CIP4

JAGAT, Tokyo, Japan
Hosted by CIP4 Japan TWG and BNG
Supported by JAGAT



CIP4 Japan TGW(Technical Working Group) and BNG(Business Network Group) coordinated the CIP4/JDF Mini Interoperability Test Event in Tokyo from 7th through 9th December, 2009. It was held at the JAGAT (Japan Association of Graphic Arts Technology) meeting room. Mr. Rainer Prosi, a chairman of CIP4/IOT attended this meeting to answer the questions from Japanese working groups.



Around 30 Japanese people from 13 companies and 1 organization attended this test and meetings. Komori sent two engineers and one marketing people for this event.



Unique feature of this miniIOT was a special discussion for Future JDF with Mr. Prosi. Questions from Japanese working groups were already sent to him. We spent two days for this discussion. Mr. Prosi explained “Future JDF” on December 8th and discussion was made on 9th. Very productive discussion we had. This kind of discussion will continue at future IOT event to create more user-friendly and effective JDF. (Detailed information of this discussion is confidential.)




Mingle party was held on 8th, December at the lounge room of JAGAT. Chairman of JAGAT joined the party to give words of cheer for JDF in Japan. Express our thanks to JAGAT to support this event.

Next 18th Interop Event will be held at Newport News, Virginia, USA in March 22 through 26, 2010 and host will be Muller Martini.

October 19 through 23, 2009

Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, Darmstadt, Germany.
Hosted by Fraunhofer IGD



Drive down to south 30 minutes by bus from Frankfurt International Airport, there is Darmstadt. Considering the number of its inhabitants Darmstadt is not one of the largest cities in Germany. But it is actually on top position in various rankings in Germany and Europe.

This Interop was held at Fraunhofer IGD which is a secretariat of CIP4 and located in the city of Darmstadt.



It takes just 30 minutes from the hotel to IGD by subway. IGD is locating in quiet resident block and it is a facility of an university. It was established in 1996 as a NPO supported by printing industry in Germany. In this facility, printing presses, prepress systems and other equipments are installed. This facility provides education using with such equipments to improve graphic arts technology in this area.

65 people of 35 companies got together from the world. 5 Japanese of 4 companies attended. Almost double people attended this Interop compare with last Montreal one.



Komori sent one engineer for this Interop. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 3.03 beta at this time. Komori tested with 9 MIS companies/systems and very minor problem on tests we experienced. However, it is not so big problem we think. By above result, number of integration available MIS with Komori’s K-Station came up to 16.



In the second half of this Interop, big meeting was held for following items. Consolidation of complicated specifications, plan for next version of JDF, output format of specifications, plan for next Interop, etc.

IGD arranged an evening social events during Interop. That was the guided tour through the Oppenheim Cellar Labyrinth and Wine tasting. After then, everyone enjoyed nice dinner at there.



Next 18th Interop Event will be held at Newport News, Virginia, USA in March 22 through 26, 2010 and host will be Muller Martini.

The Quebec Institute of Graphic Communications (QICG), Montreal , Canada Hosted by IntraPrint


Montreal is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-largest city in Canada. The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world, after Paris. The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at the 2006 census.



The Quebec Institute of Graphic Communications (QIGC) is a non-profit organization enthusiastically instigated by the entire graphic arts industry. Since its creation in May 1996, the QIGC has greatly improved and expanded its range of services and skills. In this time, Montreal Interop was held at this QIGC. 。



28 people of 18 companies got together from the world. 6 Japanese of 4 companies attended. Due to global recessions, number of attendee per one company was reduced. It was a small-scale Interop by above reasons.



Komori sent two engineers and one marketing people for this Interop. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 3.00 beta at this time.

Komori tested with 6 MIS companies/systems and very minor problem on tests we experienced. However, it is not so big problem we think. The systems we tested at there worked on JDF V. 1.3 mainly.



Mr. Hatta of Screen presented some results from Japan Technical Working Group. For his explanation, discussion was made between him and members. That was the first experience that one country’s working group presented something at Interop.

