Product category:
Document and workflow management software
News Release from: Dalim Software | Subject: Dalim Twist
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 08 March 2004
MPO France selects DALiM TWiST workflow
MPO France selects DALiM TWiST workflow to automate pre-production
Dalim Software, a leading developer of innovative automated production workflow solutions for the print, prepress, packaging, publishing and new media industries, and its main French distributor Folio Groupe, have deployed a workflow management system tailored to the specific production needs of MPO France MPO France, based in Averton, is one of the MPO International group's six production sites
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 13 Oct 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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DALiM TWiST has been implemented at MPO France to optimise production automation.
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Archipel, a member of Folio Groupe, is responsible for the integration of DALiM TWiST at MPO France.
Originally, in 2000, Xavier Desrousseaux, a sales engineer for Archipel, introduced MPO France to Folio Swing, their first digital workflow solution (Dalim Software's workflow system customised by Folio Groupe.) "More than three years after the installation of Folio Swing, MPO France had expanded and its needs have changed," explains Desrousseaux.
"We decided to build on the experience acquired with Dalim Software and migrate the entry-level solution to an open application that can be upgraded in line with our customer's growing needs." DALiM TWiST is a full production workflow automation and management tool that draws on the extensive knowledge of workflow automation applications developer Dalim Software.
Automated workflows rationalise production processes and free up production time, improve schedules, reduce errors and ensure consistent quality as all tasks are handled in the same way.
DALiM TWiST eliminates a number of repetitive, time-consuming manual tasks.
MPO France is in constant contact with each of its customers, and proofing at the prepress stage had become difficult to manage due to the growing volume of clients and the number of people involved.
"Sending content by email is taking longer and longer.
With DALiM TWiST, we are hoping to optimise these tasks and enable our operators to concentrate on high value production work," says Bertrand Prod'homme, DTP manager.
Other factors, such as immediate response to files received, access to the database, remote links with customers and sub-contractors, were all taken into account.
When looking for an automation solution, MPO France didn't want a dedicated system, but was looking for an open system that would allow the company to choose and integrate peripherals freely and provide a base for further growth.
"The core of the specification was the optimisation of the file handling workflow, together with real-time monitoring of customer data," explains Bertrand Prod'homme, who is in charge of hardware and software modernisation.
He also acts as an interface between production, sales representatives and customers.
In this regard, he points out that throughout the entire decision-making process, he was fully supported by Andre Perrotey, Printing Plant Manager at MPO and an ardent champion of open digital workflows.
As MPO France was already familiar with Dalim Software's products, migration to a higher-specification product was a logical step.
"Folio Groupe has been working with Dalim Software for three years.
We feel that upgrading to DALiM TWiST was the most appropriate move for MPO France to increase automation of the production process within the company," says Desrousseaux.
Folio Groupe is well acquainted with its customers' needs and engineers the functionalities of the developer's tools, reorganising them depending on each customer's requirements.
The Folio integrator then supports the customer every step of the way.
The strength of the relationship between Folio Groupe and Dalim Software lies in continuity and contributes to the synergy of the three-way partnership between customer, integrator and developer.
Guillaume Dasnon, Dalim Software product specialist for Archipel, was the main architect of the success of the implementation of DALiM TWiST at MPO France.
"The solution is upgradeable and flexible and can be adapted to the customer's rate of growth, preserving their investment," he says.
CD manufacturers experience peaks in production between August and December due to promotions at the beginning of the academic year and over Christmas, and then in March and April, to coincide with regional festivals.
"Receiving files directly into the workflow is a solution that should help us during peak production periods," adds Prod'homme.
The architecture of the DALiM TWiST system gives exceptional performance, modularity and efficiency.
"A DALiM TWiST server can manage production peaks and allows for various fault-tolerant or high-availability configurations," says Isabelle B.
Rayel, business development manager for Dalim Software.
The intelligent management system has over 100 standard workflow tools that can be used to customise the most complex configurations.
"MPO France can now count on DALiM TWiST to organise and manage production in progress.
What's more, the administrator can intervene at any time to initiate or pause workflows, view job status, validate jobs put on "hold" or view job logs," explains Rayel.
DALiM TWiST is able to poll any JDBC compatible database and initiate the appropriate workflow based on the information it finds.
It can even write information to the database.
As it takes longer to deploy an open workflow than an off-the-shelf solution, the finishing touches still need to be finalised before the actual benefits can be pinpointed accurately.
"We already know that we will gain enormously with DALiM TWiST.
We are particularly sure of this because we can count on unrivalled technical support and constant collaboration from Archipel and Dalim Software," says Prod'homme.
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