Kodak India held a knowledge sharing session on 12 October to showcase elements of the workflow. The session observed that the knowledge and importance of workflow is underrated in the industry. With this, the company aimed to create awareness about the software which powers the prepress.
The session kicked off with a small presentation on ‘United Workflow Solution’ from Kodak by Sim Jek Hiong, services sales and channel manager – United Workflow Solutions Asia-Pacific Region, Kodak (Singapore) Pte Ltd. He says, “In the Indian market, software prowess is generally underrated. Software makes it meaningful, making life easier for the operations and makes it error free. Among larger setups, simple decisions can be taken care by software itself. For instance, a small job of say 500 copies can be easily handled on a digital machine rather than opting for an offset. The software, according to the applied rules, instructions and compatibility of the machine, can easily select and place the said job on the digital printer, making work faster and easier.”
He also briefed about the software and management systems under United Workflow Solutions by Kodak Prinergy. The software helps a company to generate reports and trap files in the system. It can also connect with the company’s Management Information Systems (MIS). Jek Hiong’s presentation also highlighted the company’s Prinergy Cloud services, where the plant runs almost on automation. The software installations can help you to gauge errors and rectify them which are generally ignored by many. These errors and reports will show change in shift time, or how many sheets being fed for printing and total ink usage. Sharing the statistics of the Connect version under United Workflow Solutions, he informed that in India there are around 75 installations of the software.
Taking the session ahead, Subhrajit Ray, national business manager – India Cluster, Software Solutions Division, Kodak India spoke on the range of software that the company offers like Evo and Connect (which is known as Kodak Workflow). Ray, speaking on the various offerings and their benefits, shared, “Evo is for the ones who are at entry level or whose business is not so complex and with lesser machines while Connect is beneficial for hybrid printing jobs or those who print packaging material. The other tool offered under Connect is Preflight, an added feature or available as standalone feature in the market, which deals with mistakes and corrections in the manufacturing process, color management to manage color for output, store or also to manage spot color jobs. Further, the trapping feature can help trap files in the process and check if they are as per the parameters fixed.”
Automation feature in Kodak Workflow
Both the software packages, Evo and Connect, offer automation support. Evo offers comparatively lesser support as it is for workstations with lesser complex work processes. One can also avail the option of Printing Color Output (PCO) for separating pages as per color type used. For instance, all standard colors can be seen in the software like FOGRA, ISO and others. Meanwhile, Connect helps generate detailed reports and analytics giving finite details of jobs conducted and usage of different printing components like ink, paper, consumables and others. In case of communication with the company’s MIS systems, one has to opt and connect the MIS and Prinergy with BusinessLink, which enables easier job flow and allows MIS to control the printing process. One just needs to select a file and drag it to the desired locations. The other software application, Colour Flow, is available as an embedded option with the Connect module of the Kodak Workflow. Under Evo, one can avail option of Printing color output (PCO) for separating pages as per color type used. For instance, all standard colors can be seen in the software like FOGRA, ISO and others.
Demo sessions
Joel Quisit, pre-sales and professional consultant, Asia Pacific region, presented demo sessions on offerings of Kodak’s various software solutions. He informed, “There are several add-on features with the Prinergy software or cloud services like Advance Preflight, EVO Lite, Virtual Proofing System (VPS) and Preflight Plus.” Another software discussed during the demo lecture was Preps, a standalone software solution for imposition with offer benefits like shingling and bottling solutions for creeping (used when file is a magazine or a booklet for centre pinning). Further, the Prinergy demo also showcased how to create a workflow keeping in mind the use of human intervention wherever needed.
The Prinergy software can also use database from Excel files or data sheets by converting them into .xml files and can be available on system via Business Link, which acts as a link between MIS and Prinergy.