IntraPrint arranged many events during Interop.



First one was a tour of QICG facility.



Second one was a typical sugar shack tour at the Sucrerie de la Montagne by special school bus.


Third one was a reception party at the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History. After museum tour, we had very nice dinner at there.



On other days, after the meeting, we had good communications each other in Montreal. They were fantastic memory for us.

Next 17th Interop Event will be held at Darmstadt, Germany in October 19 through 23, 2009 and hosted by Fraunhofer IGD. During Montreal meeting, this was announced by Rainer.

Room 8B & 8E, Yaesu Business Center, Tokyo , Japan
Hosted by KOMORI Corporation


This is the third Interop held in Japan. The 6th Interop was held in Kyoto and hosted by Screen. The 10th one was held in Shinjuku, Tokyo by Fuji Film. And this time, the 15th one was held in Yaesu, Tokyo by Komori. Meeting place is just above the Takaracho metro station and just 10 minutes walk from Tokyo station. Just 3 stops by subway from CIP4 hotel in Shiodome area. That place is very close to Ginza, Kyobashi and Nihombashi business area.

Komori was the host of this Tokyo Interop and took care about hotels, meeting rooms, AV and network devices, caterings, advertisement for Tutrial and Developer Meeting, and Reception Party Event. Komori sent three engineers and one marketing rep. to this Interop and additional two ladies assisted the party. For this event, we expressed appreciation for the Japanese CIP4 members such as Printechno, Olive, Metatechno, JAGAT, etc. for their assistance.



Tutorial and Developer Meeting were held on Sunday, October 5th. Over 80 people registered and finally around 70 people attended this event. It seemed almost full of that meeting room.



Mr. Shizuya of Komori explained basic JDF things by Japanese language at morning Tutorial session. Mr. Prosi of Heidelberg and Mr. Esch of Optimus explained more detailed and technological things by English at afternoon session. Mr. Shizuya and Ms. Korenaga of Metatechno translated English explanation to Japanese.



Attendees for the sessions were mainly developers of manufacturers, and were keen to learn JDF things. Last session didn’t complete within planned hours and Q&A session continued privately after 5 p.m.
Presentations of above sessions can be downloaded from following URL.
http://www.cip4.org/document_archive/dc.php?name=tut_tokyo_2008

Total 90 people from 30 International companies including 70 Japanese people from 19 companies joined to this event started from Monday, October 6th.



Many Japanese people attended this Interop and also joined some meetings for Japanese activities. By above reasons, they didn’t have enough time for interoperability tests, and some people continued to test until the closing time on Friday.
Registered product for this Interop from Komori was K-Station Ver.3.0.0 beta at that time.



Komori tested with 8 MIS companies/systems and 1 Prepress companies/systems throughout 5 days. With 9 companies/systems, Komori K-Station worked without any problem on tests under JDF V.1.2. and 1.3.

In the afternoon of October 6th, foundation meeting for Japan Business Network Group (BNG) was held. 30 people from 18 companies attended. Mr. Harvey started the meeting and Mr. Wilton supported him to explain about BNG through teleconference system.



After then, Mr. Horiguchi of Kodak Japan was elected as temporary chair to proceed the meeting. Please visit following URL for details. (CIP4 members only)
http://www.cip4.org/intern/groups/working_group_details.php?group=japan



In the evening, Japan BNG Mingle was held at GONPACHI Japanese restaurant in Ginza and enj oyed special Japanese cuisine.



In the afternoon of October 8th, foundation meeting for Japan Technical Working Group (WG) was held. 38 people from 18 companies attended. Mr. Harvey and Mr. Prosi started the meeting. After then, Mr. Tsuchiya of Heidelberg Japan was elected as temporary chair to proceed the meeting. Please visit following URL for details. (CIP4 members only)

http://www.cip4.org/intern/groups/working_group_details.php?group=japan_twg

Both Japan BNG and Japan Technical WG are authorized working group of CIP4.

After Japan Technical WG meeting, many members got on the bus to join to the KOMORI Reception party. That party was held at Head Quarters of Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. In Koishikawa, Tokyo.



