WebProof secures growth in a large prepress company

Scandinavia's largest producer of advertisements reaps the benefit of rationalizing

WebProof rationalizes production in Scandinavia's largest prepress company.

Some of the largest Danish newspapers have contracted the making up and production of their advertisements to the company BL Prepress. The parent company of BL (Belingske Lokalaviser (Berlingske Local Newspapers)), Berlingske Tidende, is cooperating in terms of data bases and pressing with the other large player in Danish newspapers JP/Politiken. Between them these are publishing Jyllands-Posten and Politiken respectively and the latter is also the owner of a large number of local newspapers.

After a radical restructuring of business procedure and processes BL Prepress is very well equipped for the age of globalization. This restructuring has been possible not least due to the company's implementation of the unique software WebProof.

On an average BL Prepress is producing two million advertisement millimeters a week, which corresponds to 11-1200 whole newspaper pages. Add to that superfluous assignments.

– We are always busy, says prepress executive Flemming Østergaard – although he is always ready to take on more clients.

From lead and film to PDF and Internet

A number of years back Berlingske Lokalaviser took control of Frederiksværk Ugeblad which had its own composing room. In 1999 BL Prepress in Avedøre was launched. At that time work was still being done using paper assembly but modern electronic ways of working were on their way in the shape of the MPress system for handling of production of ads and making up.

– Since then we have bought up so that BL today encompasses 22 newspapers on Sjælland and 10 in the rest of the country. All in all 32 local newspapers. Furthermore we have taken over IK Prepress in Haderslev which was then fusioned with BL Prepress in the spring of 2004. Prior to this we were working hard on taking on assignments from external sources, says Prepress executive Flemming Østergaard.

Today the production is handled in a fully electronically way where ads and pages end up as PDF files which can then be sent out for production in the CtP plant on one the of the many printing houses - roughly a dozen - which BL Prepress is servicing.

– Initially we won the production of ads for Urban, BT and Berlingske Tidende and later we took over the making up of all the paragraph markets for Jyllands-Posten. Furthermore we recently made an agreement with Jyske Vestkysten for the production of their ads. At this moment in time we are already producing two million column millimeters a week so combined with the external assignments it all amounts to quite a bit.

– One cannot exclude the possibility that we will have more customers further along the way. We have the expertise and the capacity to deal with them and therefore we are also competitive in relation to delivery times as well as price. We already have quite a few incidental assignments which might easily develop into more.

WebProof is what made the contracting of the production possible

– A substantial part of our ads production during the past 3 years have been outsourced to Bangladesh, which gives us the advantage that the employees are at work while ours over here are off. This is not just in relation to night and day, but also in relation to the Christian Holidays, which aren't celebrated in this part of the world. Because the costs of salaries are different from the ones we know over here it has been possible for us to reduce the costs of production.

– However, such a swith-over of production is not accomplished from one day to the other. For us it has meant that we have had to go through every single process in our advertisement production, from the minute where the consultant speaks to customer right through to when we send off the final pages.

– Previously newspaper production used to work in such a way that we produced the ads, made space for the articles which we then placed according to editorial wishes after which we sent the finished pages off to be produced.

– These days all the material ends up here electronically where we then handle it and store it. We produce and place the ads and the editors place articles in relation to our preliminary work. This way it is the editorial office that is responsible for the finished product and they send it to the printing house where the newspaper is assembled in pressure forms.

This way the editorial office is given the best opportunity to correct and replace text right down to the very last minute before the final deadline. All this is possible because BL Prepress uses the software WebProof which probably is the the world's easiest to use and most advanced tool developed for web proofing, whilst at the same time containing a workflow definable by the end user.

– Working with a consultant we have developed a way of rationalizing which many people could learn from. We have invested a lot of time and effort into the sales link because this is where the whole process starts. This investment is returned in the shape of a faster and more efficient way of producing the ads which then again leads to a minimizing of costs which finally leads to a better product, Flemming Østergaard explains.

The Proof has to match what the customer has bought

– Half of our ads are finished material which we don't have to do anything to, while the rest is made up of ads which we have to produce from presentation from our customers - typically an ads consultant.

– The customer only sees his ad on a print or on-screen and not a ripped file and therefore it is important that the entire process has as small a margin for error as is possible. The changes we made to our business procedure started off in the sales department where we now are running totally different work routines compared to the ones we had before.

