![]() |
Digital Pre-flight
Realities
|
|
|
Navina
Waterman
is an independent
consultant for the reprographics industry. She welcomes
feedback on her articles as well as ideas for future topics in
Repro Depot. What’s important to you? Contact her at
541/572-0617 or mailto:Navina@earthlink.net |
by Navina
Waterman
Good Many
reprographers are finding that the largest portion of their business
no longer comes through the front door, but rather through digital
connections. In an increasingly digital world, how you deal with
digital file workflow obviously becomes more important. Digital
Workflow, FTP, file compression, pre-flight—all con-cepts that
didn’t have much meaning in most reprographic shops 15 years ago—are
now ex-tremely important in terms of both productivity and
profitability.
Many shops have struggled with how to deal
with the pre-press issues involved with handling digital files,
whether small- or large-format, color or black-and-white. Those who
now have experience were initially surprised at the amount of time
and effort allocated to prepping and processing files. Should this
be a billable service or an overhead expense? As expected, different
companies have subscribed to slightly different
philosophies.
In Albuquerque, a large segment of Academy
Reprographics’ business is in large-format black-and-white printing.
President and owner, Kevin O’Hea believes that all aspects of his
business need to be profitable, but he does not charge directly for
pre-flight services. Academy avoids many file problems by only
accepting plot files and also by using KIP’s software interface both
in-house and for customer’s file submissions. This strategy works
because the company has specialized in a particular niche market and
catered to its needs – in this case, providing print-on-demand
services for homebuilders and contractors. O’Hea recoups overhead
costs of all types by charging much more for the first set of prints
than for any subsequent printing, regardless of whether that
printing occurs at the same time or three months down the
road.
Copresco, in Chicago, also specializes in a niche
market—small-format, on-demand printing of publications, books, and
manuals—but takes a different tack. President Steve Johnson prefers
to call preflight issues a challenge or even an opportunity, since
how they are handled can be a way to distinguish his company from
his competition. He stresses education of customers and the idea
that in order to educate them, you must first know and understand
their needs.
In general, a customer creates content and “it
is our job to make his job printable,” Johnson says. Copresco
accepts native files as well as PDF and Postscript. He compares this
to a homeowner inviting contractors to make bids on a home
renovation. If one contractor comes in and says, “You’re not ready
for me. You must hire an architect and do this, that, and the other
thing first,” while a second contractor comes in and says, “Yes, I
can do that,” guess which one will get the job.
Copresco
operators have a variety of tools to use depending on the type of
file and job coming in. They use a pre-flight check list to make
sure the job contains everything that is needed and also run
Markzware preflight software when applicable. While Adobe’s PDF
format has helped in some areas, Johnson says, “Doggy files continue
to exist! A good tool still doesn’t replace a good
operator.”
In terms of profitability, Johnson points out that
it really doesn’t matter whether a particular aspect of your
business is a profit center or billed as overhead so long as you are
clear about which it is and include that calculation in the price
you charge for the associated service. In Copresco’s case,
pre-flight is distinguished from pre-press. Pre-flight is used to
find out if the job is complete—what is missing and what needs to be
done to a job. This is expensed as overhead. On the other hand,
pre-press services are billable on an hourly basis and are used to
fix files. If a problem is found in pre-flight, the customer is
notified and given the option to fix it himself or pay for pre-press
service.
David Hoskins, digital color printing manager, for
Lynn Imaging in Lexington, KY also accepts many types of digital
files. The majority of problems he sees involve missing files or
fonts or proportional problems where a customer hasn’t considered
that, for instance, a page set up at 6x12" cannot be proportionally
blown up to 30x40". Lynn views preflight simply as a necessary part
of outputting digital files and does not directly charge for the
service. Hoskins says that a number of advances in the last few
years have served to increase their productivity—including the PDF
format, use of FTP file transfers, an on-line order form/file
submission software, and an in-house job-tracking
system.
Steve Barnes, graphics department manager for ABC
Imaging in Washington, DC, concurs with Hoskins on several points.
He adds that, “Pre-flight is done as much for ourselves as for our
customers. It helps us to expedite jobs.” ABC techs use pre-flight
software or native software to check for completeness. If a job
takes longer than 20 minutes for an operator to pre-flight and
generate black-and-white proofs, the job is returned to a CSR who
contacts the customer about the problems. Like Copresco, ABC then
offers customers the choice of fixing the problems themselves or of
having ABC fix them at an hourly rate.
Each of these
companies has found a way to successfully deal with pre-flighting
digital files that works for them in their particular markets. While
none of them directly charge for this service, other companies in
the industry do use ‘set-up’ or ‘handling’ fees to cover expenses of
this type.
One commonality they do share is the desire to
educate customers—an attempt to eliminate problems before they begin
rather than trying to fix them in the middle of their life cycle.
This education is done by a variety of means—using web sites,
technical bulletins, seminars, and even one-on-one walk-throughs or
explanations—whatever mode can best reach that particular client.
The key is in truly understanding your clients’ needs and finding
the method that makes the most sense, in terms of productivity and
profitability, for both of you. |
![]() |
![]() |