At first, everyone went downstairs to first basement floor to observe the Printing Museum. Like the printing industry people that they were, everyone took long time to watch many historical printed matters and printing related items in the limited time. They enjoyed much at there. Please visit following URL for details of the Printing Museum.
http://www.printing-museum.org/en/index.html



After the museum visit, went upstairs to second floor. The Restaurant LA STELLA was a party place for this Tokyo Interop. Just over 60 people came to join the party and enjoyed drinks and many varieties of cuisine. Many overseas guests also enjoyed good Japanese Sake.



Time flew when we're having fun. Before the closing, Mr. Remy Touguay said “See you at Montreal!” and then, Mr. Prosi declared the party closed. After the party, one third of the party member moved to Ginza area and enjoyed real Japanese Karaoke culture. Overseas guests were much impressed.

On October 9th, Interop test and 5 WG meetings such as MIS, Digital printing and so forth were held.
On October 10th, Plenary meeting was held and representatives of each WG presented the result of each meeting. At the end of Tokyo plenary meeting, Mr. Touguay of Intraprint briefly explained about plan for net Interop. Then Mr. Prosi declared the Tokyo Interop event closed.

Please refer to CIP4 Document Archive pages for details of Tokyo Interop results. (CIP4 member only)



Next 16th Interop Event will be held at Montreal, Canada between March 29 through April 3, 2009 and hosted by Intraprint Software. See you in Montreal!

Conference Room Ground Floor, Radisson SAS Palace Hotel, Spa , Belgium
Hosted by GamSys



The city of Spa, the pearl of the Ardennes, is located about 130 kilometres from Brussels. The great richness of Spa is its well-know springs water. Also, Spa which has become eponymous with any place having a natural water source.


75 people from 39 International companies attended to this event. Some new faces were there. 5 Japanese based venders and 9 Japanese people joined to this event. Systems Komori tested were based on JDF V.1.2 and 1.3.

Every company struggled to test with other companies’ systems as many as possible because Spa was the last Interop before drupa 2008. Many participants said that “We need more time to test!” at there.
Komori sent three engineers (two from Tokyo and another from Chicago) and one marketing people for Interop Test Event and Technical Meetings from March 10th through 14th. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 2.12 beta12 at this time.

(From left : Y. Endo, R. French and Y. Nagamori)

Komori tested with 10 MIS companies/systems and 2 Prepress companies/systems throughout 3 days. With 12 companies’systems, Komori K-Station worked without any problem on tests under JDF V.1.2. In case of JDF V.1.3, we found out some problems and planned to improve them until drupa 2008.

Next 15th Interop Event will be held at Tokyo, Japan between October 6 through 10, 2008 and hosted by Komori Corporation. During Spa meeting, this was announced by T. Yoshikawa, General Manager of Sales Promotion Department.


Please visit www.komori.com to know “KOMORI” and “Komori at drupa!”

Conference Room 10th Floor, EFI Headquarters, Foster City, CA, USA
Hosted by EFI


The EFI Foster City campus is 12 minutes south of San Francisco International Airport, approximately halfway between downtown San Francisco and the heart of Silicon Valley. Strategically located adjacent to San Francisco Bay and just moments from the intersection of Highway 92 ( San Mateo Bridge) and Highway 101 in Foster City, CA, the location provides swift access to both East Bay and Peninsula dwellers. (From homepage of EFI)

Approx. 80 people from 37 International companies attended to this event. 7 Japanese based venders and over 12 Japanese people joined to this event. Some new faces were there. All systems Komori tested were still based on JDF V.1.2

Komori sent two software engineers and one marketing people for the Interop Test Event and Technical Meetings from October 8th through 12th. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 2.12 beta12 as a prototype at this time.
komori team
Komori tested with 7 MIS companies/systems and 2 Prepress companies/systems throughout 3 days. Komori didn’t test with some systems because their versions were just same as the ones we have tested at Dresden Interop.