– The way of working where one just jots down a few notes and lines on the back of an envelope used to work previously but now those days are gone. You can't just make an agreement with the customer to 'come up with something a bit smart' because this way of working can very easily lead to needing 2-4 revisions of proof.

– On the contrary one has to spend more time making a firm and solid agreement with the client so that he or she will recognize his ad when they see the finished result. This way we don't have to make any changes afterwards. Do it right the first time around is not a new way of thinking, but this concept is given a new lease of life when you have to rationalize your production. In the environment of a present day newspaper which all has very tight deadlines there simply isn't time to redo things. This is particularly true when some of working partners aren't placed in the same building, let alone in the same time zone.

– The sales consultant spends more time making the ad ready for production. It is very important that the production department does not have to make any guesses as to how the ad is composed, which fonts are to be used or which illustrations is part of the overall layout.

There has to be a satisfactory amount of specific information about where the individual elements of the ad - such as pictures or text - are to be found, or, if not present, where there can be found. This can be a web address or a telephone number. Also information about which one needs to speak to in case there is any moot points need to be included.

– We are also trying to make it easier for the consultants in number of ways. One of them being that we create a number of templates which can serve as a staring point for the consultant when he or she speaks with the customer. Another way is that our graphic designers are supporting the sale with creative assistance.

More technical changes underway

Flemming Østergaard is expecting a move to the Windows XP platform based Adobe InDesign software during this year.

– The changeover to Windows has to do with the fact that we want the most effortless work routines related to the daily tasks which include access to the Internet.

– Considering the many operations which are browser oriented in a globalize production, it is totally vital to work with a browser platform which has the highest level of compatibility with the majority of the web pages across the Internet. And this is where we have to face up to the fact that there rather more problems with the Mac platform compared to the Windows platform.

– Some people maintain that it is the other way round, i.e. that it is the web pages that present a problem rather than the platform because they support Windows better than Mac. However, the end result for the users is the same: they are experiencing that things are not working like they should.

– The Windows platform is covering around 97-98 percent of the market for personal computers and as such it is very understandable that devel0pers first and foremost have Windows in mind when they are developing new products. For us this now means that we have now chosen to continue our work on Windows.

– We can with no problems whatsoever do all the preliminary work and we are using printing houses right across the country. Nowadays geographical conditions are of no consequences and we have a lot of experience with global production and experience with what it takes to make it a success.

– It's something you have to want to make work, and it demands certain flexibility and not least a certain investment in terms of the time and effort it takes to break away from worked-in routines as well as developing new routines.

– But once the process is completed there can be large potential financial advantages, Flemming Østergaard emphasizes.

The possibilities and consequences of Globalization

During the past few years much has been said about the possibilities and consequences of globalization and it is established that certain production assignments are now completed abroad.

This development has taken place in conjunction with the appearance of ever faster computers and telecommunications networks which has made it interesting to let photo treatment take place in countries where the hours of work are displaced compared to ours and where the cost of salaries is much lower. This goes for adjustment of colours and focus as well as cropping other very time consuming types of work which are also among the services offered to customers by BL Prepress.

Gradually it is becoming a highly used method of work to let people abroad produce ads and subsequently send the client a pdf file, thus giving the client the opportunity make corrections over a large distance, no matter where the ad is placed physically.

This opportunity has been created by software from the Danish company WebProof (www.webproof.com).

Are you able to compete with China?

All lines of work that can be internationalized will be. This means that a number of jobs will be created abroad rather than here in this country. We cannot prevent this but have to count on creating new jobs in other or related areas of work. It stands to reason that these cannot be jobs that demand exactly the same level of qualifications as before but that new areas of work will have to be cultivated.

For businesses where the Internet plays a part in the overall strategy and is a work tool the management has to ask itself whether the company is able to compete with the Far East or whether it can be made to compete with the Far East at it's present address.

If the answer to this question is no then there is a problem which needs solving.

At BL Prepress the answer is yes. Using WebProof BL Prepress have been able to outsource a large part of the overall production and by doing this they have secured the future of the company. Furthermore their rationalized way of working is creating opportunity for attracting new clients as well as capacity to handle the demands of these new clients.

Published September 5, 2005