Metrix completes puzzle for Tharstern - 12/07/2004 - Tharstern Limited

12/07/2004 Metrix completes puzzle for Tharstern

Speaking at a recent Tharstern User Group meeting at Coventry, Keith McMurtrie, Tharstern MD, likened Lithotechnics' new print layout calculator, Metrix, to the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

'Our Tharstern SQL Version 2 has the facility to cater for ganged jobs,' he said, 'allowing individual job estimates to be combined and any duplicated items in the costing removed, but until now there has been no really practical way of producing the optimised layout to facilitate this - apart from shuffling pieces of paper around to get the best fit. Metrix does this intelligently in seconds, and takes into account the technical requirements of each job, like paper grain and bleeds. It can be driven by job intent information in a JDF environment and exports data to enable automation in a digital workflow, through pre-press to finishing.'

'Ganging jobs together makes sound economic sense, saving on paper, plates and machine time. We can show the savings in our estimates; now Metrix allows us to take advantage of this simply and quickly, it is the missing piece of the puzzle.'

The User Group, one of five being held around the country, was attended by more than 50 existing Tharstern users. Besides being shown the latest features in v2.0, they saw the advantages of using JDF demonstrated; in this case driving Creo's UpFront to produce impositions from job intent information present in the estimate. Tharstern were the first MIS provider to have a commercial implementation with UpFront successfully running in the UK. While UpFront excels at handling multiple section work, Metrix uses similar 'job bag' information, including the number of each item required, and allows up to 10 individual flat or folded jobs to be ganged together on a single signature, automatically producing a 'best fit' solution with minimum wastage.

Abdul Kassas, Tharstern Director commented 'The User Group meetings have been a highly successful environment to show the latest developments, such as the Tharstern-Upfront link, which are pertinent to our users and the Printing Industry. Two more meetings, with similar topics to the Coventry event, are planned for later this year, in Gatwick on the 28th September and Glasgow on the 16th November. We have already had a large number of reservations but there are still spaces available.’

Metrix, like UpFront, is distributed in the UK and Ireland by Positive Focus (http://www.positivefocus.co.uk/).