With 9 systems, Komori K-Station worked without any problem on tests. However Komori is waiting for completion of ICS (Interoperability Conformance Specifications) V.1.3 for Conventional Printing to check our K-Station for JDF V.1.3. For this issue, Conventional Printing ICS Meeting was held during this Interop to check and revise relative ICS 1.3 drafts. But it will take some more time to finalize.

Next Interop Event will be held at Spa, Belgium between March 10 through 14, 2008.

Maritim Hotel and International Congress Center, Dresden, Germany
Hosted by Koenig & Bauer AG

Dresden is the capital city of the German Federal Free State of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The city's population is 500,000 (2006) and just 150 km to Prague in Czech Republic.
Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with extraordinary cultural and artistic splendor. The controversial bombing of Dresden in World War II and 40 years within the Soviet bloc state of East Germany changed the face of the city dramatically.
Since German re-unification, Dresden has emerged as a cultural, political, and economic centre in the eastern part of the Federal Republic of Germany.




Maritim Hotel and International Congress Center, the place for this Interop Event, is locating just beside of the River Elbe, and close to City center and also to Dresden Airoirt. Very nice view of the river and cultural buildings are available through the big windows of the Congress Center. Very good environment for the event.



64 people from 36 International companies attended to this event. 6 Japanese venders and over 10 Japanese people joined to this event. Some new faces were there. All systems Komori tested were based on JDF V.1.2. Komori is waiting for completion of ICS (Interoperability Conformance Specifications) V.1.3 to check our K-Station for JDF V.1.3.

Komori sent two software engineers and one marketing people for Interop Test Event and Technical Meetings from March 12th through 16th. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 2.12 beta10 at this time.

Komori tested with 7 MIS companies/systems and 2 Prepress companies/3 systems throughout 3 days. With 10 systems, Komori K-Station worked without any problem on tests. For some systems, Komori staff suggested solutions to improve problems.

CIP4 will have a pavilion at IGAS 2007 in Tokyo. During this event, CIP4 Pavilion and other activities were explained by representative of CIP4 IGAS Planning Group.

Next Interop Event will be held at Foster City, California, USA between October 8 through 12, 2007.


At the present moment, Komori already realized JDF communication between Komori K-Station and MIS at around 30 sites all over the world. Komori is pushing ahead CIP4 policy in the industry.

CIP4 is the international cooperation for the integration of processes in prepress, press and postpress organization. CIP4 brings together vendors, consultants and end-users in the print communications, Graphic Arts industry and associated sectors, covering a variety of equipment, software, peripherals, and processes. Members participate in focused working groups to define future versions of JDF, to study user requirements, and to design a JDF Software Development Kit.

CIP4 currently consists of 303 members:
14 Partner Members
136 Full Members
146 Associate Members
7 Appointed Members


Komori started as the member of CIP3 organization founded in 1995, and we are working continuously even after the change of organization CIP3 to CIP4 in 2000.We have continued and participated also in the 11th Interop event from the 3rd time, and the performance of our system is a top level about compatibility with the system of the other company.


Komori already provided JDF communication between Komori K-Station and MIS at around 20 sites all over the world. K-Station has been installed at a customer who has Komori’s competitor’s press to try to establish Industrial Standard JDF communication with competitor’s system. Komori is pushing ahead CIP4 policy in the industry.



The 11th CIP4/JDF Interoperability Test Event in beautiful and historic Quebec City, Canada was held at Manoir Victoria Hotel hosted by Dynagram in 6-10 Nobember, 2006.




Around 70 people from over 30 International companies attended to this event. Some new faces were there. Almost of systems were based on JDF V.1.2. Very few tests based on JDF V.1.3 were made.



Komori sent three software engineers and one marketing people for Interop Test Event and Technical Meetings from November 6th through 10th. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 2.12 beta7 at this time.


Komori tested with 8 MIS companies/9 systems, 1 Prepress company/system and another POD company/system during 3 days.


With 10 companies/11 systems, Komori K-Station worked without any major problem on tests. Still some systems of other companies are in early stage of development. Komori has almost completed JDF 1.3 compatibility on K-Station and it has higher performance we believe.



