© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 1

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Print Shop of the FuturePrint Shop of the Future

An open System Architecture to link An open System Architecture to link

Conventional and Digital Print Media Conventional and Digital Print Media

Production Systems for Digital Production Production Systems for Digital Production

PrintingPrinting

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 2

Hybrid Printing – Some Definitions?Hybrid Printing – Some Definitions?

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 3

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

The Graphic Arts WorkflowThe Graphic Arts Workflow

Request

Estimate

Production planning

Production control

Tracking

Order Intake

Quote

Job Costing

Shop FloorData Collection

Delivery

Process planning

Billing

Product Intent

Normalizing

Impositioning

Rendering

Plate making(offline)

Preflighting

Color Separating

Image including

Presetting

Image Control

Printing

Cutting

Folding

Stitching

Print Control

PostPress Control

Plate making(inline)

Forms Proofing

Trapping

Page Proofing

Color Conversion

Collating

Variable data authoring

Print Control

Variable data merging

Rendering

Color Separating

Trapping

Printing

Cutting

Binding

Variable data

Pages

Impositioning

MIS / PPS

Conventio

nal Pro

duction

Digital P

roducti

on

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 4

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Normalizing

Impositioning

Rendering

Plate making(offline)

Preflighting

Color Separating

Image including

Presetting

Image Control

Printing

Cutting

Folding

Stitching

Print Control

PostPress Control

Plate making(inline)

Forms Proofing

Trapping

Page Proofing

Color Conversion

Pages

Conventional SheetfedConventional Sheetfed

Offset WorkflowOffset Workflow

Page Preparation

Page Proofing

Imposition

Platemaking

Sheet Printing

Cutting

Folding

Collecting

Binding

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 5

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Collating

Variable data authoring

Print Control

Variable data merging

Rendering

Color Separating

Trapping

Printing

Cutting

Binding

Variable data

Impositioning

Digital WorkflowDigital Workflow

Page Preparation

Page Proofing

Imposition

RIPing

Document Printing

Collating

Cutting

Binding

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Comparison of the workflowsComparison of the workflows

• Page Preparation• Page Proofing• Imposition• Platemaking• Sheet Printing• Cutting• Folding• Collecting• Binding

• Page Preparation• Page Proofing• Imposition• RIPing• Document Printing• Collating• Cutting• Binding

Why are they still so different?

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 7

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Customer MIS

Conventional Printing

Prepress

CIP4 / JDF System Reference Model – A Current ViewCIP4 / JDF System Reference Model – A Current View

Postpress

Customer Facility

Print Shop Management Print Shop

Press

Prepress

Publishing

DocumentCreation

Prepress WorkflowSystem

(Gray Box Expander)

Binding System

JDF IntentCreation

ContentCreation

Estimating &Order Entry

SubmitContent

IntegratedDigital

Printing

DigitalPrepress

IntegratedFinishing

DigitalPrinter

Sheet-fedOffset Press

PressController

Imposition

Print ShopScheduling &Management

Digital PrintController

OtherPrepress

RIP

ImpositionCreator

PostpressDevice

PostpressController

BindingDevice

Production Workflow Mgmt

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 8

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Issues with the current ViewIssues with the current View

• Decision whether to produce Digital or Conventional is made early in the workflow

• Work for conventional is lost when switching to digital and vice versa

• Work in device color spaces is useless on other devices• Imposition defines sheet size which defines the output device

• Shipping Workflow and MIS products tend to focus on only one of the two workflows

• Sheet / Plate oriented conventional workflow systems• High level Imposition specified in JDF as Stripping

• Document oriented digital workflow systems• High level Imposition specified in JDF as LayoutPreparation

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 9

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Customer MIS

Hybrid Printing

Prepress

Enhanced System Reference Model – The Future Enhanced System Reference Model – The Future

Customer Facility

Print Shop Management Print Shop

Press

Publishing

DocumentCreation

Prepress WorkflowSystem

(Gray Box Expander)

Binding System

JDF IntentCreation

ContentCreation

Estimating &Order Entry

SubmitContent

Sheet-fedOffset Press

Hybrid PressController

Imposition

Print ShopScheduling &Management

OtherPrepress

RIP

ImpositionCreator

PostpressDevice

PostpressController

BindingDevice

Production Workflow Mgmt

Digital Press

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 10

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Imposition Requirements for late stage workflow decisionsImposition Requirements for late stage workflow decisions

• Need both (or n) impositions to be defined within JDF:• Multiple explicit Layout Definitions, only one of which is active

+ Exact, predictable positions

- verbose, inflexible

• Parametric Layout – no common definition in JDF 1.4+ flexible, concise

- Implementation specific execution

• Product Intent Layout only (no Sheet imposition specified originally)- Cost relevant decisions are made in production

- MIS has no control over resource usage

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Parametric Layout RequirementsParametric Layout Requirements

• Digital Printing / LayoutPreparationParams• Emulate typical Device UI features

• NUp• Booklet Mode

• Little Media size variability / Small Media sizes• Fully automated, single device, inline finishing

• Conventional Prepress / StrippingParams• Specify Cost relevant features of Imposition

• Media Size variation / Waste reduction• Folding scheme assignment

• Semi-automated• Multiple devices, offline finishing

• CIP4 is working to merge the two concepts

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Color Requirements for late stage workflow decisionsColor Requirements for late stage workflow decisions

• Device independent Color – Color Managed Workflow• Device Gamut• Device specific Spot Color handling• Traditional Color Workflow

• Conventional: • ICC Color Management • Device CMYK

• Digital: • sRGB Workflows• Moving towards more color management

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Finishing Requirements for late stage workflow decisionsFinishing Requirements for late stage workflow decisions

• Inline or Offline Digital Finishing?• Inline: Finishing follows a different path after digital print

• Mixed Digital and Conventional inputs are possible • post fuser inserters

• Offline: Finishing may be identical to Conventional workflow• Merging point is in the Bindery• Mixed Digital and Conventional inputs are possible

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

MIS Requirements for late stage workflow decisionsMIS Requirements for late stage workflow decisions

• JDF and JMF are sufficiently abstract and flexible to model any workflow combination

• Cost Auditing is already possible today

• MIS need to plan both workflows in advance and select one late in the workflow

• Estimated costs vary with Workflow and must be based on realistic probabilities

• MIS need to support multiple workflow models for one product• Sweet Spot: This capability may be used to model multiple Digital

or Multiple Conventional devices/workflows

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Next steps in a hybrid workflowNext steps in a hybrid workflow

Page Preparation Page Proofing• Imposition• Platemaking• Sheet Printing• Cutting• Folding• Collecting Binding

• Page Preparation• Page Proofing• Imposition• RIPing• Document Printing• Collating• Cutting

• Binding

Common

Page Handling

Separate

Sheet

To

Signature

Handling

Common

Binding

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April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Future steps for hybrid workflowsFuture steps for hybrid workflows

• Full Variable data in a hybrid workflow• Archiving for a hybrid Workflow

• E.g. rerun short reprints of a conventional job on a digital device

• Hybrid Conventional Web and Digital Workflows

• Moving from Hybrid to Cross Media• Solutions that work for Hybrid have potential for Cross Media

• Color Independence• Size Independence

• Additional Difficulty: No common pages as links between the two

© Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • Rainer Prosi • page 17

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

An open System Architecture to link An open System Architecture to link Conventional and Digital Print Media Conventional and Digital Print Media Production Systems for Digital Production Systems for Digital Production PrintingProduction Printing

Rainer.Prosi@Heidelberg.comRainer.Prosi@Heidelberg.com

Thank you very much for your attention!