Galley Club drives automation

CEO of Typefi Systems, Chandi Perera calls in on the Galley Club to convince members of the benefits of automation in publishing.

Publishing automation systems have been in operation since the late 1980s and Typefi, which was founded in 2001 in combination with the company’s alliances with Adobe, is able to transform Microsoft Word or XML documents into richly formatted, brand consistent, InDesign and PDF documents.

Speaking about some of Typefi's clients, which have included Lonely Planet and Fodor’s, Perera spoke about how the software has increased productivity without the need to add extra staff along with getting books out into the public quicker.

His advice for anyone wishing to undertake automation is to understand that while content does not need to be uniform, users must understand the content and process well along with avoiding design changes.

Pictured: Chandi Perera (left) with Galley Club president, Michael Schulz.

“The publication should not undergo re-design after production has started,” Perera said. “It’s like cooking and realising that you’ve forgotten a main ingredient.”

According to Galley Club president, Michael Schulz, automation will become increasingly important to the production process. "Everything has to be more automated – no matter what type of printing and I think we will see that more in the layout stages," he said.

Most attendees agreed on the importance of automation. “The Galley Club talks are always worthwhile and Typefi is an amazing resource. Automation systems are an integral part of any vision for the future of the industry. Implemented well, they can speed up the publishing process exponentially,” said Jon MacDonald, creative director of Xou Creative.