From November 8th through 10th, many Working Group meetings were held in separate rooms. On 10th, plenary session was held and leader of each WG reported about their meeting result. They mainly talked about new modifications of JDF, and then explained about progress of specifications of ICS(Interoperability Conformance Specifications)1.2, ICS1.3, JDF1.3 and JDF1.4. CIP4 organization will join to IGAS2007 and organize CIP4 Pavilion, press conference, general meeting and so forth.


Next Interop Event will be held at Dresden, Germany between March 12 through 16, 2007.

Tanghe Printing and Komori International were awarded CIPPI Award
(Second place in the category of “best cost/benefit realization).

(Abstract from CIP4 Press Release dated on September 8, 2006)
The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization announced the first and second place winners in all three categories for the annual The Jürgen Schönhut Memorial CIP4 International Print Production Innovation (CIPPI) Awards.

The CIPPI awards are given annual to the applicant with the most compelling case study in one of three categories, which are:


○Most innovative use of process automation technology in an implementation,
○Best cost/benefit realization as a result of process automation implementation, and
○Biggest improvement in efficiency and customer responsiveness as a result of process automation.



In the category of “best cost/benefit realization”, second place went to Tanghe Printing N.V. ( Komori customer) of Komen, Belgium.

“This year’s winning case studies marked some important changes in the industry compared to last year’s applications,” said James Harvey, CIP4’s Executive Director. “Last year we saw case studies that focused on the interoperability between two or three systems. This year’s applications showed more comprehensive implementations and the all important extension to the customer’s operations. These winning case studies are not from printers just trying out JDF, but printers that are really putting it to work as a part of the backbone of their operations. And I find it interesting that, once again, the winners are medium and even small printers; examples that most printers can take to heart, not just the industry’s giants.”


For more details, please seehttp://www.cip4.org/cippi/index.html“Booklet with Case-Studies of the Winning Applications in 2006” can be downloaded at above site as a big PDF file. The case of Tanghe Printing is included in the booklet.


(Abstract from Booklet with Case-Studies of the Winning Applications in 2006)
Company profile
Tanghe Printing was established in 1974. Now it is a modern sheet-fed offset operation with a workforce of around 35 people. The range of services—alongside offset printing activities (business reports, magazines, books, promos and calendars)—includes prepress.
We do a lot of small production runs which requires a lot of job changes. Our market comprises Belgium (40%), France (45%), Netherlands (10%) and Switzerland (5%).


Systems for JDF workflow are as follows,

○MIS
Hiflex MIS
○Prepress
Agfa’s PDF workflow :Apogee Series 3
CTP : Galileo CtP system
○Printing press
Komori K-Station for JDF interface
Komori Lithrone 40 (4 color B1 41½”)
Komori Lithrone S40S (5 color with coater B1 41½”)
○Archive management
NSS Production



Testimonial of Mr. Patrick Tanghe.


“Networked production means having a consistent platform on which everybody involved into order management or production processes has access to all important information at any time - whether he works in the office or in the field. He must be able to profit from maximum transparency so that he can optimally handle his job and at the same time to creatively work on the future and the progress of the company. In short – real networked production is of benefit for the whole business process. ”


Steps to implement JDF workflow


1982-1998
Belgian software and stand alone solution: DOS application with simple estimate and historic costing application as well as a small statistics generator. The individual modules were not interconnected, and the system only had limited output capabilities. It could not be adapted to the needs of our expanding company.


1999-2003
New software implemented.
Improvements: Windows environment, networking of administration with production.
Problems: Product not extensive enough. No JDF-compatibility


2003-2006
We opted for Hiflex MIS because we found that this system was the only really comprehensive, single vendor, software package, supported the languages we needed (to serve our international market) and had already been networked with production using JDF/JMF.
For the integration of prepress into a JDF networked production environment we updated to :ApogeeX v2.5 and at the beginning of 2006 to v.3.0.
In order to network our Komori presses with JDF, K-Station software was purchased.

