Hybrid Software was one of the smallest companies to present at this week’s Drupa Media Conference in Düsseldorf, but that didn’t stop it from making big claims about the capabilities of its FaceLift tool.
Hybrid’s growth track record adds weight to its claims; it increased turnover by 50% in 2011 and achieved its highest-ever sales in December 2011.
Chief executive Mike Rottenborn called Hybrid Software “the missing link” between e-commerce, web-to-print, MIS and pre-press workflows.
“The biggest problem facing printers is how to automate the lifecycle of the document,” he said.
Those printers who have attempted custom integration will be aware of the huge costs involved.
“We have turned custom integration into a product. That is integration 2.0 – integration as a product rather than a service,” said Rottenborn.
The company’s roots are in the packaging sector, and this is clear from its strategy for Australia, where it has recently signed a distribution deal with GMC Pacific, a subsidiary of Pemara Labels.
“Our ‘Order Lifecycle Management’ (OLM) concept has been received with huge enthusiasm across a wide range of sectors,” added Rottenborn.
“OLM meets head on the enormous challenge of how to improve order processing efficiency throughout the entire production cycle, which is even more important to achieve during the economic difficulties facing most printers today.”
The company explained: “FaceLift provides a powerful toolset for JDF integration between production workflows, which require very specialised parameters, and MIS systems, which typically have very generic pre-press instructions.
“FaceLift can act as an intermediary tool to seamlessly map data between these systems without the need for custom programming.”
Rottenborn said that “JDF is not compatible with many legacy systems” while “and traditional integration methods are too expensive and lengthy for many printers”.
He stressed FaceLift was “vendor agnostic”, rattling off a long list of third-party software with which it integrates, including Prism, EFI, Esko Artwork, PageFlex, Kodak Prinergy and HP.
But Rotterborn stopped short of saying that Hybrid Software would completely remove the need for custom development – clearly individual printers could require some degree of personalisation.
“We can sell you the tools or we build a house for you. Printers like to know that anything that is built for them they can maintain and edit. There can be consulting and customisation that goes with that, but that depends on the situation.”
Drupa takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany on 3-16 May 2012.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter