The converting operations of diecutting and gluing at the Krefeld, Germany, folding-carton plant of Friedrich Freund GmbH are now integrated into a JDF-based production workflow. The concept, based on Prinect Data Control production and information systems from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (www.heidelberg.com) and the industry-specific management information system "Boxsoft," is said to be an industry first.

The postpress machines—a Heidelberg Dymatrix 106 CSB diecutter and a Diana Pro 74 folder/gluer—have been teamed with the company's two six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 sheetfed-offset presses into one complete JDF workflow since March.

"We were highly impressed by the role of Data Control in shortening our press makeready times and also wanted to introduce the advantages to our postpress machines," says Freund production manager Michael Raschke. Every repeat job is stored separately in the Data Control database. "We follow the same procedure in diecutting and gluing as we do in printing—optimal machine settings from a particular job are stored centrally as reference values and can be called up any time regardless of the operator. This means we can immediately finish follow-on jobs in the quickest time possible."