The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization and Graphic Arts Show Corporation (GASC) today announced details for the JDF Works Print Shop Live! program at Graph Expo 2008. The JDF Works Print Shop Live! is designed to show attendees exactly what can be accomplished using today's print production automation technologies. At this new feature, show goers will follow a live digital print job through production at three different locations on the show floor from online job creation and customization, through order management, scheduling, prepress and imposition, to printing and finishing of the final printed piece. Integrated via JDF data interchange, the JDF Works Print Shop Live! sites will feature equipment from different vendors (just like the real world) in production with minimized processing time and labor, and maximized throughput.

The main JDF Works Print Shop Live! location is Booth 3646 and includes participation by Adobe, FOLDRite, Avanti, Kodak and Duplo. Versions of the "MUST SEE 'EMS Guide" and a Digital Printing Guide will be created in Adobe's InDesign Server via a web browser interface with a FOLDRite folding template and the source PDF. JDF job intent, folding parameters and business ordering information will then pass through to Avanti Print MIS where the job is captured and organized, and JDF and JMF are created and passed to Kodak's Prinergy prepress workflow and Duplo's DC-645 Slitter/Cutter/Creaser. Kodak Prinergy will prepare the job through multiple prepress operations and send the job to a Kodak NexPress M700 Digital Press. Printed sheets will then be transferred to the Duplo DC-645, which is setup automatically according to the JDF provided by Avanti.

"This workflow is about as automated as possible," said Mark Egeling, Marketing Manager US & C Region of Kodak. "The entire lifecycle of the job only requires that operators at the NexPress M-700 and Duplo DC-645 move the paper, select the job and press "go". It's amazing how streamlined a fully automated workflow using digital printing, automated post-press, web-to-print and JDF technologies can be."

Two additional JDF Works Print Shop Live! sites are located in the Heidelberg booth (#1200) and the EFI booth (#2000). Each is fully automated end-to-end print production, but with either conventional printing production or a combination of vendors in a digital printing production line.
At the EFI JDF Works Print Shop Live! site, EFI Digital StoreFront operators can submit jobs directly via JDF/JMF for unattended printing and in-line finishing on Canon's imagePRESS C1 with the imagePRESS Server Q2. For more managed workflows, operators can submit EFI Digital StoreFront jobs through EFI Pace for unattended printing, or submit jobs from Objective Advantage Symbio through automated workflows that include unattended printing, automatic setup and near-line finishing on a Duplo DC-645 Slitter/Cutter/Creaser.