Optimus has been involved in the JDF process from the very beginning ensuring that the Optimus MIS system remains fully JDF compliant. Optimus has built successful relationships with many of the key suppliers to the printing industry and is happy to assist customers with their proposed JDF projects, with a level of knowledge and professionalism built on many years of experience within the JDF arena.

Optimus JDF

Although JDF is not ‘plug and play’ and needs careful planning together with willing suppliers who have good relationships with other suppliers, the financial benefits are huge. The following are a sample of some of them:

Reduce wastage and costsOptimise production equipmentHandle more jobs with fewer staffTake out real costs from productionReduce turnaround time of jobsIdentify most profitable work

Equally the benefits gained within Production are also significant. The following are a sample of some of them:

Reduce the potential for errorsReal-time management informationGreater automation of the production processFaster turnaround of workAbility to act quickly to production problemsReduce administration and re-keying of informationReduce delays by greater control of productionEasier system integration for smaller companies

Optimus provides two-way communication with pre-press, press and post-press equipment using the JDF job ticket created within Optimus Estimating Pro+ and JMF messages coming back from the equipment to Optimus. Optimus Estimating Pro+ is able to facilitate this by creating full JDF tickets, incorporating management information for each job, not just the product intent details.

Optimus Estimating Pro+ produces all information required to drive the JDF workflow. Once the estimate is produced and committed as a production job, the JDF Intent Message is created in XML format which defines the who, where, what, how and when of the print job in electronic format. The JDF message is relayed to and interpreted by the pre-press, press and post-press in order to configure and drive the equipment. In turn, Optimus receives back from the equipment JMF Messaging to update in real time the job status, including proof status, time completed, production quantities and materials used.

Optimus JDF Dashboard

Optimus provides a dashboard view of the Production Workflow, enabling a view of the real time activity and status of equipment, detailing the job and operator currently running. Optimus also provides the facility to drill down into each individual press to see in graphical form the quantity and speed in real time.

Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to JDF from our website at www.optimus2020.com

Nicola Bisset, Group Managing Director, said, ‘Optimus Cloud was borne out of extensive research and demand from different Print Sectors worldwide. We are entering a new age, whereby a seamless and intuitive approach to simplifying and automating print purchasing and having instant access to information, is increasingly being considered by print buyers as mandatory. Equally, print providers continue to look at finding solutions to assist them in cutting unnecessary costs through automation, plus finding ways of keeping customer loyalty.’

The product has been designed to combat issues faced by Print Providers using traditional on-line ordering tools which are largely used in isolation. Although a good experience for the buyer, the Print Provider incurs enormous hidden costs in unnecessary administration and duplication which is error prone and costly. Optimus Cloud seamlessly integrates with Optimus dash and Optimus 2020, eradicating these issues.

The product takes a holistic approach to viewing stock availability and ordering stock items, the raising of fully specified production jobs, the automated production of fast quotations and the automatic receipt of orders. It also allows customers to view previous jobs and invoices, plus the status of active jobs. This all adds up to an automated system for the Print Provider with significantly less drain on staff resources; and for the printers’ customer, a completely transparent and fully functional system that covers every aspect of their dealings with their Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud is the next generation of complete on-line trading for Print Providers and their customers.

Optimus Cloud Suite of Modules includes:

Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders powered by NxPublisher

Going far beyond business cards and stationery products, the product offers seamless integration with Adobe InDesign by using idml, the xml-format of Adobe Indesign. Ordered products can be downloaded as PDF’s or Adobe Indesign files, ensuring that the Print Provider can post-process with Adobe Indesign. The intelligent image server can handle most formats; gif, png, jpeg, bmp and even vector based eps.

Print Providers are able to import and export their customer specific Indesign templates into Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders Module. The customer can access the templates and directly edit, save, delete and order their products. Copy, paste and undo/redo, make the editor suitable for complex designs with all changes being immediately visible in WYSIWYG.

Optimus Cloud Variable Data Orders editor’s possibilities are almost limitless and support editing of: text, polygons, transparency, alignment, rotation and a lot more.

After the customer has completed modifications of the template, they simply click the order button. The product is then ordered and moved to their shopping cart for final order submission. The order is then automatically converted within Optimus dash into a full production job. A print ready PDF file is also generated and is submitted to the Print Providers pre-press system or digital press; the customer then receives notification that the order has been received. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Fast Orders

To unify and give customers complete control of their branding, the product allows Print Provider to ‘post’ thumbnails of standard static products. The customer can search and identify the products they wish to order, complete the number required and click to order, these items will then appear in their shopping cart for final order submission. Once submitted, the order is then automatically converted within Optimus dash into a full production job. The customer then receives notification that the order has been received. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Stock Orders

This has been specifically designed to enable Print Providers to offer finished goods available to order on-line. The customer is able to view stock levels to ensure there are sufficient finished goods available for their order, if not; the customer can simply re-order the items required. Again, the items will appear in the customer's shopping cart for final order submission. Once ordered, the requirement will appear within Optimus dash or Optimus 2020 with an order confirmation going back to the customer. A sales order will then automatically be raised within the Optimus systems ready for fulfillment. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider!

