El Corte Inglés, the leading distribution group in Spain and one of the largest in the world, announces that it has implemented Enfocus Switch in its graphic design department. The company primarily chose Enfocus Switch to minimize dependency on external service providers, and to be able to handle prepress tasks in-house by automating its processes and increasing quality through standardization.

El Corte Inglés is a distribution group comprised of department stores, hypermarkets, and travel agencies. Javier Rayón, with El Corte Inglés' production and advertising department, explains the company's decision to invest in Enfocus Switch: "We wanted to improve our production model, as we were previously carrying out work manually and outsourcing to external providers. We publish a large amount of printed materials, such as catalogues, leaflets, magazines, posters, etc. We needed an advanced workflow solution that could help us create an integrated set-up. Enfocus Switch has become the heart of our graphic production."

Enfocus' Switch automation solution is used in the simplest through to the most complex graphic design environments, depending on need. Enhanced features in the latest version include more robust automation, greater depth of data security, and the possibility to derive more value from in-house resources and third-party tools.

Enhancing flexibility and productivity

El Corte Inglés integrated Enfocus Switch with Enfocus PitStop Server and other third-party applications - such as GMG, callas and Apago - enabling the company to automate its graphic material revision, standardization and distribution. Rayón explains: "One of the reasons we chose Enfocus Switch is because it's very flexible and easily adapts to our processes. The solution allows us to standardize quality and cut costs by keeping graphic production processes in-house." 

The company is very satisfied with Enfocus Switch, which has become the foundation of El Corte Inglés' workflow. The solution enabled the company to automate a range of processes, including PDF revision according to the ISO PDF/X-4 standard; adapting colors based on the print type following the ISO 12647 standard; generating different products from a master PDF; file routing; and electronic distribution.  

El Corte Inglés has already seen a return on investment and savings estimated at 20%, even though it was only recently installed. "Our decision to partner with Enfocus was largely based on our trust in the company," adds Rayón. "In addition to explaining the benefits of Switch to us, the Enfocus team encouraged us to speak with existing users of the solution so we could find out how it performs in a working environment."

For El Corte Inglés, this trust was a decisive factor although they indicate that pricing was also an important criterion. The company's confidence in the product and Enfocus' expertise, however, were considered most important. Working with Enfocus experts allows El Corte Inglés to get the most out of the solution and ensures immediate responsiveness.

For El Corte Inglés it's clear that the improvement of the graphic production department is only the first challenge of many to be faced in the coming years. According to Rayón, the next focus areas will be the staff's technical expertise and process automation, such as the implementation of collaborative tools.

In the future, El Corte Inglés anticipates even more advantages from Enfocus Switch, especially in web environments.