FFEI software boosts South African firm's pre-press cycle

RealPro Toolkit, launched in South Africa at Propak 2013, is a new feature-rich software consisting of more than 12 modules, addressing specific pre-press workflow requirements such as file editing and preparation, color management, trapping and step and repeat tasks.

Having seen RealPro Toolkit in action at the Propak exhibition, Africa Stereos was able to trial the software for free, for a full month through FFEI's South African distribution partner, DigitalView. It was based on this trial that the company decided to purchase the full license.

Africa Stereos is a flexographic repro house supplying printing plates for label and packaging applications, and Nic Gray, Africa Stereos branch manager, said the company opted for FFEI's system to help tackle a series of pre-press production issues that were affecting time, productivity and accuracy.

Gray said: ‘We recently used the software for a five-color fertilizer bag job where previously it would have taken us two or more hours to get everything right before creating the plates.

‘With RealPro Toolkit it's a matter of minutes and clients have been very happy – it's just so time-effective and a winner for the business all round.

‘The software is very good value for money and not only is it extremely user friendly and easy-to-use, the features are of a very high quality. Our DTP department said that the trapping editor was the best they had ever seen.

‘In addition, it has been great having all the inspection and pre-flight tools that help us find potential problems right at the proofing stage.’

Laura Minter, director of FFEI’s South Africa distributor DigitalView, added: ‘Africa Stereos is our first RealPro toolkit customer – it has been great working with them on this project to see first-hand how the software helps to streamline production.’