Duplo International will be present on the HP booth at drupa 2016 (Hall 17), with the two companies showcasing enhanced solutions for connectivity between print and finishing devices. This will be under the Direct-to-Finish banner and involve integration between HP’s PrintOS and Duplo’s remote machine monitoring service.
Visitors to drupa 2016 in Düsseldorf will see a near-line integration of Duplo’s DC-646i Production Colour Finisher with the HP Indigo 7900 and 10,000 Digital Presses. The DC-646i can perform automatically a wide range of finishing functions such as cutting, creasing and perforating to turn a sheet into a fully finished document in a single pass. Using JDF (job definition format) the device receives finishing instructions directly from the job ticket produced in HP’s SmartStream Production Pro Server.
By receiving job intent directly from source, the need for an operator to measure print and re-key information is removed and allows the Duplo to set up automatically, reducing make-ready times, errors and waste while improving productivity and ROI of the equipment. This also means that less expertise is required to operate the finishing equipment and staff can use their time more productively instead of performing mundane and repetitive tasks manually. Typically, quality will be increased and turn-around times reduced, meaning Direct-to-Finish is a win-win solution for the user.
A further dimension to the partnership between Duplo and HP at drupa 2016 will be the demonstration of a connection between Duplo’s e-Tandem remote servicing technology and HP’s recently-announced PrintOS cloud-based print production operating system. PrintOS helps HP Indigo users to get more from their press through web and mobile apps that simplify production and enable better, faster decisions.
Duplo’s e-Tandem service provides remote monitoring of a customer’s finishing systems, enabling decisions to be made based on accurate data from usage and production, instead of guesswork. Although primarily used as a service for billing and service support, this will be the first example where the real-time data feed from e-Tandem is fed into a partner’s production management service, allowing the customer to see the status of their Duplo finishing system, consumables, jobs in progress and such like.
Combining key production information into one dashboard enables users to have a more complete understanding of their production situation. A further benefit is that because the Duplo is reporting the status of work in progress and when a job is complete, that information can be fed through PrintOS and back to the MIS (Management Information System). This completes the loop from sending the job to seeing it finished, providing an opportunity to extend automation into despatch and billing functions to further reduce manual activities and drive efficiency.
Direct-to-Finish will be available for the DC-646i shortly following Drupa and final customer field trials. Duplo are the first finishing partner to integrate with PrintOS and there remains further testing and customer consultation to ensure the solution delivers the huge potential of this collaboration.
The collaboration at drupa 2016 is the latest development in an ongoing technology partnership between Duplo and HP, which will be further demonstrated with a HP Indigo 7800 Digital Press on the Duplo stand in Hall 5. This will form a hub of production within the stand, demonstrating Direct-to-Finish with the DC-646i, a dual-mode in-line connection to the PFI Coat 300 UV Coater, and near-line connection to Duplo DSF-6000 sheet feeders paired with the DBM-600 booklet maker and iSaddle saddle stitcher.
Peter Dyson, Development Manager at Duplo, said: “We are delighted to be able to showcase the integration work that HP and ourselves have done together, and we believe our customers will see great value in the efficiency savings and of doing things smarter, faster and better that these developments will deliver. As ever, our focus at Duplo is on Automated Precision – that’s exactly what this exciting collaboration with HP is all about.”
“We are proud with our ongoing collaboration with Duplo jointly delivering innovative automated finishing workflow for our mutual customers, said Gershon Alon, WW Manager, Workflow Solutions and Partner Program at HP Indigo. “HP Indigo customers who use Direct-to-Finish in combination with the Duplo DC-646i will benefit from the cost saving associated with reduced set-up time, no waste and no errors. We are delighted with Duplo being our first finishing partner that joined forces with HP Indigo connecting e-Tandem with our PrintOS. We are looking forward toward our mutual demonstrations in HP Hall 17 and Duplo stand in Hall 5.
