of process automation implementation" (Winner)
PDC Tangen was the first Scandinavian printer that implemented JDF connectivity. Starting in April 2006, their JDF network today includes products from five different vendors: Kodak's Prinergy and InSite, six printing presses (37 units) from Komori and Mitsubishi (first JDF-integration Mitsubishi/MIS world-wide), three folding machines from MBO for postpress, and Hiflex for MIS. In the realized automation workflow prepress receives parameters for automatic imposition (Hiflex sends job init data as well as JDF StrippingParams to Prinergy) and folding machines are preset with type and position of folds, folding catalog, and details about side or head alignment as calculated in Hiflex.
The integration of their production with Hiflex MIS led to an overall increase of transparency, job tracking, planning horizon, and flexibility. Halvor Boressen, Production Manager at PDC states: "With regard to the very high level of wages in Norway the step into automation technology was a strategic decision in order to decrease the share of labor costs on added value. We aimed at real Computer Integrated Manufacturing and now have realized a fully automated order processing from print buyer to postpress. The results of the JDF projects with Hiflex have exceeded our expectations
by far."
The direct effect of the JDF connectivity project was an increase in the turnover by 20% (+ EUR 5.2 Mio / USD 7,17), and a productivity increase of 25% on the presses and 15% on the folding machines. The profit after taxes was increased by almost 900%. Calculated on a five year's period, the cash value (NPV) is EUR 5.180.906 / USD 7,131,880.25 and their investment pays back nearly 20 times.
The CIPPI Award is presented by Mr. Stefan Daun from CIP4 at the winner's location in Oslo on Wednesday, 17th October 2007. Coinciding with this, PDC Tangen arranges a press conference, during which the award-winning implementation will be presented, the results clearly explained and the Return on Investment (ROI) demonstrated.
Printing House Berlin-Mitte (Germany), Walter Grieger Offset Printing (Germany), and Gutenberg-Werbering (Austria):
"Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation" (Joint winners) The awarded innovation provides a JDF-enabled, web-based automation tool named "Hiflex Print Support" (www.printsupport.com) that supports important aspects of print procurement. Hiflex Print Support made the integration of print buyers and suppliers into the JDF workflow possible, thus connecting all partners of the procurement process (which are print buyers, printers, and the printer's suppliers) within a single platform. Such a workflow has been realized for the first time world-wide.
The workflow includes Austrian print buyer Gutenberg-Werbering and Printing House Berlin-Mitte (DBM) who provide Gutenberg with print products and also purchase external work from printing company Grieger, also situated in Germany. Hiflex Print Support is used by the three of them for their individual procurement processes. The system utilizes the internet and e-mail with JDF attachment (customer data, job specifications) generated by the print buyer via Hiflex Print Support. The JDF data is automatically made available in the Hiflex MIS. In Hiflex the JDF job definition is used in the course of the job estimate and (as soon as the estimate is converted into a live job) also forwarded to JDF-connected production systems. These are Kodak Prinergy, KBA and MAN Roland printing presses at DBM, and KBA printing presses at Grieger.
The innovation transports the Job Definition Format "JDF" beyond the boundaries of internal production processes so that a cross-company JDF workflow is realized. The use of JDF technology is saving significant amounts of money and time as requests and quotations are communicated in an extremely efficient manner. The effect is the realization of the full range workflow from quote through delivery by JDF.
Asking Herbert Preissler, General Manager of DBM, about his intention to initiate the development of Hiflex Print Support, he explains: "Plant-wide standardizing, internal automation and communication processes were already highly developed at DBM. What we lacked was a consistent workflow in the field of print procurement - whether this involved external communication processes with our customers or those with our suppliers (where we are the customers). We felt time was due to integrate the print procurement process into the JDF workflow."
DBM has been using JDF technology since 2003 and implemented the world's first JDF workflow in live conditions. In the 2005 CIPPI Awards they achieved an honorable mention for "Best cost/benefit realization in an implementation."
The CIPPI Award is presented by Mr. Stefan Daun from CIP4 at Druckhaus Berlin-Mitte in Berlin on Friday, 26th October 2007. During the coinciding press conference the award-winning innovation will be presented in more detail.