XMF Install & Training

[Joe]

So this is week two of our XMF install/trainiing and while I am not going to badmouth XMF it has not gone well for us.

I can see it can be a great workflow for shops that mainly do sheetfed work and truthfully it kicks ass as a workflow for most things...except multi web imposition. Web yes. Multiweb no. There are just some impositions that it cannot do and Fuji has acknowledged that. APA (auto page assignment) is a big part of our Prinergy workflow and while XMF has a page mapping function it is no where near as powerful as Prinergy's. That means we will have to work harder to do the same amount of work. Not exactly a leap forward.

XMF Remote as a replacement for Kodak Insite Prepress Portal? It has potential but it isn't there yet.

So we mutually cutoff the training a couple of days early because as it stands now we are not going to be able to use XMF. They are going back to their developers in Tokyo and seeing if they can fix the issues that will not work for our needs and see what, if anything, can be done so basically we are still using Prinergy and have XMF on hold until they get back to us. On the plus side the people from XMF were great. And I believe they truly do want us to be able to use XMF. Much better to deal with than the droids at Kodak (specifically not talking about Kodak support techs that are great but the Kodak management hierarchy).

[frailer]

Hmmm, I harboured a latent fear that this, or something similar, may be the case. Having said that, I'd be inclined to take a Monty Python/glass-half-full approach to it. I think that within a few months they could knock up the necessary code for your multi-web needs. Ok, a hunch, but based on their openness towards our smaller requests, which have been rolled into it.
From their point of view, surely, they can pick your brains as to what's needed. This then opens up a wider market for them. I hope so, anyway. Prinergy has the maturity of development over it, but XMF's a much more functional system now than it was on first launch, which is nit all that long ago, really.
Paulyanna speaks...

[Farabomb]

I was wondering how it was working out for you. I applaud your management for making the right decision. Some places would say this is what it is, you make it work.

I agree with the statement about the kodak service reps. I have never had an issue with them and they have always done the best they can.

It's good to hear that Fuji is really trying to make it work for you. It's in their best interest to do so. Yes you will be be beta testing but in the end you should be able to get a pretty much custom setup and they get the testing time for the next multi web place they have an install at.

[David]

Joe,
sounds like your XMF training is  going very similar to my Prinergy training...  nonexistent to not knowing what we need it to do.

par for the course

[Farabomb]

You got prinergy training? I got the basics from the installer guy that has never even seen a offset press.

[Joe]

Joe,
sounds like your XMF training is  going very similar to my Prinergy training...  nonexistent to not knowing what we need it to do.

par for the course

That is something that always amazes me when doing this kind of training. The trainers they send in always spend a great deal of time calling people to ask questions. Why don't they send the guy that they are calling in the first place? :laugh:

FB, our owners are adamant that they want us to pull the plug if it seems XMF is going to create more work or leave more room for errors even though sticking with Prinergy will cost them big bucks in the long run. They are reluctantly giving XMF a short window of opportunity to fix the things that are an issue for us. But they've made it clear we're not waiting for a long time or "beta testing" on our live work. A lot of promises were made that it would do everything that Prinergy would do and do it better. And right now it doesn't especially in the imposition end of things and in their XMF Remote (Online soft proofing). It seems XMF Remote was built to be used by people that know printing and prepress. They actually have added too many bells and whistles on the customer side of things. They need a dumbed down customer front end. Using what they have presently will mean we will be on the phone constantly babysitting idiots.

[David]

Using what they have presently will mean we will be on the phone constantly babysitting idiots.

eh, isn't that what you do now?     

[Joe]

Right now it is just Java issues. With XMF Remote it will be Java issues and what are all these settings for. And 10 times out of 10 they will select the wrong ones. And they will do it again the following times.

[Farabomb]

Joe, you sound like you work in a somewhat decent shop. You hiring Prepress guys?

Though it is really, really flat out there. I may loose my mind. Are there any mental hospitals near there. Not for me (yet) the GF needs a job too.

[Joe]

Joe, you sound like you work in a somewhat decent shop. You hiring Prepress guys?

Though it is really, really flat out there. I may loose my mind. Are there any mental hospitals near there. Not for me (yet) the GF needs a job too.

It is actually pretty decent here. Our prepress area was built new in 2005 and it is quite roomy. There is room for roller skating if I wanted to.

It has been a long time since we have hired a prepress person. Some have left and we don't replace anyone anymore. We just keep doing more with less.

The owners are out the rest of the week for a religious holiday (bow season for deer opens today). Schools are closed as well. Cue Elmer Fudd...

[frailer]

I have a vague recollection of saying something like "not sure about its multi-web capabilities". I hope i did.   :undecided:  Shame about the way it's gone right now. Just to clarify... the shortfall in the impo is on the multi-web stuff only, correct?

[DigiCorn]

The owners are out the rest of the week for a religious holiday (bow season for deer opens today). Schools are closed as well. Cue Elmer Fudd...

Yeah? I was on my way there, but I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

[Joe]

I have a vague recollection of saying something like "not sure about its multi-web capabilities". I hope i did.   :undecided:  Shame about the way it's gone right now. Just to clarify... the shortfall in the impo is on the multi-web stuff only, correct?

To be clear, most multi web impositions work. The only problem is when you try to mix a 3/4 web with a full or half web. It seems the 3 pages across of the 3/4 web confuses it when it is mixed with the full (4 across) or half (2 across) webs. I emailed Earendil and it doesn't work for him either but he has never had the need to try it before he tested it for me. Tokyo is working on it.

One other thing they need to fix, since almost all of our customers upload their pages via the web portal (Kodak Insite/XMF Remote), is the fact once the files are uploaded into the XMF job via XMF Remote there is no way to easily change the color. For example a phone book might have black only sections, spot/black sections, and CMYK sections. In Prinergy we can just run a 2nd refine on the pages that need to be black only to convert to grayscale and a 2nd refine on the CMYK pages to convert spots to process while leaving the black + spot pages as they are. It is very easy in Prinergy. Not so much in XMF. Or not in a way that I've seen yet. Anyone knows an easy way...fill me in on it.

[David]

did they show you where the easy button is?
it's right next to the large gun, on the right

[frailer]

Understood on that, Joe. Web is a mystery to me, as I've only ever done sheet. At my age it will remain a mystery.
OK, low on your priority list right now, I guess, but how did you like the 'feel' of the imposition?