FESPA Certified PDF in association with Enfocus enables members of FESPA’s national associations to obtain a discount of 20 per cent over the normal price of Enfocus software products until the end of 2006.
The FESPA Certified PDF initiative is based on Enfocus Certified PDF, a patent-pending automation-enabling technology used for efficient quality control while managing a large volume of PDFs. Certified PDFs are immediately identified and moved through production faster than non-Certified PDF files. Certified PDF extends the power of PDF by embedding the PDF Profile that was used to preflight the file, and also creates a detailed preflight report, and audit trail of all edits made to the PDF document. FESPA technical experts have created profiles specifically for screen and digital printers, which users of Enfocus software can access via the Enfocus CertifiedPDF.net Website.
Nigel Steffens FESPA’s general secretary says: ‘Workflow automation is having an enormous impact in many areas of graphic arts, allowing print service providers who participate in complex production workflows to automate the movement of data in and out of their operations, and manage that data more effectively within their enterprises.
“By working with – and ultimately standardising on – a proven PDF protocol such as FESPA Certified PDF, businesses up- and down-stream in the production workflow, be they corporate marketing departments, designers, prepress service providers or printers, can operate with greater confidence in the integrity of the files they are processing.’
Steffens says that FESPA has a clear mission to promote and encourage best practice in screen and digital printing.
“Based on extensive dialogue with our national associations and their members, we believe that tools like FESPA Certified PDF can offer practical support, helping screen and digital printing businesses to improve efficiency and profitability while minimising the margin for error. In a market with decreasing run lengths, lightning turnaround times and narrow margins, automation and standardisation are key to helping printers become more successful.”
Patrick van Dam, executive VP, worldwide sales & marketing at Enfocus adds: “Members of ZSO, the national FESPA screen printing association in the Netherlands, have already achieved outstanding success using Enfocus Certified PDF. In fact, recent independent research on behalf of Enfocus has shown that nearly 80 per cent of printers who have standardised on Certified PDF believe this has increased the reliability of their production process. We are delighted to be able to build on this by working in partnership with FESPA to extend the benefits to members of other FESPA national associations.’
