Color Group, Munich, Implements Integrated JDF Workflow with Prinect Solutions from Heidelberg |
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Changeover to JDF will pay for itself within one year
In a high-level optimization procedure, the Color Group of companies in Munich- a major player in the industry with around 14 million Euro annual sales- has been migrating its key processes to a JDF-based workflow since the start of 2005. The Prinect solutions from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG were introduced to run alongside normal business operations. The payback time for recouping the costs of the changeover has now been calculated. At a conservative estimate, the company reckons the investments in the JDF workflow will have paid for themselves within twelve months.
The company's production environment consisting of proprietary stand-alone solutions that had grown up organically over time and were not integrated was its major obstacle to job processing efficiency. The job processing costs were correspondingly high, primarily because of a lack of transparency and too many errors in the production data.
Why the "sneakers network" had to go
The high proportion of errors during job processing was mainly due to one key factor - an absence of system integration. This meant that job data had to be keyed in again at each new stage. Added to this was the fact that tracing jobs from start to finish within the company was relatively time-consuming and work-intensive. "Formerly, around 60 percent of the internal telephone calls, at a rough estimate, were made to ascertain the current status of a particular job somewhere in the company," says Wolfgang Huber, one of the Managing Directors of the offset Group. This did not seem to be a tenable state of affairs for a full-service company with extremely demanding commercial and industrial customers. "So at drupa 2000 we made our first forays into the world of JDF," says Huber.
Step-by-step integration of processes
The decision in favor of an end-to-end JDF-based workflow was finally taken in 2001, among other things to replace the Prinergy workflow in the prepress stage. Over the last few years, individual components from the Heidelberg Prinect product range were introduced stage by stage, but these were not fully integrated with each other at first. Prinect Prinance was introduced as an MIS solution for costing as early as 2001. From mid-2002 onwards, production was linked up and the production data recorded in the MIS. The postpress stage was connected up later the same year. The first use of JDF - to connect Prinect Printready and the Prinect Signa Station to Prinance - took place in spring 2004. "This phased approach to the JDF workflow was, in our view, the only way we could achieve integration in parallel with normal operation," Huber explains. This was then followed by the introduction of the customer Internet connection module in 2005 and the update to version 4.5 of Prinect Prinance. "Our customers able to find out about the status of their job online - a major breakthrough in terms of service, transparency and efficiency," says Huber. Further workflow components are also gradually being changed over to JDF solutions.
The JDF integration did of course pose a number of challenges. "As we had to perform the changeover alongside normal operation, we decided to run the existing software and the new solution in parallel until smooth operation of the JDF components was assured," says Huber, outlining the procedure involved. "For instance, the old prepress systems ran in tandem with the new Heidelberg Prinect Printready solution for a short time until we were gradually able to deactivate all of the old software."
Quantifiable results
"The success of the JDF integration can be quantified by calculating the unit costs for an individual CtP plate, for example" Huber explains. "We were able to reduce costs in this area by around 40 percent thanks to the Prinect solutions." However, examining the integration process from a business management perspective yielded some even more impressive results. More streamlined workflows and transparent access to job information not only ensured significant savings in the various processes, the company was also able to considerably increase its order volume without increasing the workforce. "According to our calculations, the total payback period for the whole investment is around 12 months," Huber says. "And that's a very conservative estimate." There is also the possibility of using the production data from the printroom recorded via Prinect Prinance for the actual costing. "With the production data acquisition, we will also be able to introduce automated actual costing (currently still done manually) from around the middle of next year - another important contribution to increased transparency for our customers. The feedback from the machines will then be recorded automatically which will enable us to further significantly cut our outlay for job-related cost and results monitoring."
JDF integration needs clear areas of responsibility
Throughout the whole integration project, a dedicated project manager and system administrator were continually on hand. "This centralized approach worked very well for us," explains Huber. "There's no question that an integration project of this size involves a certain amount of complexity. In our opinion, clear areas of responsibility and efficient project management were crucial in ensuring that the new solutions were up and running quickly and soon gained acceptance by the employees."
Since then, greater process and production efficiency at the Color Group has been reflected in a 50 percent increase in job throughput - with corresponding positive effects on process costs. "Naturally, we are not completely immune to the problem of sinking margins, but if we hadn't implemented JDF integration in this form over the last few years, our company's profitability might have come under threat," says Huber. "With the Prinect management solutions and JDF, we have also laid the foundations for further expansion of our customer service. We believe that more transparency and stable processes make an important contribution to increasing customer loyalty and ensuring the long-term success of our company."
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The Color Group
With its four companies Color-Medienservice, Color-Offset, Color-Press and Color-Falz, the Color Group in Munich bundles graphics, media prepress, print processing and logistics expertise into a full-service offering. Its portfolio includes the full range of print products. With a workforce of around 140 and annual sales of around 14 million Euro (2004), the company has received a number of awards for its achievements, including the "Sappi European Printer of the Year Award" gold in the Calendars & Posters category.
Color Group
Geretsrieder Straße 10
D-81379 München
Tel.: +49 89/780410
Fax: +49 89/78041200
 Color Group
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