Basic Workflow Standardization

[michaelejahn]

@ CSimpson

There are 3 basic approaches you might consider. You have already considered educating the customer, which can be a tough slog - as soon as you get one up to competent, they move to another position or get a new job somewhere.

1. Set up a system at your site that rejects 'not ready for printing' files
-- there are several portal type solutions where the customer is asked to log-in and submit the file to a systems that pass/sends - or fails/rejects - Time Warner uses this approach;

Ad Portal - Direct2Time

-- this approach is never popular with your sales team, but it is the best approach given your situation where you have too many outside customers to educate and manage. When you require professional behavior from a customer, like the IRS or the DMV, there are rules and penalties for being prepared to for an encounter. this is the 'lets partner, lets be efficient, lets all avoid disappointment' approach.

2. Buy a solution that is installed at the customer site that makes reliable PDF files
-- This one may not be as expensive as you think. Even Microsoft has the same kind of problem you have - when they rev Word or Publisher, this requires new manuals be printed and in many many languages (Spanish, Japanese, etc..) - you think YOU have font problems !? (smile)
-- Back when the Earth was still cooling and I worked for Enfocus, we pitched and sold them a combination of Enfocus PitStop server and Instant PDF. All the printers who offered sevrvices to Microsoft were grateful that Collen Isabell now sent reliable PDF files to them.

contact - Alex Hamilton
Director of Business Development
Enfocus - an EskoArtwork Company
tel: 215.247.3461; mobile: 215.519.6673; fax: 215.242.6755
alexh@enfocus.com - www.enfocus.com

3. Get your customer service managers to perform the service and charge appropriately
-- your problem is fonts? Get the fonts from the customer. The fact is that if you only use these fonts on your customers files, and if you are not performing edits on customers files that require these fonts be installed, and you are operating in the US, you are not violating any laws. As you probably know, Adobe applications like InDesign actually offer an automated method to perform the collection of all parts of the document required for reliable processing - this includes colletion the fonts - with a warning dialog box. Microsoft sells fonts, and licenses font technology - I have never understood why they have not offered this approach.

Microsoft Typography - Fonts and Products

-- Use a font manager to create customer font collections, open and close these fonts using a font management application

25 Font Management Tools Reviewed | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

My day rate is 2k, but I don't think you need someone like me to help you sort out what to do here !

Best luck to you, and know that you are hardly alone - this is always a tough call as to what to do.

Michael Jahn
Jahn & Associates

From Design Into Print � Advanced Issues: Scan and Descreen

[PDQDUNDEE]

To my mind whilst education, of the customer, might appear the ideal, the fact remains that they are your customers and for what it's worth you have to work with them. We don't have a problem with Office and we actually see some very good results. All the Office 2007 products will produce a workable PDF/x directly and Publisher will convert directly to CMYK. Whether or not you do that or get the customer to do so is upto you, personally I'd rather do it myself - it's less hastle. We tend to say provide a print-ready PDF with bleed and crop marks or pay us £15 and we will do it for you. Whilst real designers will use Quark or InDesign they are no less problematic with their use of transparancy and layers so whatever you get from the customer you will need to check it out.

The undisputed best program to convert just about any PDF to exactly what you need for press-work is Callas PDF Toolbox 4

Callas PDF Toolbox 4 | Product Review | Layers Magazine

If you have a budget you need

Acrobat Pro - 9
Callas - PDF Toolbox 4
Enfocus - Pitstop
Quite - Imposing Plus

[Neocortex21]

First,
we need to know what's your layout software : Indesign or Xpress ?
In these software, you'll find color selection for your fonts. You must take the black one.

If you don't use these software to make your layout, I don't how you do to be a manager, 'cause it's really basic anywhere!!!!

Just, don't speak about workflows before using theses softwares, if anything is wrong AFTER using these one, at the moment we can speak about proofing softwares which are very precise about colors, not before.


See you

Nicolas Dropsy,
Bachelor's degree about workflow, editing and printing solutions.
Grenoble-INP PAGORA (Ecole française de papeterie et des Industries graphiques)

[PDQDUNDEE]

Nicholas - not too sure where to start but without wishing to rubbish your degree why do you think a print manager needs to have a copy of either Quark or InDesign on his/her desk? Times have moved on and the reality is that a PDF Workflow is all the rage over here - and probably over there as well?

Peter

[Neocortex21]

Oups, my text hasn't been changed, it wasn't the manager job I criticized (sorry for my poor english), but, in our world, right now, I don't think to use Word is the best solution over the world! Now, when I'm seeing we want to put a workflow just to convert colors, I don't think is the best economic solution...
Also, Yes we can make a pdf by word, but the quality will not be equal to a real PS or PDF by Distiller... Colors by the "printing in PDF" in World will stay in quadrichromy.

