Prinect Business Manager

Four areas in particular have been driving business in the print media industry in recent times - management information systems (MIS), web-to-print solutions, and digital and packaging printing. These developments have prompted Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) to extend the functions of its Prinect print shop workflow in these areas in particular.

In future, Prinect will be the only workflow solution in the industry to offer a fully integrated MIS (management information system). This system is based on the MIS technology developed by software manufacturer CERM, which Heidelberg acquired at the start of the year. The solution is gradually being introduced worldwide under the name Prinect Business Manager. The Business Manager has a broad application spectrum and a modular design, which makes it ideal for various sizes of print shop.

Full workflow integration of management processes with the Prinect Business Manager

The now introduced integration of Prinect Business Manager into the Prinect production workflow based on JDF/JMF is a technology market leading development that ensures intensive process automation, improves transparency considerably, and simplifies data handling. This helps print shops significantly improve their competitive edge in a tough market environment.

In the next development stages, which are already under way, the Prinect Business Manager from Heidelberg will provide a dedicated solution that accesses the same database as the production workflow. As a result, job planning and production data will be available in the same system as, for example, job processing and materials management data. This will give rise to a print shop workflow with an unprecedented level of integration that covers all areas of a print media company and thus offers the highest level of process automation available in the print media industry to date.

Support will still be provided for the Prinect Prinance MIS solution previously offered by Heidelberg. Connection of third-party MIS to Prinect and partner programs will continue.

Web-to-print business models still offer excellent potential for the industry
The market potential of web-to-print solutions (W2P) continues to rise - both for print shops and industry suppliers. In future, the extended Prinect functions for W2P will offer Heidelberg customers the opportunity to move into this market segment with a highly automated solution. Upcoming Prinect versions will offer a webshop interface and a W2P workflow, enabling users to automate processes such as creating mixed forms or selecting the most suitable production technology. The W2P functions also have direct access to the central Prinect database and thus the MIS and production workflow. In this way, print buyers can place orders or issue print approvals online via customized W2P portals. All the relevant information is automatically available to the job management and bookkeeping departments as well as prepress, press, and postpress.

The Partner Program from Heidelberg for connecting W2P solutions from RedTie, EFI Digital Storefront, PageFlex, BrandMaker, Neo7even, and MS-Visucom will remain in place.

Digital printing: Full workflow integration is key to improving efficiency
The Prinect Digital Print Manager, which is used to connect digital presses of various manufacturers, is being expanded and enhanced with new functions in cooperation with Ricoh. In future, a single workflow for digital and offset printing will make it possible to automate the processes of creating and costing a job, selecting the most suitable production technology or hybrid production, and performing inline finishing in an imposition layout. To achieve this, for instance, color management will be optimized in the workflow so that a particular color in the digital print will match the corresponding color in offset as closely as possible. What’s more, it will still be possible to connect digital presses from HP, Canon, Xerox, and Kodak via the Prinect Digital Print Manager.