Imp version 14 was released last month and will be premiered at Hunkeler Innovationdays next week, where InSoft is exhibiting.
According to Santosh Mulay, vice president – business development, the latest iteration of Imp offers “significantly smarter ganging results which directly translates into material and time savings”.
One of the key upgrades to the platform is REST API integration, which uses industry standard HTTP protocol to enhance integration with MIS platforms from a wide range of vendors.
“Cloud-based MIS and workflow solutions will find it significantly easier to integrate with version 14, enhancing our appeal to cloud-based solutions providers and encouraging them to leverage our layout planning engine in the background,” said Mulay.
Another significant enhancement is around Imp’s IMPCmd CLI, which is a command-line interface that enables users to simplify and automate processes with simple scripts. It is described by Mulay as “elegant and highly automatable”.
“The CLI in our version 14 is very comprehensive and almost everything that one can do using the graphic user interface, can be accomplished with command line interface, making it a powerful tool for automation workflows,” he added.
Other upgrades include ‘Advanced Binderies Support’ through enhanced marks and smarter planning algorithms, for finishing for book-of-one, print-on-demand, and short-run jobs, ‘Priority-Based Planning’ that uses optimised ganging algorithms that can prioritise delivery schedules, ‘Block Ganging’ to simplify cutting workflows by grouping jobs with the same trim size, and customisable ‘Overrun Controls’ to minimise waste.
According to Mulay, Imp is unique in that it has been developed for all printing processes, from offset, digital, large-format and flexo, and the widest variety of applications covering books, general commercial, labels, packaging, and sign and display.
The software was first launched 15 years ago by the Indian developer and now boasts more than 500 unique customers worldwide including Printed Easy in the UK and FlyerAlarm in Germany.
It uses hot-folder based automation and runs on users' own hardware or cloud-based servers and is available on a time-based or perpetual license.
Existing users under annual support and maintenance contracts are upgraded to v14 for free.
InSoft Automation is in Hall 1, booth 371 at Hunkeler Innovationdays, which runs from 24-27 February at Messe Lucerne in Switzerland.
