Joint customers can now increase digital printing productivity and profits, made possible by Electronics For Imaging, Inc. and Agfa Graphics, which have developed an integration between EFI Fiery digital front ends (DFEs) and Agfa Graphics’ latest Apogee 10 system.
‘With this integration, existing Agfa Apogee users, including users of the latest Apogee 10 system, will be able to take advantage of hybrid offset/digital workflows,’ said Andy Grant, Head of Software at Agfa Graphics. ‘Through certified, industry standard JDF connectivity, Apogee users can select from the wide choice of Fiery Driven digital presses to establish easy and quick ways to direct jobs to the most appropriate print devices for the best production scenario.’
While many printing companies use digital presses to cost effectively meet increasing demand for short runs, fast turnaround, and value-added services, many digital presses do not efficiently integrate into offset workflows. Agfa Graphics and EFI deliver one of the most advanced hybrid print workflows available in the commercial market, taking advantage of the strengths of both traditional offset and Fiery Driven™ digital presses.
One customer who has streamlined its operations with the Fiery/Apogee integration, Hakan Walhed, general manager of Malmö, Sweden-based printing company Skånetryck, conducts preparation tasks such as imposition, media selection and color management for Fiery Driven digital presses right from the familiar Apogee user interface, eliminating touchpoints for production.
‘We save up to two hours on busy days,’ Walhed said of the integration’s benefits. Plus, the consistent prepress workflow between offset and digital presses with Apogee and Fiery integration helps Skånetryck’s operators achieve a close match in colour quality with minimum training.’
Because Apogee acts as a unique hybrid production hub with connections to CtP for plate imaging and to EFI’s Fiery DFE platforms, it centralizes all prepress tasks and saves print service providers valuable time. Apogee 10 features the ability to split parts of a job and send those for digital output, which turns out to be extremely powerful in case of versioning jobs and proofing of (parts of) books with large page counts.
EFI’s newest Fiery DFE platform, Fiery FS200 Pro, helps printing companies get the most out of their digital press investments in terms of productivity, quality and efficiency. With the Apogee/Fiery workflow integration, users can access the latest Fiery DFE capabilities, including HyperRIP, a key Fiery job acceleration technology offering 55% faster job processing, as well as advanced make-ready and color management tools, right from the familiar Apogee workflow user interface. JDF templates can be used to automate any colour, media, layout, or finishing settings available for Fiery Driven digital presses.