Result after the implementation
Production meetings were reduced by 45 minutes per day.
The Return Of Investment (ROI) of the JDF implementation was 822.8 % within five years (which means that the investment is paid back 9.22 times). The Net Present Value (NPV) is EUR 886,570,-- or US$ 1,132,678,-- which equals an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 435%.
Increase of sold productivity on the presses: 15% (Lithrone 440) and 13% (Lithrone S 540)
Savings add up to EUR 114,400,-- per year: (1 person x 8 hours x 220 days x EUR 50,--) + (0.5 person x 8 hours x 220 days x EUR 30,--). This includes all direct and indirect costs.




CIPPI Award in “Support of the winning application of Tanghe Printing N.V.” was given to Komori International (Europe) B.V. and partners. Dr. Harry Adams and Komori’s Japanese engineers worked with Tanghe Printing and finally got this prize.



Now many Komori customers are working with JDF workflow in Europe, United States and Japan. We would like to inform you updated news about such customers frequently in near future.




About CIP4
CIP4 brings together vendors, consultants, and end-users in the print communications, graphic arts industry, and associated sectors, covering a variety of equipment, software, peripherals, and processes. Members participate in focused working groups to define the Job Definition Format (JDF), PrintTalk, and other standards relevant to process automation; to study user requirements; to test product interoperability; and to develop a range of JDF software development tools. Information on CIP4, including membership details, is available from the organization’s website: www.cip4.org. Or contact: Stefan Daun,
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, +49 6151 155 575, secretariat@cip4.org. All content and ideas submitted to the CIP4 user groups and intellectual property rights subsisting therein shall become the exclusive property of CIP4.


About JDF
The Job Definition Format (JDF) is the industry specification designed to facilitate process automation and the integration of different applications and systems in and around the graphic arts industry. JDF also enables the integration of business management and job planning applications into the production workflow. JDF is based on the W3C’s Extensible Markup Language (XML), ensuring maximum interoperability between different platforms and ready interaction with Internet systems. More information is available at http://www.cip4.org/.

CIP4 is the international cooperation for the integration of processes in prepress, press and postpress organization. CIP4 brings together vendors, consultants and end-users in the print communications,Graphic Arts industry and associated sectors, covering a variety of equipment, software, peripherals,and processes. Members participate in focused working groups to define future versions of JDF, to study user requirements, and to design a JDF SDK.

more about CIP4→ http://www.cip4.org/

CIP4 organization is currently working very aggressively to appeal their JDF workflow to the world. CIP4 had a stand in IPEX 2006, Birmingham and many members exhibited their products and interoperability between systems. CIP4 will make similar appeal at All in Print China 2006, Shanghai in June.

CIP4 currently consists of 302 members: Komori started as the member of CIP3 organization founded in 1995, and we are working continuously even after the change of organization CIP3 to CIP4 in 2000.We have continued and participated also in the 10th Interop event from the 3rd time, and the performance of our system is a top level about compatibility with the system of the other company. We are also doing many beta site tests and are promoting vigorously to the spread of PPF and JDF of CIP4 which has contributed to the increase in efficiency of a printing company.



The 10th CIP4/JDF Interoperability Test Event in Tokyo was held at the Sumitomo Sky Room at 47th floor in Shinjuku Sumitomo Building from May 14-20, 2006. The host company in this event is Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.


Around 70 people from 30 International companies attended to this event. Of course, many Japanese venders joined to this event. Adversely, very few European MIS venders joined. Some new faces were there. Almost of systems were based on JDF V.1.2. No test based on JDF V.1.3.



Komori sent three software engineers and one marketing people for Interop Test Event and Technical Meetings from May 15th through 19th. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 2.11 at this time. Komori tested with 8 MIS companies/systems, 1 Prepress company/system during 4 days.
With them, Komori K-Station worked without any problem on the tests. Some systems of other companies still have some problems such as imperfect automatic operation and so forth. Compare with such systems, we believe that K-Station has much higher performance.




Next Interop Event will be held at Quebec, Canada from November 6-10, 2006.