Heidelberg Uses the New Prinect Scheduler to Integrate the Electronic Planning Board into the Production Workflow
06/21/2007
- Efficient resource management
- Transparent and flexible job planning
- Availability at drupa 2008
At the upcoming drupa 2008 trade show, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen
AG (Heidelberg) will be unveiling an electronic production planning
system, the Prinect Scheduler, that is fully integrated into the
Prinect workflow. This means print shops will be able to plan their
print jobs much more quickly, flexibly, and easily.
Simple operation and flexible and production-related planning
The key benefits of this new planning system, which Heidelberg is developing in close collaboration with its customers, include simple operation combined with high flexibility levels for planning changes, and high transparency in production workflows.
A print shop's entire production workflow can already be operated and monitored via the control center for the Prinect workflow, the Prinect Cockpit. The Prinect Scheduler will be available as an option for the Prinect Cockpit, thus bringing together the print shop's planning activities and electronic production control in a single user interface. This tight linkup to production enables the Prinect Scheduler to have an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of all print jobs at any time.
The system offers wide-ranging opportunities for production planning, from semi-automatic planning of complete jobs - such as the earliest start or delivery date - down to detailed planning of individual production stages.
"Our new electronic production planning system cuts schedulers' daily workload substantially by providing them with a previously unattainable range of real-time information on production and flexible planning tools," says Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg, explaining the benefits of the Prinect Scheduler. "If schedulers wish to plan several print jobs with the same spot colors or make provisional reservations for agreed jobs for example, they can do this directly using the electronic production planning system and immediately see the effects on overall planning."
Milestones, resource management, and sector-specific planning
The Prinect Scheduler shows whether the key milestones for print jobs, such as approval of the proof and the availability of printing plates and paper, have already been reached. It detects missed deadlines and indicates these immediately with a "traffic light system," which means schedulers are able to see at a glance where everything is going to plan and where they need to intervene because deadlines are at risk. As well as schedulers, any other authorized print shop employee can use the Prinect Cockpit to access this information at his workstation. The electronic production planning system enables a transparent overview of production, the status of every individual print job, and the free and tied-up capacity of workstations in all areas of a print shop in real time.
The Prinect Scheduler offers schedulers flexible support in all aspects of production planning, whether these relate merely to resource planning in the pressroom and the deadlines for prepress and finishing worked out from this, or whether all areas need to be actively planned. Production changes in the complete workflow - including at the last minute - that have an impact on planning are updated in the planning board and can thus be viewed right away by all users.
"The electronic production planning system integrated into the Prinect workflow means there is no need for complex and non-transparent planning using external software modules and a manual planning board, as still used today by many print shops. Heidelberg also meets the demand from large numbers of customers for simple, constantly up-to-date, and production-related planning in the face of increasingly short throughout times and job changes at short notice," concludes Rautert.
Image:
Job planning at a glance: The electronic planning board integrated into the Prinect workflow provides users with a complete overview of the planning status of all future print jobs.
Further information for journalists:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Matthias Hartung
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 77
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail: matthias.hartung@heidelberg.com
Simple operation and flexible and production-related planning
The key benefits of this new planning system, which Heidelberg is developing in close collaboration with its customers, include simple operation combined with high flexibility levels for planning changes, and high transparency in production workflows.
A print shop's entire production workflow can already be operated and monitored via the control center for the Prinect workflow, the Prinect Cockpit. The Prinect Scheduler will be available as an option for the Prinect Cockpit, thus bringing together the print shop's planning activities and electronic production control in a single user interface. This tight linkup to production enables the Prinect Scheduler to have an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of all print jobs at any time.
The system offers wide-ranging opportunities for production planning, from semi-automatic planning of complete jobs - such as the earliest start or delivery date - down to detailed planning of individual production stages.
"Our new electronic production planning system cuts schedulers' daily workload substantially by providing them with a previously unattainable range of real-time information on production and flexible planning tools," says Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg, explaining the benefits of the Prinect Scheduler. "If schedulers wish to plan several print jobs with the same spot colors or make provisional reservations for agreed jobs for example, they can do this directly using the electronic production planning system and immediately see the effects on overall planning."
Milestones, resource management, and sector-specific planning
The Prinect Scheduler shows whether the key milestones for print jobs, such as approval of the proof and the availability of printing plates and paper, have already been reached. It detects missed deadlines and indicates these immediately with a "traffic light system," which means schedulers are able to see at a glance where everything is going to plan and where they need to intervene because deadlines are at risk. As well as schedulers, any other authorized print shop employee can use the Prinect Cockpit to access this information at his workstation. The electronic production planning system enables a transparent overview of production, the status of every individual print job, and the free and tied-up capacity of workstations in all areas of a print shop in real time.
The Prinect Scheduler offers schedulers flexible support in all aspects of production planning, whether these relate merely to resource planning in the pressroom and the deadlines for prepress and finishing worked out from this, or whether all areas need to be actively planned. Production changes in the complete workflow - including at the last minute - that have an impact on planning are updated in the planning board and can thus be viewed right away by all users.
"The electronic production planning system integrated into the Prinect workflow means there is no need for complex and non-transparent planning using external software modules and a manual planning board, as still used today by many print shops. Heidelberg also meets the demand from large numbers of customers for simple, constantly up-to-date, and production-related planning in the face of increasingly short throughout times and job changes at short notice," concludes Rautert.
Image:
Job planning at a glance: The electronic planning board integrated into the Prinect workflow provides users with a complete overview of the planning status of all future print jobs.
Further information for journalists:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Matthias Hartung
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 77
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail: matthias.hartung@heidelberg.com
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