Las Vegas - EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, is showing publicly for the first time the new Monarch user interface and other enhancements that will further help print providers streamline processes and improve workflows. The new software, recently JDF certified for finishing and webpress printing, will be on display at the Connect users' conference (through April 21st at Wynn Las Vegas) as part of a complete production workflow. EFI Monarch is a flexible, powerful, and intelligent print production and management automation system for large single and multi-plant operations.

The new user interface has more graphics, a new color scheme, new icons and improved tab functionality, all aimed at making the software easier to use and the workflow more streamlined. Users may save configurations which are most relevant to their job functions as their desktop or to a favorites area, easily allowing these to appear as the user logs into the application from anywhere. The upcoming Monarch version has an improved "My View" functionality, which includes new inline filtering, sorting and grouping capability, providing more options to select, configure and view data.

"As the largest Native American-owned print and design firm in the Midwest, Visions Inc. constantly leverages new technologies to stay ahead of the competition. Keeping with this strategy, we recently implemented EFI Monarch Foundation to ensure that our employees have access to the best tools in the industry," said Dave Socha, vice president of operations of the Minneapolis company. "The latest Monarch version features a new user interface and many system enhancements that provide us with a powerful platform to manage and grow our business."

Jeff White, general manager of EFI Monarch, said: "As the powerhouse offering in our print MIS line-up, we're continually adding features and making enhancements to ensure Monarch is meeting the demanding and evolving needs of our customers. This upcoming release is no exception. In particular, the new user interface will enable customers to work faster and with fewer errors, which leads to greater return on investment."

The Monarch Planner module recently received Job Definition Format certification for "MIS to Finishing" and "MIS to Webpress: Commerical ICS," passing the stringent JDF testing process by Printing Industries of America, the official certification body for CIP4 (the International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress). With these new JDF certifications, print providers can increase productivity by significantly reducing machine set-up times and automating the accurate collection of data.

Monarch is one piece of a complete print production workflow on display in the solutions lab at the 11th annual Connect users' conference taking place this week. The workflow takes a job from EFI PrinterSite Internal to Monarch Foundation then to Monarch Planner. Next the job moves from EFI PrintFlow to third party pre-press interfaces and/or EFI Auto-Count, then back to Foundation for costing and status updates.