Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

College of Technology

First Advisor

Anthony Gilberti

Second Advisor

William Croft

Third Advisor

Terry Herman

Abstract

Production systems in the printing industry are not yet fully automated. Unlike other industries, such as various manufacturing industries that use assembly line production systems and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) concepts, the printing industry is still heavily based on manual input, human judgment and creativity, especially in the area of electronic prepress production. This study analyzes the workflow practices of companies of various levels of automation and suggests best practices in automating electronic prepress workflow. The researcher disseminated the research instrument consisting of a PDF file and an online questionnaire to electronic prepress supervisors at various offset lithographic printing companies. The researcher analyzed the information received from study participants and compared the productivity data of participating electronic prepress production facilities. The way in which automation affected the productivity in electronic prepress production was examined. Automated companies provided more proactive customer support services and reduced the number of employees involved in processing single jobs. The use of JDF-enabled production systems has proven to be instrumental in increasing the automation of electronic prepress workflow. Use of advanced hardware and software computing solutions is not sufficient to provide for an automated production environment; It is the workflow architecture and adopted business practices that determine the overall effectiveness and the level of automation of electronic prepress production environments. The data analysis provided answers to the six research objectives of the study so that conclusions and recommendations could be made in Chapter 5 of the study.

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