Tilia Labs (Ottawa, Ontario), a leading developer of planning imposition and automation software solutions for the printing and graphic arts industries, has partnered with Aleyant, another leader in providing software services to the graphic communications industry. “The joint development is designed to deliver simplicity, efficiency, predictability and end-to-end quality control for printers offering all types of commercial and large-format printing services via online storefronts,” said the companies. The partnership has resulted in two new integrations that connect Tilia Labs’ flagship imposition system, Tilia Phoenix, with Aleyant’s web-to-print and workflow solutions, namely Pressero and tFlow. The integrations mean that customers utilizing these joint solutions will benefit from automated imposition capabilities for dynamic calculation of the most cost-efficient production layouts – direct from order input through to job completion. The end-to-end cross-platform automation covers virtually any printing, cutting and finishing combinations, resulting in a wider variety of jobs being handled than was previously available.
“We’re very excited by this partnership with Aleyant because web-to-print imposition is an area where we feel Tilia Phoenix can make a massive difference to print service providers,” said Sagen de Jonge, CEO of Tilia Labs. “Phoenix was purpose-designed to automate impositions that deliver the best scenario for the printer in terms of equipment utilization, materials and consumables, turnaround times and overall cost. By its nature, web-to-print involves the greatest range of variables – thousands of individual files, each specified differently, submitted in every available format and via a variety of protocols. It calls for unprecedented speed, flexibility, and accuracy. The combination of Aleyant and Tilia will be hard to beat.” Tilia Phoenix draws on new developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in automating planning and imposition for all types of devices and print applications using advanced nesting, die cutting, guillotine optimization and planning algorithms. The system factors in parameters such as job specifications (quantity, dimensions, colours, substrates), presses/print devices, postpress requirements and delivery considerations, to deliver optimal layout options.
Pressero’s embrace of the XML open architecture approach to workflow enables it to automatically hand off orders and files to a hot folder designated for Phoenix software. First, Pressero will generate a CSV file that can be saved locally or in FTP. Once the file is received via Aleyant’s Automatic Workflow Integrator (AWI), it’s sent to the Phoenix hot folder where it has automatic access to Phoenix tools and protocols that search across millions of possibilities in calculating the most cost-effective ganging and nesting combinations. The Phoenix Plan identifier helps control which incoming jobs are considered to be in the same group in identifying layouts for up to 1,000 orders at a time. Similarly, integration with Aleyant tFLOW links Tilia Phoenix into a digital and large-format workflow solution specifically designed to simplify and control difficult file management tasks and processes. Aleyant tFLOW can automatically check and fix jobs and forward them for approvals or production. With Tilia Phoenix as partner technology, imposition plans, production options and cost implications can be calculated simultaneously on-the-fly. “Our principal mission is to help customers become more available, efficient and profitable by unifying production processes,” said Darrian Young, tFLOW Product Manager at Aleyant. “This partnership creates a very powerful capability to do exactly that without adding any complexity for the user. Printers of everything from custom packaging, labels, decals, cases, signage and displays, to more traditional commercial jobs, can now benefit from ultimate process efficiency and cost-optimization, seamlessly and dynamically from the point of job submission through to job completion.”
Tilia Labs partners with Aleyant to improve web-to-print efficiency
