TotalFlow BatchBuilder, a hardware-agnostic production management tool designed to allow print jobs to be batched together in the most efficient manner, has been introduced by Ricoh.
The company said the software will help free-up valuable time and capacity while enhancing productivity and speeding up response times. It can adapt to any print environment to simplify and automate the batching and scheduling of short-run digital work from multiple sources, including web to print, MIS or manually inputted, for centralised job control, grouping jobs based on client-defined parameters.
BatchBuilder can help with automatic scheduling and roll management for continuous feed inkjet and can perform the function of the production management queue for a web to print system. It is designed for commercial printers, publishing printers, CRDs, franchise printers and service bureaux with as few as two cut sheet devices, or just one continuous feed device, or a mix from multiple vendors.
XML mapping capabilities allow incoming job ticket information to be mapped to internal JDF job ticket fields in order to drive the batching automation. It provides data-rich metrics, giving more insight into jobs and overall workflow. It can output JDF compatible tickets, allowing it to work with most hardware and software solutions.
Jobs for cut sheet systems, for example, can be sorted and directed to a cut sheet device, while work more suited for continuous feed presses can be directed to those systems. All of the work for perfect binding can be run at the same time. Jobs might also be batched according to final destination so that delivery scheduling and routing can be made as efficient as possible.
Ricoh said that TotalFlow BatchBuilder can be purchased as a standalone utility or bundled with presses or other software, and that it was ideal for commercial or digital printers who run as few as 40 jobs a day or as many as 1000 during peak periods. The software will be available in the UK from November 2014.
