Tharstern launch new Layout Library feature

June 08, 2018

MIS software company, Tharstern, have just launched a brand-new tool that they say will solve a big problem for the printing industry. Their new Layout Library will allow printers to teach their MIS how to lay down impositions in the correct way for their equipment and processes. This will remove the need for prepress to manually adjust or change the impositions sent down by the MIS.

“MIS-to-prepress connectivity is pivotal to automation and while there have been great strides made in this area, it has still always felt like all of the knowledge was held in prepress and the MIS was only sending a rough idea of the imposition layout for prepress to interpret and make good. On the whole, that did work, but one of the challenges that has remained unconquerable in our opinion is change control. When prepress make changes to an imposition, the integrity of the workflow is broken and feedback about job status and costing is nearly impossible. Some prepress systems have gone a long way in trying to communicate this information back to the MIS but honestly, it’s typically too late or too difficult to flush that information into the relevant areas for each job. There are just too many implications.” said Keith McMurtrie, Tharstern’s MD and the driving force behind this milestone development.

McMurtrie and team say that after many years of painful workflow deployment experience where they repeatedly had to deal with the unavoidable damage caused by these exceptional situations, they came to the conclusion that they would need to fix the problem further upstream, at the MIS level. They would need to find a way to ensure that the imposition sent downstream by the MIS was the correct one.

“The problem with automatic impositions created by an MIS solution, is that they follow industry standards and best practice, but each and every company we work with has so many variables and personal preferences that affect how they want to lay down their impositions, that we’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t an automatic one-size-fits-all way to do this. What people seem to want in an automatic production route is for the MIS to come up with the layout that they would have selected manually.” added McMurtrie.

Tharstern say that this is fundamentally what they have achieved with their new Layout Library. While the MIS will still create dynamic impositions automatically, there is now the added functionality to ‘teach’ the software about any exceptions to the rules. Printers can tell their MIS exactly how to lay down different products and different parts, and can control all the flipping and rotating of their signatures and sheets to fit in with their equipment and workflow. They can make allowances for non-printable regions for slow-down wheels, flex signature and sheet sizes automatically and also support variable cut-off cut-star type equipment.

These Layout Profiles are then assigned product types and criteria (e.g. substrate, run length, orientation and grain direction) so the estimating engine within Tharstern knows which imposition to select for that product type and situation. The layouts can be associated with different equipment e.g. one imposition for digital and one for litho, one imposition for a booklet maker and one for conventional binding. And you can also set different layouts for situations where the imposition needs to be different because of some other post-press process such as die-cutting.

Tharstern will be demonstrating the Layout Library in a webinar on 13th June at 3pm BST. You can sign up for the session here www.tharstern.com/layout-library-webinar.

Share or Email this content
Graphic Display World

Email us your news, PR, case studies to [email protected]

Latest from Graphic Display World

Roland DG (UK) Ltd - VersaUV Double Your Profits
FESPA Global Expo 2024 Opens In... March 19, 2024 10:00 am 168
The Print Show 2024 Opens In... September 17, 2024 10:00 am 351
PRINTING United Expo 2023 Opens In... October 18, 2023 10:00 am 16
Sign & Digital UK 2024 Opens In... February 27, 2024 10:00 am 148
Your 300 x 300 Banner Here
drupa 2024 Opens In... May 28, 2024 10:00 am 238

The UK's coolest wide format printing trade press website specialising in providing punchy and concise up-to-the-minute news, views and industry opinions ...

Latest News

N3 Display Graphics uses Drytac films to decorate Cancer Research UK’s new distribution hub

N3 Display Graphics uses …

Sep 28, 2023 Rate: 0.00

NOPINZ finishes with flying colours thanks to Mimaki textile printers

NOPINZ finishes with flyi…

Sep 28, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Epson to bring game changing print technology and arcade fun to PRINTING United Expo 2023

Epson to bring game chang…

Sep 28, 2023 Rate: 0.00

The Printroom Group invests in Canon technology to continue to boost its printing capabilities

The Printroom Group inves…

Sep 28, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Drytac expands product portfolio with ReTac Clear PET film

Drytac expands product po…

Sep 27, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Featured News

Hollywood Monster provides graphics for City for Birmingham Festival ‘23

Hollywood Monster provide…

Aug 29, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Ostensible museum pieces

Ostensible museum pieces

Aug 29, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Roland DG enters the digitally printed wallpaper market with acquisition of UAB Dimense print (Lithuania) shares

Roland DG enters the digi…

Aug 01, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Ocean Outdoor brings SPACE INVADERS world playground to Europe

Ocean Outdoor brings SPAC…

Jul 19, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Consider liquid lamination for your substrates

Consider liquid laminatio…

Jul 17, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Features/Applications

N3 Display Graphics uses Drytac films to decorate Cancer Research UK’s new distribution hub

N3 Display Graphics uses …

Sep 28, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Roland DG showcased ‘50 Shades of Ginger’ colour index at Redhead Days Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands

Roland DG showcased ‘50 S…

Sep 01, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Signwaves sees demand rise for outdoor signs as Britain embraces alfresco dining

Signwaves sees demand ris…

Aug 30, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Hollywood Monster provides graphics for City for Birmingham Festival ‘23

Hollywood Monster provide…

Aug 29, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Minuteman Press Nashville uses HP Latex 360 printer to complete iconic building wrap

Minuteman Press Nashville…

Aug 17, 2023 Rate: 0.00

Your 1100 x 100 Banner Here

SEARCH