Johnny Sutton, Senior Production Technology Engineer at Shutterfly, has maintained a longstanding relationship with DALIM SOFTWARE since the mid-1990s, starting with his early adoption of DALIM TWIST version 2.X. With a distinguished career spanning over four decades in the printing industry, Sutton attests that he hasn't found any other software that matches the versatility and capability of DALIM TWIST, describing it as the "Swiss army knife of workflow automation". His deep expertise and trust in DALIM's technology were first showcased in 1995, when he presented on TWIST automation at the inaugural DALIM Users Organization (DUO) conference—a testament to his early and sustained commitment to advancing printing technology.
Shutterfly, recognized as a leading ecommerce and manufacturing platform, is renowned for its personalized products like photo books and canvas portraits. The company is divided into three divisions: Consumer, Lifetouch, and Shutterfly Business Solutions, the latter focusing on short-run book production.
The move to producing short-run books introduced significant challenges for Shutterfly, primarily due to their reliance on previously proprietary systems for creating automated impositions. This necessitated Sutton’s involvement in a project to revamp their imposition processes. Reflecting on this change, Sutton remarked, "Before I took on this project 18 months ago, I’d never made an imposition in my life... Then, all of a sudden, it became my problem!" This shift marked a transition from manual, labor-intensive processes to an automated solution capable of efficiently handling diverse imposition requirements.
The integration of DALIM TWIST at Shutterfly helped overcome initial challenges related to manual data entry and system integration, transitioning to a fully automated process from data validation to imposition calculations. This lead to a significant reduction paper waste and enhanced operational efficiency. Sutton highlighted the impact of these changes, stating, "We saved 90% of the labor. No longer do we have many people sitting there working. They drop the file into the folder, and it optimizes the file."
Looking to the future, Shutterfly plans to incorporate DALIM ES to further refine their workflow. This integration is expected to improve job tracking from ingestion to prepress and minimize the clutter of unnecessary communications by optimizing which updates are sent and to whom. This advancement in their printing process underscores Shutterfly’s commitment to efficiency and sustainability, leveraging DALIM SOFTWARE to meet the growing demands of their diverse product lines.
For a deeper dive into the innovative solutions implemented at Shutterfly and to explore the extensive capabilities of DALIM SOFTWARE, download the latest issue of THEMAGAZINE 28. Don’t miss out on this valuable resource—enhance your understanding and see how DALIM SOFTWARE can revolutionize your business operations.
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