Workflow management

Workflow usually covers all the stages a product goes through from its design to the final stage of its production.

Workflows are complex in the printing industry: there are many operations between the product order and delivery, and many operators and distinct technologies are involved.

Materials (files, paper) and finished products (size, quantity) often vary from one order to the other.

Management of automated workflows is essential to meet specific requirements and shorter lead times.

Flow management tools are to be found in prepress services. They help produce files and image carriers more quickly and more reliably, while meeting quality requirements.

Prepress flow management coordinates file verification, colorimetric equalization, colour imposition, proofing and separation. 

In the most advanced companies, prepress flows are integrated in an overall flow management system which controls all operations from quotations to prepress, printing, finishing, down to delivery.

In such cases, flow management is ensured by the company's computer-aided production management system, or  Management Information System (MIS). The MIS is the central system which manages and coordinates workflows within the company.

It generally integrates the JDF format (Job Definition Format) which is intended by definition to exchange information between the various stages of the graphic chain, and to automate workflows.  

By Patrick CAHUET, market expert and GRAPHITEC consultant