A new bolt-on workflow software arriving in Australia aims to lower the barrier to entry for printers eying diversification into packaging or labels.
Phoenix, developed by ex-Fujifilm staff at Canadian firm Tillia Labs, can be added to any existing workflow system to enable printers to manage packaging and label jobs without having to buy a whole new system, as many only support traditional printing operations.
Alan Dixon, chief executive of software reseller Workflowz which is bringing Phoenix to Australia, says the program is a cheaper and easier to use option than competitors like Esko and Pandora.
“It’s an intelligent system designed from the ground up to reduce the barrier to entry by being easy to use and cutting down on operator skill,” he says.
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“Printers may have repurposed their existing kit for new, growth market opportunities, and this can supplement weaknesses in their existing software
“They cannot afford to overinvest in this market, so having a modular, bolt-on solution that they can use what they need from makes sense.
“People are time poor and just cope with problems in their existing systems instead of looking for solutions. Our job is to fix people’s problems, so we bring it to them.”
Dixon says because Phoenix is a niche product for packaging and labels it can include specialised, more detailed features than software that does everything.
It features automatic sheet optimisation with the ability to ‘gang’ different jobs together on one sheet to save waste, matches artwork to diecut patterns better and is able to adjust for artwork that does not perfectly fit the space.
“The industry has a real lack of software with logical, process driven approaches, and we hope this will help that,” he says.
Phoenix can support CAD and PDF format files and is also good for bigger-sized wide format, wallpaper, and textile applications.
Dixon says he likes to work with young, dynamic companies like Tillia Labs because they have drive, passion and an ability to listen to what the market wants that bigger developers don’t.
“I like mentoring them and helping bring products in their embryonic stage to market, and make everyone money,” he says.
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