Category 5 Imaging (Burlington, Ontario) is using Esko’s Automation Engine to reduce operator time specifically by eliminating the painstaking and repetitive task of placing one-up artwork onto print sheets. Based in a 20,000-square-foot facility, Category 5 was established in 2006 as Canada’s first fully digital, full service large-format printer. Its 30 employees operate a number of state-of-the-art Vutek digital presses and provide full service creative, prepress, fulfillment and shipping, all in-house. Category 5 wanted to find an automated software solution that would help them produce graphics faster for same-sized materials, reducing prep time. They also wanted to eliminate tasks that were done over and over again and reduce the associated error rates and longer production times. The system would also have to integrate with their existing Kongsberg cutting table.
We really liked the versatility of Automation Engine,” said Dave LePoidevin, Prepress Technician, Category 5 Imaging. “It could customize the workflow in any way we wanted. Another workflow system we explored was more structured, basically telling us how to create our banners and signs. We wanted more flexibility when outputting artwork, and the freedom of deciding where we wanted to place registration dots for our Kongsberg table.”
Category 5 has been using Automation Engine since March. “For everything we have presets for sizing, Automation Engine will automatically prepare a press-ready file,” LePoidevin added. “We created presets for how many ‘up’, and stepped out the one-ups into that layout, with all the marks we need for the Kongsberg table. I like that the more junior people in our production department can start using Automation Engine almost immediately. They don’t have to learn the ‘ins and outs’. They no longer have to worry about all of the template-based details. The process has been accelerated because our people are more productive right away. It leaves our staff the time to focus on tougher tasks.”
While everything until now has been focused on creating templates to automate all of Category 5’s step & repeat work, they’re building more workflows for larger projects that will save time in the future. “Basically, we’ve simplified our workflow so that anyone can check a few things and the workflow takes over, completing the job in a few minutes. Esko has done an excellent job accommodating our large-format requirements. They helped us implement the speed and accuracy we were looking for,” said LePoidevin.
Installation update: Category 5’s Esko Automation Engine continues to improve efficiency
