DeltaHage optimises prepress and efficiency with Enfocus PowerSwitch

User-friendly standardisation and automation of prepress reduces costs and generates new opportunities

July 2010 – Ghent (Belgium) The Hague-based printer DeltaHage has expanded its printing capacity by installing a new KBA eight-colour press and optimising its prepress workflow with Enfocus PowerSwitch. The company, which was known as Sdu Grafisch Bedrijf until 2003, also intends to replace a KBA four-colour press by mid 2010.

DeltaHage is a full-service sheet-fed offset printing company with an extensive prepress division and in-house finishing facilities. Approximately 140 employees ensure round-the-clock production of top-quality printing to ISO 12647-2 standards. The company has a broad order portfolio for a wide range of customers, including governments, publishers and educational institutions.

Boosting capacity
"The new installations have consequences for the prepress, as all the machines need to continue working at a constant pace,” comments Ron Ebing, Head of Prepress at DeltaHage. “The second CTP installation guarantees the plate production, but a streamlined input of the material from the prepress division is equally as important."

About three years ago, DeltaHage investigated how to automate its workflow. This would allow the company to more efficiently process its steadily growing order stream at its prepress division: "PowerSwitch has helped streamline our operation by standardising and automating the workflow at crucial points. And because Enfocus has an excellent reputation in the industry, we know we can rely on them to respond quickly to ad-hoc software developments and issue timely updates," adds Ebing.

Creative and practical applications
The application of PowerSwitch at DeltaHage has been expanded gradually. “It is crucial to keep in mind that automation is a tool and not a goal,” explains Ebing. “This is why PowerSwitch is managed by two prepress people and not by programmers. On-the-job staff use PowerSwitch in a very creative and practical manner. We immediately opted for the extended range of the Switch package so that we could expand without limitations."

Dimitri van Gaever, International Sales Account Manager at Enfocus, comments: "Switch comes in three versions: LightSwitch, FullSwitch and PowerSwitch. The latter is really the work horse of the family. By using scripts, users can create their own workflows for very specific workflow applications. However, users can also get excellent results on existing workflows, just like DeltaHage did. Switch does not compete with production workflows - like DeltaHage's Prinect - but adds a specialist depth and refinement to it."

Automation as a tool, not a goal
DeltaHage has been working with a few hotfolder-directed PowerSwitch workflows, such as the automatic creation of optimised PDF files for the FTP controller and the creation of samples. Ebing elaborates: "These are relatively simple workflows that are delivered by Enfocus or can be found on the web, which means we don't have to create our own scripts. We analysed the most common actions that would be easy to automate. These are the areas where you notice significant results instantly."

The results of such automation translate into more than increased efficiency and time savings. Specialists can now focus fully on the colour management of demanding imagery, while DTP staff can spend more time on layouts. Ultimately, DeltaHage can now process more orders in the same timeframe with the same number of staff: "By working in a standardised and automated way, mistakes can be rectified at an early stage, which saves time and reduces costs in the long run," says Ebing.

Customers are also benefitting directly from DeltaHage’s implementation of PowerSwitch: "If something is wrong with the files when they’re delivered, the sender receives an automated message, even when we we’re able to fix the problem. This reassures the customer that we’re in control of everything, and helps guarantee the excellent quality our customers expect," Ebing concludes.

Ebing asked Publiqare, one of Enfocus’ Dutch resellers that has been involved in other software implementations at DeltaHage, to introduce PowerSwitch gradually: "We've been disappointed in the past with other automation solutions, so it was imperative to make sure employees were not too sceptical about the implementation. However, it quickly became clear that PowerSwitch is very user friendly and really works," concludes Ebing.


About DeltaHage
Until October 13th, 2003 DeltaHage was named Sdu Grafisch Bedrijf. It is a company with a history going back over 400 years and is one of the eldest enterprises in The Netherlands. It evolved from private printer for governmental publications to a provincial printing company, imperial printing company, country printing company to printing and publisging company of the State (SDUB). As of January 1st, 2000 the printing company is an independent compoment of the cluster of graphic companies, including A-D Druk printing company and print specialist DigiPrint and TED Gigaprint.

About Enfocus

Enfocus provides modular and affordable tools safeguarding job quality and enabling automation throughout the complete production chain. Innovative solutions improve communication between design and production while enhancing productivity and predictability through automation of routine tasks.

Step-by-step deployment dramatically increases added value without forcing users to completely rethink their way of doing business. Well-known brands include Instant, PitStop and Switch.

Enfocus is a business unit of EskoArtwork and has its headquarters in Gent, Belgium.

About EskoArtwork

EskoArtwork is a global supplier and integrator of innovative solutions for packaging, commercial printing, sign and display finishing and professional publishing. Its products and services help customers raise productivity, reduce time-to-market, lower costs and expand business.

EskoArtwork employs around 950 people worldwide. Its global sales and support organization covers Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Japan, and is completed by a network of distribution partners in more than 40 countries.

EskoArtwork is headquartered in Gent, Belgium, and has R&D and manufacturing facilities in 5 European countries, the United States and in India. The consolidated full year financials ended for 2009 with revenue of EUR 145 million and an EBITDA of EUR 23 million.

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