It is no surprise that many print houses rely on a totally digital workflow in the prepress and press functions. Since the processes and the equipment are digital in these departments, an enhancement of the digital workflow, with the aid of technologies such as JDF, seems to be a logical conclusion.

Although many of these same printing operations have embraced digital technology in their prepress and press functions, they have ignored their postpress departments as they continue to rely on conventional equipment and processes to finish a print job. The reasons for this are numerous and range from misinformation as to how a digital workflow can be advantageous in postpress to the reluctance to invest in the equipment necessary to achieve a factory-wide digital workflow. Of course, there is indeed some expense involved in converting postpress to digital, but the benefits are immediately observed due to the increased efficiency and production.

Many types of bindery equipment, such as paper cutters and various binding machines are available with digital components that perform automatic makeready procedures. Setup specifications are entered only once allowing the machines to perform the same procedures repeatedly and with 100 percent accuracy. Makeready times may be more than 75% faster using digital bindery equipment depending on the type of machine used and the type of job being produced. It is often not cost efficient to retrofit conventional bindery equipment with the necessary components to perform digitally instructed automated tasks.

Most of the automated bindery machines that are sold today are designed to be JDF compatible. JDF technology allows information to be shared by various groupings of bindery equipment to provide a seamless workflow as a job moves from one piece of finishing equipment to another. This is even true when the various pieces of equipment have been acquired from different manufacturers. This technology increases efficiency in scheduling jobs in bindery and moving them through more quickly thereby decreasing turnaround time for the customer.

Using JDF in postpress operations allows for accurately recording production time as well as computing materials and production costs. This results in improved efficiency in billing and provides a means for accurately bidding future jobs.