Features Premedia Software
Tilia Develops Phoenix Plan Configurator for Enfocus

Software developer Tilia Labs Inc. of Ottawa, Ont., has introduced the new Phoenix Plan Configurator for Enfocus Switch, which the two companies describe as a kick-off to a new integration partnership, aimed at printers active in offset, toner, and large-format markets.

Phoenix Plan Configurator, designed to find savings in both materials and time, works by collecting individual orders coming in to Enfocus Switch, along with their associated metadata information like quantities, stock, grain and spacing.

The files are then sent to Phoenix, which goes to work searching what Tilia Labs describes as millions of combinations, across available presses and stocks, to find the most cost effective ganged layouts. Once planning has finished, the cheapest cost results are returned to Switch in several different output formats such as imposed PDF, JDF, PDF, XML-based reports, or Phoenix jobs.

“The primary drivers we often encounter with print service providers are the need for speed and lower material costs,” says Sagen de Jonge, CEO and Co-Founder of Tilia Labs, developer of Phoenix, who points to how waste reduction is a major benefit of improved turnaround times. “Reducing waste involves complex ganging calculations which can be very time consuming,” he says. “Phoenix tackles this problem head on using a cost-driven, automated approach, and we are particularly excited about the opportunities for cost savings in the increasingly competitive large format segment.”

Enfocus’ Director Product Management Bjorn Willems says that large format clients already using Switch technology have been asking for help in scripting imposition algorithms to work with Switch. “The advent of Switch 13 and the Phoenix Configurator for Switch allowed us to put what we believe is an incredibly fast and precise imposition and planning technology,” Willems says.