Optimus Cloud Fast Quotes

The award winning attributes of Optimus dash have been incorporated into the user experience for the Print Buyer. Harnessing the power and unrivalled flexibility of the dash Sales Enquiry System, Fast Quotes provides instant, accurate and consistent quotations of products specified within Optimus dash, to the Print Buyer.

It provides the Print Buyer with a price on screen; the Print Buyer can request a hard copy or place the order with a simple click. The order will then appear in the customer shopping cart for final submission. Once submitted, the order will automatically appear in Optimus dash as either a full production job or can be held in an order queue for a final check. All processes are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud Customer View

This provides simple and easy access for the Print Buyer to view anything that has happened, is happening, or is planned. A full and comprehensive view of sales, financial or production information including: invoices, jobs in production, jobs finished and delivered, quotations, stock levels and job history is available; with the ability to re-order against a historical job.

All information available to the customer is a filtered and controlled view of the information which resides within Optimus dash or Optimus 2020. All customer views and access are completed with no intervention from the Print Provider.

Optimus Cloud has been built as a modular system, in keeping with the Optimus ethos that one size does not fit all. However Optimus has ensured that in designing the system, the end user experience is completely seamless. This means the Print Buyer is able to complete multiple tasks and order multiple products from each part of the system easily and intuitively, all within one order.

Optimus Desktop Alerts is designed specifically to provide instant, easy access to key information relevant to specific areas of the business.

Optimus Desktop Alerts is defined by the user and/or roles and is presented using a traffic light view on the Optimus Home Screen upon log in. This is demonstrated in the screenshot below where Molly Parker has logged into Optimus and the Alerts assigned to her have appeared on the first screen seen.

Optimus Desktop Alerts does exactly what the name implies, it ‘alerts’ the user to current key activities at a glance that may need immediate action, thereby ensuring that any potential issues can be addressed before they become a business risk.

Optimus Desktop Alerts provides the facility to drill down onto the relevant Alert into the specific area of Optimus that requires further investigation, e.g. overdue proofs or as our example shown in the screenshot, the number of deliveries due this week.

Optimus 2020 Vision is designed to translate the wealth of data captured by Optimus to identify key performance indicators on an operational level into a series of easy to read visual dashboard dials.

Optimus 2020 Vision focuses on 8 critical performance indicators that are essential to the principles of Lean Manufacturing.

The specific key performance indicators are:
• Not right first time (external)
• Overall Equipment efficiency
• People Productivity
• Stock Turns
• Job Bag Queries ( not right first time internal)
• Delivery schedule achieved
• Value added per person
• Floor space utilisation

In keeping with the Optimus system philosophy of drill down functionality for greater analysis, each dashboard speedometer has a primary level of drill down to see both the company and individual resource data, all in a simple, clean visual display as shown below in the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) at a click of a button.

Historical data is also presented graphically and accessed by a single click on the selected month to see this and all of the other seven KPI’s associated with that month for a quick and easy visual comparison and facilitate continuous improvement.

There is also, where applicable, for example Job Bag errors, a further level of drill down to view the actual transactional data used in the graphical analysis to quickly and easily identify Who, Where or What is creating a bottleneck or inefficiency.

Optimus generates a continuous flow of management information. The Optimus mission is to always ensure our Users have instant access to the vital data necessary to assist in the day to day running of a modern Print Business.

Optimus is continually enhanced to facilitate monitoring of key activities enabling the Print Business to react to trends and devise future business strategy based on actual, real time statistics.

Optimus Sales Analysis

Optimus Sales Analysis is a tool designed specifically to provide instant, easy access to key sales performance statistics.

Optimus Sales Analysis is driven by the invoiced revenue of the company supplying a real time breakdown of sales achieved in both numerical and graphical display.

Optimus Sales Analysis adopts the same principles present throughout the Optimus System of providing multiple filters, sorts and display options, giving an instant view of sales statistics by customer, product lines, representative and geographical area.

Optimus Sales Analysis allows for easy access to further detailed analysis of sales to added value, wage costs, contribution, profitability and more.

Optimus Transaction Analysis

Optimus Transaction Analysis is a tool designed specifically to provide instant, easy access to production costing statistics.

Optimus Transaction Analysis is driven by production costs accumulated within the Optimus system, supplying a real time breakdown of production time, materials and outwork costs incurred. These are easily visible in detailed or summarised numerical displays and graphical view.

Optimus Transaction Analysis adopts the same principles present throughout the Optimus System of providing multiple filters, sorts and display options, giving an instant view of cost statistics by date range, customer, department, resource (machine or person) and cost breakdown.

Optimus Work In Progress Summary

Optimus Work in Progress Summary is a tool designed specifically to provide instant, easy access to a snapshot of the value of incomplete jobs. Supplying an overview of cost statistics and the number of jobs to be completed or jobs overdue, enabling a complete real time view of the total order book.

Optimus Work in Progress Summary is continuously updated with materials issued, outwork purchased and time booked to each job ensuring an accurate picture of work to be completed.

Optimus Work in Progress Summary provides additional information on a separate tab showing an order book turnover prediction of both incomplete and complete jobs due for delivery in the month regardless of sales invoice status.

Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Lean Manufacturing in the Printing Industry from our website at www.optimus2020.com

Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to MIS from our website at www.optimus2020.com