• Submit label or folding carton jobs to a digital press in only a few steps
• Reduce errors with simple job management, keep control of color, and run at ultra-high-speed for jobs with variable data

Cambridge UK – Version 2.0 of Fundamentals™, the simple toolkit for building Digital Front Ends, will be previewed at Labelexpo Europe (9A15) with a host of new features that make it easy to print label and flexible packaging jobs in only a few steps, reducing waste by making the best use of media and with accurate, consistent color throughout.

Fundamentals is a cooperation between Global Graphics Software and HYBRID Software who have worked together to ensure that the essential software components needed to create a DFE are accessible from a modern web-based user interface designed to remove complexity from the print process. Providing a native PDF workflow, Fundamentals is branded and customized to the requirements of a specific press or application.

Tom Mooney, Fundamentals product manager at Global Graphics Software says: “Fundamentals combines best in breed technology to create a simple but powerful Digital Front End for press manufacturers. This new version introduces major changes, such as Hybrid’s STEPZ imposition and award-winning VDP composition engine, as well as significant technology evolutions with multiple parallel Harlequin RIPs for high-speed PDF processing, and a new generation of ScreenPro that streams image data at the high press speeds demanded by the new models of digital presses.”

Visitors to Labelexpo can see a demonstration of the Mark Andy version of a DFE created using Fundamentals in ProWORX on Mark Andy’s booths (4C45 and 8A60).

Peter Rathje, head of digital solutions at Mark Andy comments: “The best thing about Fundamentals is its simplicity. In digital printing everyone seems to be making things too complex. Fundamentals makes it easier to get jobs to the customer. The integration process was very easy. It took us roughly two weeks to develop a system where we put a PDF through Fundamentals and produced a label of sellable quality.”

Fundamentals 2.0 makes it easy for the press operator to keep control of the workflow. Easy step and repeat and nesting via STEPZ with award-winning VDP composition, from HYBRID Software makes it possible to estimate and plan single or multi-gang jobs and see how the output will appear when printed, helping to reduce wasted media.

PROOFSCOPE allows the operator to verify print separations, cut marks, barcodes, colors dimensions and density before going to print.

Clustered Harlequin RIPs® feed data to the press at high speed, without comprising on quality and handling variable data and short runs with ease. For ultra-high speed where every page is different there is an option to drive data directly to the electronics.

Consistent and predictable color for a wide range of design and creation workflows using industry standard tools is achieved with Harlequin ColorPro™. Brand look-up tables in a variety of color spaces meet the need for color fidelity and colors can be matched with conventional output for consistency across a brand presence. There’s support for industry standard ICC profiles, including device link and N-channel profiles.

ScreenPro™, the award-winning multi-level screening engine, streams data directly to the print electronics at press speed, unlocking maximum productivity on variable data jobs to process ultra-high data rates with the reliability required to maximize press up time. Advanced Inkjet Screens™ and PrintFlat™, recipient of a 2019 Printing Industries of America InterTech™ Technology Award, address inkjet quality defects that can’t be corrected mechanically, such as chaining, mottling, and banding.

Fundamentals job management is based on HYBRID Software’s proven CLOUDFLOW workflow. In version 2.0 multiple users can submit jobs to the job queue. Jobs are easy to spot in the queue, indicators show their status, and operators can easily prioritize rush jobs or reorder them. Easily brandable, it is possible for a manufacturer to develop the same look and feel for a DFE to support all their printer models.

Watch the Mark Andy video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68mvJIEdsw 

For more product information, visit http://www.globalgraphics.com/products/fundamentals or contact [email protected].