Digital Workflow Workshop

With the development of prepress digital technology, the printing industry has been thinking about how to respond to changes and uncertainties in order to enhance its competitiveness. It has become a very popular topic at present; however, digital or automated, it is hoped that it will be able to print. The industry is improving from the fundamental physique to achieve a level where both quality and productivity can be improved.

The Digital Workflow Seminar is a series of academic seminars jointly organized by the Taiwan Printing Association and the Taiwanese Printing Technology Association. In addition to the symposium hosted by the two societies, the seminar was printed and disseminated by a corporation. Fundamentally sponsored by the foundation; it can be divided into three main parts: The first part is the lecture by General Manager Jin Jinjin of Taiping Technology Co., Ltd., with the topic “The impact of the digital process on publishing and printing industry”; the second part is The keynote was "The Latest Trend of Automated Workflows" by the manager of Taiwan's Agfa Jihua Co., Ltd. Zhang Zhongxing. The third part is the director of Taiwan's Heidelberg International Co., Ltd. Chen Yusheng. The topic is: " Heidelberg CIP4 total solution provider".

Influence of Digital Process on Publishing and Printing Industry - General Manager Jin Jinjin

First of all, the advent of the age of science and technology has affected major changes in the manufacturing processes of various industries. Of course, cultural publishing is no exception. Traditional production processes of traditional publications have been rapidly eliminated and replaced by high-tech production processes.

The evolution of prepress digitalization has reached a point of maturity. To cope with this major change, the printing industry can only improve and digitize its processes to increase productivity and save time. The following explanation:

When it comes to the digital printing process, we must first talk about the digital development of the text, which is also a very important part of the process of digitalization; from the early text typesetting, to the DTP desktop typesetting, and later The completion of the digitized version and the support of the format have all contributed to the rapid changes in the environment of the printing industry in recent years.

The influence of digitalization of cultural publishing industry on prepress, printing and postpress:

The work of the plate-making factory actually plays a very important role in the printing process. One of the key points in the digitization of the printing workflow is that we can shorten the length of the workflow. After comparing the traditional workflow and computerized workflow, we can It is clear that the simplification of the work flow is due to the tediousness of traditional processes. We can only experience the need to improve the digitalization of the computer to simplify the work flow and thus more accurately grasp our printing quality. Therefore, we must import the idea of ​​a virtual platemaking factory. In this process, the virtual platemaking factory plays a very important role. It can transfer many of the original work of the platemaking factory to the cultural publishing house. Library servo management system, this database server management system has a database self-management system that can handle electronic files from manuscript publishers of cultural publishers, magazines and magazines, manuscripts, manuscript processing files, and four-color restorations. File, after processing the digital file to generate PDF file, and then according to the need to complete the large version, remote digital proofing, after the proofreading of the file is correct, can be transmitted through the E1 line to the partner with the printing company to create outlets, and then printing; The key point mentioned here is the concept of Digital Proof. Another advantage of digital computerization lies in the material.

Speech by Mr. Li Jichang, Chairman of Taiwan Printing Technology Association

For the savings, we can use the digital-like method to wait for the files to be confirmed without mistakes. We do not need to follow the traditional workflow and we must output the negatives first, and then we can confirm the actions after proofing. After three years of testing, this workflow has been very successful at the moment. It not only saves manpower but also controls the quality of printing. Progress in science and technology, and the repeated evolution of application software is also one of the main causes of today's digital process; today we can use software tools to store files in PDF file format to facilitate the circulation of files between publishers and platemaking plants; As a digital proofing application or after a file is confirmed, a PS version is directly produced by a printing factory, which has greatly shortened the cumbersome process of the traditional printing process. As for the PDF file format, it has been able to promote The development under the Chinese environment is quite complete. This has led to a smoother digital workflow.

What is a virtual platemaking plant:

It is defined as the construction of the original plate-making factory, including large-scale publication and proofing, in magazines, publishing houses, advertising companies, newspapers, or book companies; and assisting in the drafting of the manuscript. Virtual platemaking plants usually use ROOM [RIP once Output Many] SYSTEM and can ensure that the proofing data is exactly the same as the output film or PS version. Compared with traditional proofing, the virtual platemaking factory uses digital proofing methods to complete proofreading, and can be converted into proofs according to the needs of the editions for proofreading. Because the ICC color calibration system is used, it is guaranteed that the color matches the original. The archive format usually uses the PDF file format for circulation. After the file is confirmed to be correct, the E1 high-speed data transmission connection is used to directly output the PS plate or film to the printer.

