Enfocus Follows Up Caldera's Nexio Connection-to-Automation Partnership with Tilia Labs' Phoenix Connection to Large Format Automation

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Press release from the issuing company

Enfocus eliminates costly, common problems in large format printing with affordable software products

Ghent, Belgium - Enfocus will showcase its complete line of quality control and automation solutions, which eliminate the expensive problems common to large format printers, at SGIA 2015. Enfocus will demonstrate its flagship Switch automation and PitStop error detection and correction solutions, as well as its Connect guaranteed-printable software for designers. The popular Caldera Nexio configurator, used for connection to Enfocus Switch automation, is followed by the new Switch configurator for Tilia Labs' Phoenix imposition and job planning application. Enfocus' exhibit will be in parent company Esko's booth #2231 at SGIA, taking place November 4 - 6 in Atlanta.

The Enfocus solutions on display have been developed to reduce errors, improve productivity, and generally provide large format printers with the right tools to eliminate costly problems and optimize business processes and overall operations.

"Enfocus will stop unprintable files before they hit the workflow, or fix them while they are going through. We do this in many print environments, but large format - with its short runs and major materials costs - is one of the areas where our customers are seeing substantial impact," says Bjorn Willems, Director of Product Management at Enfocus.

Challenges Facing Large Format Printers

Short print runs and high materials costs combine to make large format production errors expensive. Needing to repeat jobs because of mistakes can be just as costly and time consuming as producing them the first time, which negatively impacts the printer's profitability and customer satisfaction. Files submitted for production must be right the first time, every time. The need for precision, accuracy, and job-to-job consistency in large format printing, especially, has become more critical than ever.

Enfocus joins Esko at SGIA booth 2231 to address these needs. SGIA attendees have the opportunity to see live demonstrations of Enfocus' industry leading solutions, including new PitStop 13 update 1, Switch 13, and Connect 13 update 1. With the ability to use the products separately or together, users select the solutions that best meet their needs, today, with the ease of expanding solutions with business growth in the future.

The Phoenix Configurator for Switch

Phoenix, from Tilia Labs, is an imposition and planning solution that is equally powerful as a pure imposition system for creating print-ready layouts, as it is as an exclusive planning tool to estimate and report the production costs involved with printing a set of orders. Customers enjoy exponential benefit when imposition and planning are united, as this creates a seamless workflow from initial quote all the way to the RIP.

The Phoenix Plan Configurator automates a key bottleneck affecting printers everywhere: estimating and imposing incoming orders to minimize press and media costs. It accomplishes this by analyzing up to hundreds of orders to determine the most cost effective ganged layouts, at unprecedented speeds, for both nested- and square-cut work.

The Configurator works by collecting individual orders coming in to the workflow (and therefore, Enfocus Switch), along with their associated quantities, stock, grain, spacing, etc. The files are then sent to Phoenix, which goes to work searching millions of combinations, across available presses and stocks, to find the best multi-form jobs.

Output options include imposed PDF, JDF, Phoenix jobs, and PDF or XML-based reports. Phoenix PDF is, in most cases, the best choice for large format applications. (Note that the Phoenix Plan Configurator works with all Phoenix format "flavors".)

What are the benefits of Switch automation for the Phoenix configurator user?

- Greatly reduces prepress and estimating time by providing a lights out, automated, planning and imposition solution

- Using the powerful Phoenix Plan tool, which searches millions of combinations in minutes, more cost effective layouts can be found

- Can be used for square-cut or nested work, allowing users ultimate flexibility to plan and impose any type of work

- Automates correction of error-prone tasks, thus reducing mistakes

- Maximizes media usage

- Searches across available presses and stocks to find the most cost-effective combination

Improving processes and minimizing turnaround times

Enfocus solutions analyze and correct any errors in incoming documents so that documents are output, as intended, on any press, machine, or substrate. This minimizes manual pre-print actions while drastically improving turnaround time, per job. These improved processes and faster turnaround times mean smaller printers can serve more customers each day.

Large format printers are able to maximize daily output by automating repetitive tasks. Using Enfocus Switch, incoming jobs are automatically analyzed and referred to the process best suited for each. These benefits make any large format business more scalable and able to grow.

"In the past, large format customers - like any other - have focused on growth and, more specifically, the ability to produce more, thus increasing revenue," says Bjorn. "Now, every company we deal with is focusing on profitability. They want solutions that increase productivity and automation, resulting in a faster return on investment."

"These advantages, achievable with Enfocus Switch and even more so with use of configurator partner applications including Nexio and Phoenix, are key to unlocking these printers' potential," Bjorn says. "Enfocus has come a long way with automation, and the universe of opportunities just keeps expanding."