When asked to describe his business, Ellis Galimidi, owner of Allegra Print & Imaging
in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, responds succinctly, “We’re a hi-tech, rapid response
graphic communications provider using both offset and digital technology.”
Established in 1991, Allegra Print & Imaging NJ has evolved from a traditional printer
into an advanced printer with expanded capabilities. Says Galimidi, “The industry
continues to be redefined by evolving customer needs and demands, including
graphic design, mailing services, short-run on-demand color printing, marketing
services and more.”

As a member of the Allegra Network consisting of over 500 franchisees throughout
North America, Allegra Print & Imaging of Lawrenceville is one of the leading
providers of technologically-advanced graphic communication solutions. Services
offered include: Full-Color Printing; Digital Color Printing; Electronic Prepress;
Graphic Design; Marketing Services; High-Volume Copying; Large Format, Online
Ordering and Proofing; Printing; Bindery Services; Project Management; Variable
Data Printing (One-to-One marketing); Consulting Services; Mailing Services, and
Promotional Products.

Keeping up with customer’s changing demands requires Galimidi to be both astute
and discerning when employing the best technologies and workflows. For example,
Allegra Print & Imaging NJ recently faced the need to upgrade the RIP for its
Heidelberg QuickMaster DI and replace its outdated CTP system. Galimidi was
concerned with finding the best and most cost-effective workflow solution.

“We were looking to upgrade our RIP on our QuickMaster DI,” he says. “But we also
wanted a centralized workflow to drive the multiple devices we have, including our
DI, our CTP system, our proofing device, our CLC 5100 color copier and our large
format printer. Having one RIP system was essential to ensure consistency and
quality of our jobs from device to device.

After speaking directly with RIPit’s President and Founder, Wayne Wasulko, Galimidi
says he and his team learned that “RIPit had the perfect product that would help with
the workflow and also drive our DI press.”

RIPit’s award-winning OpenRIP® Symphony is an Adobe® PostScript® 3™ RIP
featuring a multi-task, multi-device workflow that automates prepress tasks and
helps eliminate human error by integrating scanning, trapping, proofing, and
imposition in a single package. Symphony’s multi-device functionality allows users
to drive over 100 output devices including: image-setters, platesetters, digital
copiers, inkjet printers / plotters and digital presses.

RIPit’s Symphony workflow was being offered as a bundle with RIPit’s SpeedSetter
300x2 Platesetter, and Galimidi went for it, especially as RIPit is the Allegra
Network’s recommended supplier for CTP technology. The complete turnkey solution
is engineered to improve prepress productivity and streamlining the entire plate-
making process.

The new RIPit system is a far cry from the AB Dick Platesetter Allegra had been
using previously. An older RIP limited the shops’ capabilities even further, as it didn’t
accept PostScript level 3 files. It was, Galimidi felt, an ideal time to upgrade.

Allegra Print & Imaging, NJ installed the new OpenRIP Symphony workflow with a
new SpeedSetter poly platesetter. Galimidi is also using the OpenRIP Symphony RIP
to drive his Quickmaster DI. He says he is completely satisfied with his decision to
update and centralize his RIP workflow; citing faster turnaround times, improved
consistency, reduced staffing and better quality by automating prepress operations.

“We’ve realized savings on many fronts. One major saving was by not having to
upgrade our DI RIP, which would have cost us thousands by itself,” says Galimidi.

John Hauselt, production manager, adds that RIPit’s comprehensive features has
helped to save time in production. “Symphony’s imposition feature alone have
increased our productivity,” he says. “We are now able to save all of our
impositions on the RIP, which we use as templates for future projects. For example,
we have our settings for business cards saved on OpenRIP Symphony, so that when
new business card jobs come in, our designers simply apply the saved settings and
release the plates.”

RIPit’s OpenRIP Symphony has allowed Allegra Print & Imaging to be a day ahead of
the press department. By the time the production staff arrives in the morning, plates
are already waiting. “We are now able to get ahead of the curve allowing for faster
turnaround times. It is just so much easier for us not having to redo the imposition
each time.”

“We’re also saving a lot of money on platemaking, with fewer mistakes being made.
And RIPit easily cuts our prepress time in half,” Galimidi says, adding that reducing
imposition time and having the press operators themselves re-output their own
plates in case of problems are major factors in the productivity increase.

Another key benefit of the new system has been consistency and the reduction of
errors. “We now use the same RIP to our proofer and to our presses so there is no
possibility of having our printed piece come out differently than the proof the
customer approved, as had happened in the past,” Galimidi says. “We used to RIP to
our proofing device with the Onyx RIP and then RIP to our DI using the Harlequin rip,
but with the two different RIPs, it didn’t guarantee the same results.”

Hauselt says, “It was an issue we wanted to eliminate. Our RIPit installation seems
to have done the trick; the graphic artists are thrilled with it. We now compose on
OpenRIP Symphony, which saves the time we spent doing manual changes on the
imposition workstation.” Plus, Hauselt says, OpenRIP Symphony’s user-friendliness
and remote-control support allows novice employees to navigate the system.

“OpenRIP Symphony is the first centralized RIP I’ve worked with,” Galimidi says.
“Before, everything has had its own RIP and its own set of issues. Now, with
OpenRIP Symphony, everything is automated and streamlined. Now we can offer
better, faster jobs with reduced manhours.”

In fact, Galimidi says that Allegra just purchased an HP Indigo, and that he hopes
to use the OpenRIP Symphony to drive it, as well. “As you can see, we are quite
pleased with the choice to implement RIPit,” he says.

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