Due to the advanced technology of the Internet, the current ADSL-style network is very convenient for uploading and downloading, plus the price is relatively low. Plus, today's files can be compressed very small, so the files can be transmitted via the Internet. After confirmation, the PS plate or film is directly connected to the printer. From such a work flow, we can gradually escape the stage of the traditional plate-making factory and achieve the digital workflow of the virtual plate-making factory.

Comparison of advantages and disadvantages:

advantage:

Speech by Director of Taiwan Printing Association Xiao Yaohui

1. The process can be completely controlled

2. Reduce the error rate, reduce the chance of re-entering the film and reduce the production cost

3. Shorten the working time, the editorial publication can immediately see the results, do not have to wait for the operating time of the previous plate-making factory

4. Striving for time-sensitive publications to enhance competitiveness

5. Worksheet purification can completely avoid the problems caused by the previous multiple platemaking factories

6. The publications are 100% computerized. Making ebooks or surfing the Internet for the future will be a matter of course

7. Set up a database, set up a news bank and set up an information bank for unlimited business opportunities.

8. It is easy to reprint, completely computerized, just need to make a slight adjustment to the published publications, you can re-export the reprint

9. Data can be horizontally supported, unlimited space

Disadvantages:

1. Need to provide space (about 3 square meters) to install related equipment

2. The US Department Needs Training and Counseling for New Functions

The virtual plate-making factory can almost replace all the functional work that can be done by the traditional plate-making factory. The only difference is that the virtual plate-making factory does not need to output negative film, and part of the job of outputting the negative film is sent directly to the output of the printing plant after the file is determined. . The market for future development is in the mainland market. Therefore, if we can establish such a workflow as soon as possible, we can save a lot of complicated processes, save time and manpower, and increase the competitive advantage of enterprises.

Mr. Zhang Zhongxing's manager speaks: "The latest trends in automated workflows."

INTRODUCTION: Speech by Mr. Li Xingwei, Standing Supervisor of Taiwan Printing Technology Association

At present, the trend of the printing industry is the demand for a small number of various types of printing products, and the number of printed materials is also becoming less and less. These are unavoidable situations. For example: a company's printed product catalog must be in the new product. Before it is produced, it is distributed, otherwise there will be waste of materials, so many companies gradually choose to display the company catalogue on the website, even for customers to download, but also due to these kinds of reasons, resulting in the number of printed materials The less the trend. However, on the other hand, we must consider that traditional print products also have room for growth. For example, EBay, the world’s largest online shopping site, last year for the first time, chose to print a print catalogue, but found it very popular. Unexpected results, the business volume has a significant increase in the effect, the main reason lies in the demand for diversification and timeliness of the printing market demand; from the perspective of foreign development trends, the added value of the plate-making plant does have a smaller and smaller trend. In the past, the status of the plate-making factory was at the stage of foundry, and four-color films were produced by the company’s electronic archives to earn meagre profits; such a plate-making factory has disappeared abroad, and it is believed that Taiwan’s future should also disappear. The plate-making factory should It will slowly transform and develop to help customers make file amendments to increase the added value of the plate making plant. Therefore, how to allow companies to enhance the added value, including: production process automation, business model is to think of ways to help customer service projects ..., etc., in order to increase the company's competitiveness is an urgent task.

In terms of automation: currently refers to the automation of the equipment and process management part of the information; whether it is printing machinery and equipment: no human operation, automatic connection automation; or process management information, such as: PDF file format standards and architecture The perfection, automatic imprinting or trapping, remote proofing automatic control part and CIP4... have all been developed and improved. According to the previous process of cheating, after the single-page file is completed, the undated software is used to complete the lagging work, and the negative film information is output after the RIP. After the evolution to the current can be a single-page electronic file RIP finished after the image, and then back to the page back to the processing, when the concept of electronic job ticket appears, the so-called way of imposition, whether it is saddle or plain paper, you can Before the output of the film or the printing plate, it is decided that this is very different from the previous method. In the past, even the stencil method had to be done at the front end and the modules were all put together.