The three companies together operate a total of nine Rapida
sheetfed offset presses, and are interlinked by way of the Hiflex software tool
Hiflex Print Support to maximise efficiency in the processing of incoming
enquiries and orders.

The three CIP4 prize-winners – Druckhaus Berlin-Mitte,
Grieger Offsetdruck (Nettetal) and Gutenberg-Werbering (Linz/Austria) –
contributed essentially to development of the JDF-enabled and web-based print
procurement tool Hiflex Print Support. As an internet portal, Hiflex Print
Support optimises business and communication processes in the print industry by
implementing a common platform to bring together all the parties involved in
the order processing chain between an original buyer and the actual printer. On
the basis of e-mail communication, it controls requests for quotations,
ordering and the managing of jobs at all stages of the pre-press, print and finishing
processes.

Print buyers use Print Support to communicate requests for
quotations for their required products and to award orders directly to
printers. For the purchaser, the fact that the procurement process can be
handled via e-mail and the internet means considerable savings of both time and
costs, as the exchanges of enquiries and offers are both efficient and
standardised. For many service providers it is important that they always
receive corresponding feedback with regard to their offers. The communication
functions implemented in the Print Support workflow achieve all this with an
absolute minimum of administrative input. When the order is finally awarded,
Hiflex Print Support also sends the job data in JDF format to the management
information system of the print company concerned.

For the printers, Print Support similarly offers
possibilities to manage the subsequent communication with subcontractors (for
example bookbinders or other partner companies). The benefits of the Print
Support workflow are not reserved exclusively for users of the Hiflex MIS, even
though it is, of course, particularly easy to import order data into Print
Support from Hiflex MIS and to distribute corresponding enquiries via the Print
Support interfaces. At the same time, the relevant job data can be transferred
as JDF files into the production management system KBA LogoTronic professional
to enable presetting of the Rapida presses.

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