Flagship Press

With a diversified offset and digital operation, Flagship Press can do everything from books to direct mail, large format to promotional products. As they've grown, they recognized a need for faster, more integrated workflow technology that would keep up with increasing volume, automate key tasks, and streamline customer collaboration. They found their solution with Kodak.

After more than 70 years in business, Flagship Press had reached monthly volumes of more than 2,500 plates processed and hundreds of jobs moving through a workflow that could no longer keep up. Their legacy system was slow, hard to use, and isolated every task into separate software applications. Tasks like customer approvals and color management to support their G7 program took far too long. It could take hours of manual operator time to get a submitted job press-ready. Increasing work volumes would require adding more staff, which wasn't sustainable for the business. Flagship Press needed a new workflow solution—compatible with their range of offset and digital equipment—that would integrate their entire process and add efficiency at every step.

Flagship Press turned to Kodak, and our team immediately recognized that automation was the answer. A suite of Kodak software tools, unified under KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Software and integrated with their overall print MIS, has streamlined their entire process. They implemented KODAK INSITE Prepress Portal and Creative Workflow to standardize online job submission and automate customer proofing and approvals with little-to-no manual intervention. KODAK COLORFLOW Pro Software solved the challenge of normalizing different customers' color models to adhere to Flagship's G7 program requirements: color management now happens automatically at the start of each job, and the need for color corrections down the line is dramatically reduced. They also added KODAK PREPS Imposition Software to optimize imposition and ganging layouts. PRINERGY Workflow ties everything seamlessly together under a single automated workflow, driven by its powerful Rules-Based Automation (RBA). Everyone on staff contributed to defining the automation rules for each prepress step, putting workflow ownership in the hands of those it most affects.

The transition was smooth, and with Kodak's support the Flagship Press staff quickly learned the new technologies. Flagship customers appreciate the INSITE Portal's fast learning curve, ease of use, and 24/7 access through any device, which reduces approval loops and accelerates time to press. As a result of their Kodak workflow solution, today it takes Flagship Press as little as five minutes to get from job entry to production ready—eliminating hours of operator time and risks of manual errors. Automation has enabled their team of only six people to do the work of 12, with each handling 25-50% more work than previously. They can now take on more jobs without increasing headcount, driving more revenue to the bottom line for many years to come.