JDF and JMF are the way to go to optimize workflow in the bindery

When it comes to the binding industry, the key to optimizing daily work is to incorporate those digital workflow solutions that will best enable book binderies and other print-finishing businesses to raise their levels of productivity by merging today’s data exchange technologies into their work processes.

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Industry comments

“Adobe Takes a Step Toward JDF — Adobe’s Acrobat software and the PDF file format have become synonymous with one of the most important interfaces in the production chain between print providers and their customers. Meanwhile, JDF will evolve into an industry standard for the future and will eventually lead to an industrialized, integrated and mostly automated production process. So the question is, will Acrobat 7 JDF be the starting point for a broad acceptance of JDF in the printing industry?

“Adobe’s Acrobat software and the PDF file format have become synonymous with one of the most important interfaces in the production chain between print providers and their customers. Because PDF simplifies things so much, it has become the most commonly used data format for transferring content in graphic arts. It’s hard to imagine any prepress without PDF today. Adobe brought Version 7 of Acrobat into the market earlier this year and introduced JDF features for the first time. JDF (job definition format) will evolve into an industry standard for the future and will eventually lead to an industrialized, integrated and mostly automated production process.”

— Michael Mittelhaus, The Seybold Report, July 20, 2005

“Through the years as Adobe improved the technology and third party vendors brought products to the market that allowed shops to truly create a successful PDF workflow, many shops have a true, successful PDF workflow. With the new tools in Acrobat 7 the process of outputting files has just gotten easier….You can create new JDF job definitions in a variety of ways using the JDF Job Definitions dialog box. Each resulting JDF file can be edited and used in a production environment. Commercial printers who routinely print certain types of jobs may find it useful to create several JDF files that match these job types, and use them as templates.”

— Print Image Newsletter, March 2005
The New Production Tools of Acrobat 7, by Stephen Mills

“With the March publication of CIP4’s catalog of JDF-enabled products, we saw more than 120 JDF-enabled products and services. I expect that number to top 150 by drupa 2004 and double by Print 2005. We’ve recently heard folks like Time, Inc. and Hachette discuss timetables that predict JDF implementation with their print providers in the late 2004 to mid-2005 time frame. JDF is definitely making the move from R&D and beta testing to the shop floor in 2004.”

— James Harvey, executive director of CIP4 (Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress)

“JDF will revolutionize publishing production, radically simplifying information exchange between the applications and systems essential to the graphics arts industry — and Adobe will be among the first to show JDF being generated from industry-standard creative tools. As a founder of CIP4 and one of the creators of the JDF specification, Adobe plans to integrate this technology across its publishing and design platform and work with other members of CIP4 to drive JDF adoption throughout the creative industries.”

— Don Walker, general manager, Publishing Technologies and Services Group at Adobe

“Print producers who purchase products that are based on the CIP4 JDF standard can be assured that regardless of vendor, products will all be able to communicate with each other, using a vendor-neutral standard that ensures easy set up and guarantees long lasting collaboration.”

— Chris LaFontaine, product manager, Agfa

“JDF is helping customers map out powerful, optimized solutions that add incremental value to existing technology investments, and provides a roadmap leading to the next generation of automated ‘smart systems.'”

— Tim Daisy, NGP (Network Graphic Production) initiative manager, Creo Americas Inc.

“JDF was created to eliminate fragmentation. Every department in a production chain often re-enters the same job data, creating error opportunities and adding unnecessary time. With JDF, the process becomes more streamlined. It’s essentially a standard for any digital file describing every possible specification (number of pages, ink settings, binding type, deadline — everything) required to produce any print job. JDF also defines all processes and resources to get the job delivered.”

— Gee Ranasinha, worldwide director of marketing, Dalim Software GmbH

“JDF provides two significant advantages. First, it allows the description of more job definition elements than any other format. Second, it’s been adopted by a large, ever-growing number of vendors. Consequently, JDF will deliver automation within reach of small to midsized companies — while larger companies will be able to rely on standard solutions rather than building their own.”

— Freddy Pieters, product manager, Commercial Printing, Esko-Graphics

“The CIP4 Job Definition Format (JDF) standard defines an open XML-based standard for a job ticket that encompasses an end-to-end print workflow. JDF will allow a job to flow from a customer to a service provider to a pre-press application to a print server to a printer controller with full management and tracking. Today many of these processes use vendor-proprietary formats that don’t work together. JDF is open and extensible and can work with any print datastream.”

— Rich Howarth, director of strategy, IBM Printing Systems

“With JDF, presses communicate with estimating systems, production schedulers communicate with presses, imposers communicate with folders and so forth. It results in simplified production automation from the moment a customer places the order through the production, delivery and, ultimately, invoicing of the finished product.”

— Michele Struchil, workflow product manager, Screen (USA)