Desktop publishing and computer-to-plate printing provided the foundation of the digital workflow for print as we know it today. More than a decade ago, the commercial printing industry began to envision that workflow. It was stealthy, automated and efficient — with client-supplied digital content files moving seamlessly through the print company’s processes. That was what we envisioned, at least.
But the digital workflow is far from perfect, most printers will attest. And perhaps the most significant kink in the chain remains at the start of the manufacturing chain — content creation. Bad files continue to come into the printers prepress department, ill-prepared and incomplete. The result? Lost time and money — for both the printer and its client — while the breaks are applied, the file is pulled from the workflow and either fixed by the printer’s prepress representative or bounced back to the client for repair and resubmission.
Stephen Shinnick is vice president of sales for All Systems Integration, a Woburn, MA – based integration firm that specializes in printing and publishing technologies. In this role, Shinnick has the opportunity to speak often with commercial printers about their workflow concerns. He estimates that as many as 60 percent of printers “are still suffering the pains of poorly prepared files. Inclusive of delays — meaning, last-minute arrivals–that number may be higher.”
While that may seem an extraordinarily high figure — after more than a decade of digital workflow under printers’ belts — Shinnick says that it still reflects some progress. “The number is down from 90 percent to 60 percent in the last five years. So, things are changing, slowly,” he suggests.
There are a plethora of printing organizations that have had great success in pushing responsibility for the quality of the digital files up the chain, back the client — essentially requiring that the client submit files consistent with the printer’s specifications. That is, after all, the goal. The earlier in content creation potential file flaws are detected and remedied, the more cost-effective it is for the printer and its client.
Unfortunately, many print clients still lack either the expertise or the creative tools to consistently prepare flawless files. While the advent of “Standardized” file formats, like PDF, promised to eliminate flawed files, that remains an illusive goal. “Everyone can make a PDF file on the computer simply by selecting the print-to-PDF option,” Shinnick explains. “It does not mean that it is a production-quality PDF.”
And, Shinnick notes, PDFs are far from being the defacto standard in the world of print “Application files are still a very significant portion of the production community,” he says.
And so printers remain in the position of having to provide that initial line of defense — the prepress department — where incoming files can be scrutinized and given the red or green light. There are several preflighting tools that help printers do just that. As files arrive, they’re passed through a desktop-level preflighting application, which adjudicates the integrity (or, print-readiness) of the file, and provides a report on potential problems.
Preflighting not only puts the responsibility for quality file creation where it makes the most sense — at content creation — it enables the printer to streamline its own prepress operations and ensure tight press schedules are met. And automating preflight also benefits the print customer, who gets not only the peace of mind that the files being released to the printer are accurate, but fewer extraneous line items on their print bill for unnecessary prepress charges.
