Heidelberg is making it easier for Prinect users to run their print shop with new and partially cloud-based functions in the Prinect production workflow.
According to Heidelberg head of software solutions Jürgen Grimm, the new Prinect version 2020 from Heidelberg aims to form the backbone of digitisation in print shops.
“A growing number of Prinect functions are gradually migrating to the cloud. By taking out a subscription contract, customers can gain access to them as and when required and based on the benefits they offer,” he said.
“The Prinect workflow thus forms the backbone of digitisation in print shops.”
The cloud-based software Prinect SmartBi supports the analysis and use of data generated in print shops.
Prinect SmartBi helps print shops use this corporate and production data quickly and with ease, assisting Prinect users with the generation, filtering, preparation, and visualisation of their data.
One of the other key features of Prinect 2020 is its automatic planning, which makes it easier to optimise job sequences.
Substrates, special colours, folding layouts, and much more are taken into account in digital planning and transferred directly to the Prinect Press Center, thereby reducing the changeover procedures that have to be carried out on the press.
Operators no longer have to select and adopt jobs from the machine queue, which also reduces the scope for errors.
A major contribution that Prinect makes to lowering costs and driving up productivity relates to the creation of gang forms function, with the gang server picking out jobs from a pool according to pre-set filter criteria and then using these criteria to optimise the compilation of appropriate gang forms on a fully automated basis.
Any gang forms produced this way that do not satisfy these criteria are not forwarded to production, and are instead cancelled and then combined with other jobs later on.
As for the new Prinect Plate Pilot function, it now works with the further improved Prinect Scheduler to automatically output plates so they can be placed on trolleys in the correct sequence and made available at the press in time for the planned printing slot.
Operators can monitor this process via the Plate Pilot Widget of the Prinect Portal, which also allows them to intervene in the process as necessary.
The new version of Prinect also supports workflow-specific features of book production in both production and MIS operations. Prinect now offers the option of factoring these steps into the fully automated costing of the book in Business Manager and then handing over to the Prinect production system for automatic processing.
The solution also has new functions for the packaging sector.
Prinect has a new function that allows customers to use the cutting tool as a criterion for optimising production planning. This ensures the same tool is not refitted several times over.
The cost savings and productivity gains achieved by using gang forms are also available to packaging print shops as working from an existing die cutting tool and filter criteria, gang forms are created and then either kept or rejected depending on whether they satisfy pre-set criteria.
Prinect also offers a series of new functions for CAD – having the option to set out all the parts of a packaging design in one drawing ensures the interdependencies between the individual parts.
When it comes to more complex packaging and displays, there is also the option of creating assembly instructions to make the items easier to build or set up.
In addition, Prinect supports pillow box packaging, which can now be simulated as a 3D model and exported as an animated 3D PDF.
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