The printing industry’s glue is not PUR, not PVA and not hot melt. It is Enfocus Switch, a software program that has become the universal tool to connect different applications across the industry and is responsible for the majority of automated prepress workflows that are in use across all applications, all types of print business and everywhere across the globe.
It enables printers to differentiate themselves, enables them to reduce costs, speed up throughput by eliminating touch points and is simple enough to set up that in-house development teams can create automated connections without too much effort.
For those with more complicated workflows there are a number of specialist integrators able to join the dots on a workflow using Switch. So ubiquitous has the application become that the answer to a question of how, or if, different applications can be connected, is “We can Switch it!”.
The roots go back to the end of the last century when shrinkwrap software was starting to offer trapping, preflighting, imposition and numerous other standalone applications, each with their own interface and set up criteria. This replaced the cumbersome approach associated with monolithic suppliers. Printers wanted to create their own workflows using what they considered to be ‘best of breed’, for their particular purposes at least. It could be done, but clumsily. Switch, first shown at the Print show in Chicago in 2001, at the same point that JDF was introduced, was in the right place at the right time.
At that time Switch allowed a user to open a user interface from different applications in the same window pane and to connect the two with a simple drag and connect line. Information from one application would flow to the next. The operator could build a workflow based on watch folders set up to trigger an action whenever a file lands. Check points needing a manual intervention and exceptions are gathered for files that fail the process and need to be sorted by an operator.
And once a company has created a workflow it is able to share this with other printers via the Enfocus app store. Enfocus product manager Andrew Bailes-Collins says that the difference today is that people are using APIs for connections. “We have always pushed optimisation and integration to make the process easier,” he says.
Even so many printers have been unsure how and where to start. Those that have come up through the industry during the litho era are simply not used to the problem solving approach needed for this type of automation. “You have to write down what you want from it,” says Bailes-Collins. “And start with a small Switch project with a return on investment in mind. This is how many of the most successful implementations started. That one project leads to another and before you know it, you come round again armed with experience gained. It becomes a process of continual improvement.”
And in the last 18 months, remote proofing has become the most requested application “because the press pass has not been possible because of lockdowns”. Work from home has had a similar impact on driving demand for integrations and connectivity along workflows and integration with web to print applications to collect artwork, preflight it and then allocate the file to the appropriate workflow dependent on the next process step.
“Much of web to print is low margin, high volume work, which means that printers have to automate as much as possible,” says Bailes-Collins. “One company we helped used to have eight people involved in business card production. Now it has been automated through Switch, the cards come off with the delivery label attached and just one person is needed. If a task doesn’t add value – automate it.”
The application has kept pace with the times, supporting all software development environments, including the latest updates to make scripting easier. It opens Switch to be part of the Internet of Things world and to remain relevant as data becomes the oil driving the industry. “We try to find stuff that Switch can’t do,” says Bailes-Collins. “Unsuccessfully.”
“We can connect anything to anything. It is straightforward to link one product to another using a direct connection. It’s when you want to bring in other products and other connections that you need something like Switch.”
As web to print becomes essential for printers, the need is there to link the details of the order placed with the production workflow that follows. This is ideal Switch territory. “It’s about starting small,” says Bailes-Collins. “And starting with an ROI in mind. Then after the workflow is running smoothly, you come back again for a new project armed with the knowledge gained and more confidence. It is a continuous process. And remember, if you perform a task manually three times, then you can automate it.”
From the Automation section in the Sep/Oct 2021 issue of the magazine
Editor’s Pick
