Is JDF the Future of Catalog Print Production?

The printing and publishing industry’s transformation into a computer-integrated manufacturing platform continues unabated.

“The artificial intelligence that’s being incorporated into technology reduces makeready times, reproduces color consistently and provides feedback on performance — ensuring the finished product is of the highest quality,” says George Ryan, executive vice president and COO of the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF).

The artificial intelligence communication protocol Ryan is referring to is known as the Job Definition Format (JDF). And it’s a term you are sure to hear more about in the future.

What is JDF?

JDF is based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), a standard in and of itself, which dictates the electronic tagging of elements within a document.

JDF is the brainchild of CIP4, the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress, a group comprised of a worldwide roster of print industry professionals responsible for rolling out the standard. Although vendors largely contribute to CIP4, JDF is an open-systems, vendor- and platform-neutral, data format.

JDF is intended to make for a more efficient and cost-effective printing process. How can it perform such a feat? By marrying and automating the once-disparate segments of the client/printer relationship: the content workflow and the business information workflow.

You can think of JDF as fundamentally an electronic job ticket that can contain as much or as little information about the print job as the cataloger and printer need. The JDF file may include specific information such as how the digital file was prepared, verified and normalized, and where in the imposition it should fall — all digital directives that automatically will drive the job through the rest of the printing course.

According to Frank Romano, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, JDF simply is the “macro-data about your job. … It’s another file that says the job is going to go on this type of press, on a certain type of paper; it’s going to require these sorts of resources. … [The JDF information] is going to control the entire printing process automatically.”

As a catalog print job progresses through your printer’s workflow, data can be gathered by the printer’s MIS systems. For example, the printer may choose to track how long the job took to process through prepress or how long it occupied a specific press. The result is a printer far more intimate with the minute details of its operations — a printer that can strive for better efficiencies for you, faster turnaround times and happier customers.

JDF hardly seems to be one of those fly-by-night standards that never really takes off. It appears to be here to stay and already has garnered the support of several key industry associations, as well as big hardware/software names in the printing sector (e.g., Adobe, Heidelberg, Creo, MAN Roland).

The Cataloger’s Role in JDF

Romano, who spoke in January to an audience of more than 500 creative professionals during the Webinar “Workflow Solutions for the Creative Market,” suggested that workflow responsibilities have shifted as a result of desktop publishing and computer-to-plate imaging.

“Before all of this, the printer controlled the workflow,” said Romano. “But starting in 1985 ... the creative person controlled the workflow.

“Control is an interesting word,” he continued, “because it means you now have responsibility for the workflow. What you create is going to govern what happens with the rest of the process. ... What’s the role of creatives in the new workflow? More involved, with more responsibility, not less.”

This trend began as printers converted their catalog customers to digital workflows that involved digital file submission rather than film. As a result, it became the cataloger’s duty to supply digital files prepared according to printer specifications. And it also became the creative professional’s responsibility to check these files before they were submitted, namely through the pre- or post-flighting processes.

Most catalog creators gladly accepted these new challenges and responsibilities because, if done correctly, the final printed result would be of higher quality and less cost. Others fought the shift to some extent, reluctantly agreeing to supply digital files but in their native form (e.g., QuarkXPress files), rather than accredited-standards-based files. But the numbers of those folks are dwindling, and most digital files now submitted for print are in PDF format.

The point is that things continue to move quickly in the printing world. And as quickly as digital file exchange became the norm, pundits predict the same for JDF. Printers will lead the march for their customers.

Upon Further Study

While the vendor and supplier side of the business is hard at work creating and implementing new JDF-compliant solutions, you’d be wise to start investigating the standard to understand how it undoubtedly will affect your catalog production workflow in the future. And it will, for JDF is not just about back-end processes. The bulk of the JDF information captured about your job will happen on the front end, at the creative level.

During Romano’s Web presentation, the audience was polled on the following question: When do you expect your company to make the transition to a JDF/CIP4-compliant workflow process? More than 26 percent said less than one year; 28 percent said in one to two years; and 14.6 percent said it would take them more than two years.

But here’s the surprising figure: More than 30 percent replied with a stoic, “Never.” If the high figure simply is a result of lack of knowledge about the standard in parts of the print segment that comprise creative and production professionals, that soon may be remedied.

To help better educate the print industry about JDF, CIP4 and the The Association of Graphic Solutions Providers joined forces and are planning a series of JDF Expert Certificate Webinars in 2004. The coalition suggests that the curriculum is worthwhile for anyone leading a company’s efforts to implement JDF-based automated processes and computer-integrated print manufacturing. More information on the JDF Expert Certificate Program can be found at www.ipa.org/jdf and www.cip4.org.

Skeptical Optimism

“The problem with JDF, by the way, is that the press has to be computer-controlled,” Romano cautions, “and presses made before 1995 are not. So you’re limited by the number of printing companies that can do it. Then, of course, they also must have computer-controlled cutting machines and bindery systems.”

