Workflow Means Cash Flow At JK Creative
Printed in American Printer Magazine and Electronic Publishing, August 2001

Implementing an automated workflow
helps JK Creative deliver projects more
easily, on time and at lower cost —
what could be better?

        You don't have to be a large printer to afford, and reap benefits from , an automated workflow. In the demanding world of turnaround printing, JK Creative Printers uses all the workflow tools at their disposal to deliver high quality four-color printing to their customers, productively and economically.
        Quincy, IL-based JK creative Printers, a medium sized general commercial printer, produces high-quality printing at affordable prices in medium to small quantity runs when their customers "need it". To assist with rapidly developing workflow and equipment demands, JK Creative has exclusively used New Orleans-based Blanchard Systems to guide them through the process of maintaining their present systems and strategically planning immediate and long-term system upgrades and expansions. Blanchard Systems is a digital prepress integration company that provides clients total solutions for efficient workflows. Through consultation, integration, installation, and training, the company helps customers streamline the ripping, trapping, proofing, color management and network server processes.

Variety requires a TWIST
        JK Creative's prepress department produces a variety of custom-developed printing. Approximately 65% of the work they print is designed by their in-house art department, which also offers Web design services. The balance of their work is sent to them electronically from clients.
        JK Creative produces their own high-res scans and prepares a wide variety of proofing options. Like most printers, they archive every file they generate and save all customer furnished files. Their production systems drive several different output devices - each with its own RIP. Options include two Epson 9000 printers with Serendipity Black Magic software that produces dot rosette patterns to simulate, as close as possible, the final printed job. JK Creative has been told that this type of proof is used by only 3% of all printers. They also use an HP 2000 large format printer. Films are output on either a 4-up Fuji-Crosfield Celix 4000 or an Agfa 9800 imagesetter.
        As their workload increased, JK Creative was desperately in need of a way to effectively speed up their production workflow process while maintaining consistent quality. In determining what to do, they discovered they had "too many" variables in the prepress process that ultimately affected product quality and production time.
        Because JK Creative's market advantage is delivering a high quality "custom" product at an affordable price, they were faced with a real dilemma. In order to maintain their standards while keeping costs within reason, they had to create a prepress operation that contributed a number of benefits: speed, accuracy, flexibility, capable of handling any file format, Macintosh and /or PC-based and as "hands-off" as possible. In addition, they needed to produce correctly trapped film in perfect registration that would be used on several different types of presses. They found they had conflicting requirements: flexibility of workflow with tight operating parameters.

Enter Blanchard with DALIM Software's TWIST workflow solution that automates labor intensive and repetitive tasks. TWIST can perform preflighting, trapping, and proofing, and generates very clean output files such as PDF, PS and TIFF-IT. TWIST runs on all popular platforms including Linux. TWIST allowed JK Creative to design very specific parameters for their jobs while allowing them to move through flexible workflow paths. JK Creative was able to output each job to whatever output device was open, while automatically maintaining output parameters. Pressmen had greater confidence that plates they received were consistently correct. Very specific fingerprints for each individual press profile (i.e., trapping, dot gain, and type of paper) could be built into every step of the workflow, from scanning through imagesetting. If the ultimate press wasn't known, averages were built and dialed in. This translated into faster makereadies and , ultimately, cost efficiencies. It allowed JK Creative to allocate staff on the more profitable area of the business: design. The overall result has been a tightly controlled workflow with great flexibility that can be changed and fine-tuned as each job requires.
        JK Creative directly benefited economically as well, because the workflow eliminated preventable errors from the imagesetters. Before the workflow was installed, they were creating analog proofs from film rather than digital contract proofs for customer approval - usually resulting in remakes. With the workflow, trapping problems were found before films were produced. And, TWIST's preflighting eliminated file incompatibilities, such as from fonts. Film usage and film production time were virtually cut in half. Film processing costs dropped a remarkable 42%.

A different TWIST: Adapting to the workflow
       "When we looked at other solutions, many required us to adapt our workflow to how their system operated. Not all of the systems were capable of running some of the equipment we had." Says Mike Nobis, president, JK Creative Printers. "Blanchard Systems had helped us over the years to refine our approach to providing quality prepress services. So when it came time to automate, TWIST complemented our workflow. We weren't forced to change what we wanted to do. Using TWIST has enabled us to maintain our stringent quality controls. Our biggest improvement is consistency: we can accurately predict how long each task will take as we work through jobs. That's great for pricing." Nobis continues, "As an owner, I can be assured that each job we print will make money. And as we continue to grow, add new equipment, and make changes to the workflow, we know TWIST will accommodate us. With the support and guidance from Blanchard Systems, we got the system working the way we wanted. Careful thought needs to be given on haw you want your workflow to function. But once the system is set, you never have to touch it."