PDF Printing

A good question for Dr. PCL5

So these are not EX models because the EX models have the Mixplex capability? Isn't that what mixplex allows?

Anyway, with that kind of volume, I would think that the efi MicroPress PrintStation would be justified.

This scenario does not fall within the relm of PCL5 (or variable data print) since we are already dealing with a rendered document (PDF). Unfortunately, Dr. PCL5 is not able to prescribe the magic pill.

Sounds to me they have the wrong system to run those jobs....they need the VarioPrint 110/120/135 that will easily handle those mixed jobs or even the 6000 product. I just did this recently at a printer. They ran 175,000 pages in 36 hours with no issues. It ran 1037 page duplexed and hole punched job and ripped it (first page out) in 28sec the entire job was done in 8min 49secs. The entire stack was cool to touch immediately when it came off the run. That would never happen on the Ricoh 907 units. With that increasing volume will kill those units prematurely. You can print the entire New Testament of the Bible on on page in 1pt font and still read it with a magnifying glass.

What is happening is your client is getting clicks for all the BLANK pages which means with those volumes will add up quickly and you will have an unhappy customer.

This has nothing to do with PCL it is a print controller issue.

Thanks for the comments. The product is right this application just came up. I was told Objective Lune will handle this. Any thoughts?

By the way they are 907ex's. They also have an SP9100 printer as well.

Larry:

Wish I could help with this one, maybe one of our expert print production guys would be able to answer this.

Art

I just emailed Pirate Mike for you

Check out EFI's "Impose & Compose" software to perfectly pre-flight your documents.

This assumes you can add a Fiery Controller.

I think you can download some trial software.

Larry....sorry I was just joking with you and having a little fun. Here is an example of mix-plex....but not sure if you can do this from printing a pdf and know where the breaks are in the run that is where a print controller comes into play like PrismaSync.

Mix-Plex
For example, when using the "Separate Scan" function to scan several separated originals, it would allow you to select between various duplexing functions between one original and the next. For example:

- Enable Separate Scan
- Choose "1-1" and scan the first batch of originals in Simplex
- Choose "2-2 and scan the second batch of originals in Duplex

The machine would then output n copies of both originals while respecting the simplex/duplex you've chosen earlier.

The advantage of this is that the customer shouldn't have to pay for blank copies (if he had read everything in 2-2 mode, he'd be copying the blank back pages of the first set) and the greater speed (since the first set wouldn't be duplexed, printing only half of the pages).

you guys are good!!

No worries. I should have referenced this is a print job coming from a propietary program. I think I get it coming from a scan job to form one PDF. In high volume situations I can see this becoming a huge factor.

You have several issues here the number 1 issues is that PDF has no defined support for simplex or duplex inside the print stream. Although you can probably force a printer that supports printing of PDF files to run in duplex mode, you will have to add blank back pages into the PDF file in order to start on a facing page (if, for example a customer’s document is only 3 pages long). These blank backs may be annoying to a person viewing their statement, so you may need to actually keep two copies of the PDF file around. One that is ideal for printing, and one that is meant for viewing. Furthermore, there is no way in the PDF file itself that you can ensure that the document actually prints in duplex mode; you’re simply counting on the operator to set the printer up correctly for this job.

Based on the choice of equipment there is a solution in Objectif Lune and an even easier one with micropress since micropress has support for simplex and duplex pages inside of a single job or file.

There is a lot to be said about this topic since it becomes a common issue in transactional printing. There are data stream converters/handlers that can offer you some help. Crawford Technologies offers data stream packages depending on the application that can manipulate file data based on certain criteria.

Potentially a good consultant will do a full assessment of the applications involved, and migrate upstream to find out how the data is being originated. It is much easier to deal with the area coming out of the native applications and manipulate the streams before they become a PDF. This is a job for a good analyst.

I'll look at this again when I am not riding my motorcycle. Art caught me on vacation but after thinking about it I wanted to at least make a comment.

Pirate Mike
Galveston Bay, TX

Pirate Mike, thanks for the specifics. This PDF issue has just come up. The plans are for them to roll out in two months. I have spent detailed time with Objecitve Lune this morning. They have other opportunities to help within this account as well.

Another issue with printing "large pdf's" is that PDF print streams offer no print integrity, (otherwise known as the “fire and forget” approach.)

I did not get earlier if you work for a Ricoh dealership or the direct group. For the direct group this should not be too difficult as they have proprietary workflow and make ready software that claims to be JDF compliant. Things like simplex and duplex can be "injected" with a subset of JDF that is far beyond the meta data that can be added with PDF. Many scanners are "intelligent" and can inject meta data as well as they know whether they were scanning a first or second side. This is done all the time in law firms with a plethora or legal support softwares using in high end scanning. I have seen this before as well with a large transactional print division of a commercial printer using of all things AFP print manager to manage the scans from 7 Elleven to manufacture their monthly price lists.

The InfoPrint side of Ricoh can do this well too. (I spent a little time on this side of the camp so I have had first hand experience with Ricoh products)

Of course Canon, Xerox and Konica Minolta all have their own flavor of JDF compliant workflow software. Have your analyst spend sometime with their IT and look into the capabilities of this "proprietary software." more than likely there will be many output options, as well as scripting capabilities to inject the code for simplex or duplex from either the scanning side or the software side.

Mailing software also supports this information as well and depending on where the data is coming from and where it is ultimately going there could be options here as well. Honestly there is not enough information to truly solve the issuer but rather enough to tell you where to look for the solution. My reps give me these types of problems all the time and I usually have to schedule a visit myself and my analyst to address them. Sometimes if a client won't "better" their workflow we have to soft sell the idea that 20,000 blanks (second sides) at .003 or .0045 is not the worst thing that can happen out of a million prints a month but literally a cost of doing business in a PDF world.

RSA also has a product in Que Direct that may help if your Ojectif Lune Team is working already with other vendors. This is why you have to engage 3rd party vendors early and often unless your a rogue like myself. There are plenty of consultants out there for Ojectif Lune if you need to hire someone to help since Objectif Lune has already been engaged.

I'll keep thinking on this one and ask my analyst on Monday how he would solve this. Over the years I've become much more of a hardware geek and less of a software geek, so I rely on him a lot for the heavy lifting.

If you do win the business don't mention my name, I'm sure in another parallel world my counterpart is trying to outsmart you!

Happy Hunting...

Pirate Mike:

That's awesome information!