Prinect and MultiPress: optimal automation at Drukkerij VD

Drukkerij VD in Temse was founded in 1849. The site today, has a total surface area of no less than 4 hectares, one of the largest in Belgium. Under the leadership of Marco De Ridder, they were one of the first in Belgium to increase scale by taking over other companies in the sector. In total, they have taken over some 13 companies, which has enabled them to grow considerably, both horizontally and geographically. The very well equipped printing house now has just about every possible printing and finishing technique under one roof.

Marco De Ridder: "Drukkerij VD is strong because it is an integrated company that does not have to outsource anything, except for hardcover finishing. VD is able to produce all kinds of printed matter with a lot of added value in-house. We print digitally in small and large format and in offset. In addition to the usual bookbinding techniques, VD has folding-box gluers and die-cutting machines and we apply analogue and digital finishing techniques such as blind embossing, foil embossing, lamination, UV varnish, spot UV varnish and 3D UV varnish."

Flawless integration

In order to manage and integrate this diversity, the management chose Dataline's MultiPress at a very early stage. Marco: "Today, we continue to grow mainly by investing in the latest technology and by fully implementing extensive automation of the production flow. This is the only way we can remain competitive with suppliers in low-wage countries. The integration of the acquired companies was greatly facilitated by the fact that the administrative procedures and workflow were already very similar. Thanks to MultiPress, integration into the existing company structure also went smoothly."

Automatic data transfer ... and back!

Initially, the only thing that needed to be improved was the prepress workflow because there was no, or only a partial, data link to the various production steps. Thus, a press operator still had to manually enter important parameters such as paper size, thickness, print run, and so on. As long as the press did not have this information, it could not be started. Or, in the worst case, incorrect data was entered, sometimes resulting in production losses.

The installation of the Heidelberg Prinect workflow brought a solution. Marco explains: "With the Prinect workflow, these problems have been completely eliminated, because there is now a certified link to MultiPress. Once the job information is entered in MultiPress, all the data, such as format, paper type, print run, etc. is automatically transferred to the prepress, press and post-press departments. This not only saves an enormous amount of time, but also significantly reduces the number of mistakes made. Feedback of data for subsequent calculation is also provided.