Depending on the workflow you’ve established with your printer, now may not be the best time to dive head-first into JDF. If your printers were ready, they’d probably have you testing a workflow by now. But it’s not too soon to ask your printer about its future JDF plans and track it on your own radar screen.

While the JDF specification is an intimidating 700-plus pages, it boils down to this: If those in the catalog industry — and all facets of it, including catalogers, prepress suppliers, printers, vendors and developers — band together in support of the standard, the result promises to be a more consistent and economical way to print catalogs.

Gretchen Peck is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in the graphic arts and printing industries. She welcomes comments at gpeck1225@msn.com.

Top Picks: Mac OS X Solutions

Apple introduced in October the fourth major release of Mac OS X in three years (Mac OS X v. 10.3, “Panther”). By January, the developer reported it had more than 9 million customers running OS X, and expects that figure to rise by another million by the end of the first quarter 2004.

Macintosh-platform software developers have been quick to respond to the new release by announcing their own applications built to run natively on OS X. At the Macworld conference in January, Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia, for example, were among the many exhibitors that introduced second- and third-generation software tools for OS X.

Following are some solutions you may wish to investigate further. For more information, visit the developers’ Web sites or, better yet, consult with your print providers regarding software tools they’d recommend for complementing your catalog production workflow.

• FlightCheck Professional, v. 5.0

Markzware Software (www.markzware.com) launched the new version of its flagship pre- and post-flight application in late 2003. It’s a stand-alone software tool (for both Mac and PC platforms) that enables users to look inside an electronic document and verify that it’s complete and accurately prepared specifically according to the output intentions (print vs. the Web, for example). FlightCheck Professional v. 5.0 is capable of scanning a variety of digital files, including those created in native applications (e.g., QuarkXPress, InDesign, PageMaker) and those converted to final digital file exchange formats, such as PDF or PDF/X-1a.

• Best Designer Edition, v. 3.0

From Electronics for Imaging (www.efi.com) comes the latest version (v. 3.0) of its Best Designer Edition software, which incorporates the Adobe PostScript Engine, an Aqua-based graphic user interface (GUI), support for PDF/X-compliant files; and a Best Color Editor module for managing spot colors. The solution is reported to be compatible with more than 50 models of printers/proofers, including models from Agfa, Canon, Encad, Epson and Hewlett Packard.

• Jaws PDF Creator, v. 3.4

For catalog producers and other document creators, Global Graphics Software (www.globalgraphics.com) introduced a Mac OS X version of its Jaws PDF Creator application, which allows users to create PDF files by “printing to” a PDF from within any application or by dragging and dropping a document into a Jaws PDF Creator desktop icon.

• Jaws PDF Courier

Last November, Global Graphics Software introduced its OS X version of Jaws PDF Courier, which allows print customers to submit preflighted and encrypted PDF files — via any means of transfer, including removable media or FTP — to their print suppliers. The solution also may be implemented by printers as part of a more comprehensive Web-based job-management application.

• Adobe InDesign CS PageMaker Edition

Adobe’s new InDesign CS PageMaker Edition (www.adobe.com/products/indesign) comprises a full version of Adobe InDesign CS software and a PageMaker Plug-in Pack that includes designer templates, keyboard shortcuts and training materials designed to encourage designers to switch from PageMaker to InDesign. The plug-in enables users to repurpose layouts in older documents with conversion support for PageMaker 6.0, 6.5-7.x and QuarkXPress 3.3-4.x files. An ALAP Booklet plug-in facilitates automated impositioning. The software comes with a DVD entitled “Total Training Presents: Migrating from Adobe PageMaker to InDesign CS.”

• Adobe Creative Suite

For Mac OS X v. 10.2.4 through 10.3, Adobe (www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite) unveiled its new Creative Suite, which comprises the latest versions of its most popular software, including: Adobe Photoshop for image editing; Adobe Illustrator for drawing and vector graphics; Adobe InDesign CS for page layout; Adobe GoLive for Web layout; and Adobe Acrobat Professional for the creation, review and approval of PDF files.

• Enfocus PitStop Professional, v. 6.0

PitStop Professional 6.0 is Enfocus’ (www.enfocus.com) latest PDF verification, auto-correction and editing tool. An Adobe Acrobat plug-in, the solution is compatible with Mac OS X, Adobe Acrobat 6 and PDF 1.5. The software is capable of post-flighting a PDF file according to predefined parameters and enabling operators to perform up to 100 different edits or corrections to the PDF file.

• Microsoft Office, v. X 10.1.4

Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) unveiled a Mac OS X-compatible version of its popular Microsoft Office Suite. Version X comprises Word X, Excel X, PowerPoint X and Entourage X, an integrated e-mail, calendar, address book and task manager solution.

—G.P.