JDF Expected to Highlight Expo Exhibits in Chicago

Weeks before the opening of the Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2003 show in Chicago, James E. Harvey, CIP4 executive director, said, "It seems that JDF [Job Definition Format] will be everywhere at Graph Expo, and that's a good thing. The demand for information about JDF from printers, publishers, and prepress services is on the upswing."

He added, "There are now JDF systems in the marketplace, users have begun to implement JDF, and these programs will help meet the growing demand for information about JDF."

Harvey explains that JDF is an open, versatile XML-based data exchange format for print production and business data by which disparate production devices can communicate with one another. It is becoming a non-proprietary industry standard; as such, the data format opens the way to process automation, often referred to as computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), in the graphic arts industry.

JDF development, promotion, and adoption has been assigned to the CIP4 Organization. The formal name of the group, which has more than 160 members worldwide (partners, full members, and associate and appointed members) and is based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress.

At Graph Expo, Harvey made JDF presentations, met with CIP4 members, and moderated sessions on JDF Day, together with James Workman, director of training programs for the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, Sewickley, Pa.

CIP4, in response to requests for programs about JDF, has created a speakers' bureau of individuals who can talk informatively about JDF potential, product support, and system implementations. "The speakers' bureau allows us to put the right people in front of the right audiences," says the CIP4 marketing officer, Margaret Motamed of Electronics for Imaging.