JDF is not a silver bullet. But imagine the payback if you can save 2 to 5 minutes per job – on every job. That’s “what’s in it for me”: process more jobs on time with fewer people.
The PIA/GATF annually publishes survey results highlighting their members’ financial results. When you look at the financials of the profit leaders and compare those to the rest of the pack, two numbers in the 2007 data really stand out: the average revenue per employee is fairly consistent across the board (see table); however, there is a clear difference in the profit per employee between the two groups.
These profit leaders may be better negotiators but in reality, ink is ink and paper is paper. Look deeper at the numbers and you see that the real way they influence profitability is through their people – they just get more done with less manpower.
But how? Every time someone touches a job, you lose profit and increase turnaround time. So, one way to improve profit is through automating as many steps in your workflow as possible. The challenge is getting different software applications and different pieces of equipment to talk to one another. And that’s where JDF kicks in.
Most printers that I talk to couldn’t care less what JDF stands for. As my friend, Mike Rogers, the owner of Spectrum Printing says, “I know JDF stands for Job Definition Format and that’s about it.” But if you visit Spectrum, you find a 30- person shop that has leveraged JDF to completely streamline their workflow. Rogers’ team can automatically transfer job information between their Avanti Print MIS system, their Rampage Prepress system, CREO Preps and Komori K-station.
A glance at a list of 2008 CIPPI Award winners highlights a recurring theme as well: automate everything possible. AGS, a Delaware-based full service print provider, won its first CIPPI award this year. The judges’ comments (on their submission) tell the story: “This is not what everyone else is doing, but it really is at the heart of what this is all about. They put the tools together and created an environment that allowed them to avoid hiring 10 (more) people. This was a great tool, maybe less complex than some of the offset alternatives, but all of the pieces fit nicely. It was not just automation in the processing stage and the printing; they set it up to use barcodes to process things as well.”
Feeling the pressure from its customers to constantly reduce turnaround times, AGS is perpetually looking for ways to make their lean print shop even leaner. The key to this, according to David Zamorski, AGS’s COO, is automation. “Wherever possible, we need to eliminate as many steps as possible in the workflow that don’t add value”, says Zamorski.
What Spectrum and AGS both understand is eliminating “touches” boosts profit.
One way to eliminate touches is by implementing a JDF-enabled workflow as part of a company-wide management information system (MIS). In this environment, the MIS is a central hub that moves JDFbased information around the shop. The workflow starts with the customer’s request for a quote which drives the estimate, job ticket and imposition. From there, the MIS system automatically transfers job information to prepress. Prepress JDF information is then captured and sent back to the MIS. Information can then be passed to the press, and subsequently on to finishing. Since information is passed automatically, two benefits are immediately realized: time savings and fewer mistakes.
Everyone is telling you that streamlining and integrating your production workflow must be one of your top priorities in 2008 and that JDF is the way to do it. But while some printers are still asking, “What is JDF?”, others have moved on to the question that really needs answering, “What’s in it for me?”. The good news is that some print shops have discovered that answer. It’s profit!