For information, I'm an half student and I'm working since 3 years in Workflows engeenering, I know my job.

Thanks to understand it wasn't the manager job I ciriticized, I apologize for it.

[Eoin]

Hi Cory,

I haven't read through all the postings, but as someone who works in Production Direction both up and downstream I would highly recommend that you engage your clients and their workflows "upstream."

Your plant can buy, develop, install, document, or what have you and as clients are like the wind (always changing direction) you will in my own experience chase your tail.

My professional advice is to identify those clients who are causing workflow stoppages, analyze why, and address them in a tactful way with those clients. Give them the benefit of your knowledge and help them understand that if their files are press ready they will save the 'o mighty dollar and in this economy that means more and more each day. If they take responsibility for the integrity of their files then your headaches go away and they save $$$ in systems work once at the plant. It's a win/win all round. Document what you collectively did and achieved. You can apply this to other clients or those who might come your way as in general none of these challenges are unique.

Give them a fish and they eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime and all that. I've incorporated the concept of a documented adhered to workflow, resulting in a solid native application file exported to PDF/X (whatever version is needed for the application) at the content creator and I can say with all honesty, that after training, testing, re-testing as needed, and launch, it has never failed me.

Just my 2¢.

I am a print shop manager in an in-plant. One of my biggest problems is fonts. Most of the documents I get are from Word or uneducated Publisher users. Some other problems are users creating a two-color jobs in CMYK and black text not being pure black. Currently we handle everything we get on an individual basis, but it is getting completely out of hand. I need to start putting in place some systems to handle some of these problems

Is there a easy way to convert documents to pdf with the correct specifications before I get them? For example is there a pdf print driver that I can put on my web site or push out to everyone on my network that it will create a pdf to my specifications so I do not have to worry about fonts or poor resolution? If so how much does something like that cost?

Is there software, preferably hot-folder driven, that can look at a pdf and if it is only two colors create a two color pdf? Is there software than can ensure that black text is actually pure black so it doesn't count as a color impression if sent to a color machine?

What I am really try to do is get some type of standard work flow in place so I can actually start working on automating some our task. Any advice would be appreciated.

[dkelly]

Acrobat 9 "convert colors", Enfocus Pitstop, callas PDFInspektor or Apago PDF Enhancer can all convert the colors in your PDF to "good" values.

[Digital Scans]

CSimpson,

You should purchase a good preflight software like Pitstop or Flight Check Professional educate yourself on the software then suggest to your clients that they purchase the same
software. This will eliminate 98% of your problems.

KG:

[mattbeals]

I am a print shop manager in an in-plant. One of my biggest problems is fonts. Most of the documents I get are from Word or uneducated Publisher users. Some other problems are users creating a two-color jobs in CMYK and black text not being pure black. Currently we handle everything we get on an individual basis, but it is getting completely out of hand. I need to start putting in place some systems to handle some of these problems

Is there a easy way to convert documents to pdf with the correct specifications before I get them? For example is there a pdf print driver that I can put on my web site or push out to everyone on my network that it will create a pdf to my specifications so I do not have to worry about fonts or poor resolution? If so how much does something like that cost?

Is there software, preferably hot-folder driven, that can look at a pdf and if it is only two colors create a two color pdf? Is there software than can ensure that black text is actually pure black so it doesn't count as a color impression if sent to a color machine?

What I am really try to do is get some type of standard work flow in place so I can actually start working on automating some our task. Any advice would be appreciated.

Much of, if not all of, what you are looking to do can be done with Callas pdfToolbox either as a plug-in for Acrobat or as a hot folder based application. If you are getting Word files callas has logic that allows you to customize the RGB to CMYK conversion. Further pdfToolbox can detect a wide variety of RGB blacks and grays and convert the to black only. These parameters can be customized quite easily but the core logic of the product is very flexible.

This is really an easy to fix problem that doesn't really require much, if any, re-tooling of your workflow. I'd be happy to show you a demo of what can be done. You can find videos at Tutorial videos . I'd also be happy to process a few documents for you.

[smw8]

First educate yourself on Publisher, it is being used by designers more and more and will only increase. Word is a different story, but still capable of fixing if you get good at using pitstop.
Publisher works well after you learn it, problem is, not getting to use it enough and by the time you get your next file you forget how to convert colors or edit images. But they are all still in the same place. So I agree your customer should get a digital file prep document from you, explaining what you accept and what you do not. But you cannot tell them you do not accept publisher unless you plan on losing them. However you can suggest that they upgrade to a better program, especially if they are a nonprofit or education entity. Then better programs can be had for a much cheaper price.
But we have learned that we get publisher files and its a lottery on whether someone knew what they were doing, but a lot of times, it was us not knowing publisher and how to fix and edit the files ourselves. LEARN PUBLISHER. And keep notes on what you fixed and how.