Product Info
callas pdfToolbox gives working with PDFs a massive boost with a greatly extended feature set to match a diversity of users’ needs.
callas pdfToolbox can:
- create localized information or multiple-language versions of files even without the creator document or application
- prepare polished PDF presentations
- repurpose PDFs in any way you want.
- the latest ISO standards
- advanced color management
- imposition of everything from business cards to full N-up impositions
- splitting or join-ing of PDF content
- controls to resize and reposition PDF content
- the ability to embed, subset, replace and convert fonts to outlines.
- Process plans
- Building logic into profile
- Execution of processing steps in response to results of previous sequences
- Combining profiles with actions
- Color remapping improvements
- Extensions to the conversion of color channels, so that any process color channels can be converted to spot colors and vice versa
- Spot colors can be put anywhere on PDF layers
- Numerous other enhancements
- Many checks, fixes and profiles have been extended and the process stability is further increased
callas software held a pre-release webinar where some of the new features of pdfToolbox 6 were shown, which you can view here.
“The printing industry has changed radically since we started out but one thing has remained the same – behind every single job is a customer who wants it done right. Soar Printing understands this. It is the heart of our culture. It guides our investment in new technologies and it helps us to continually evolve our business. We need to grow with our customers’ business and be aware of the trends and opportunities they are facing globally. From the smallest print job to the most complex, we want our customers to have the utmost confidence in our company”
Fred Soar – Managing Director Soar Printing, New Zealand
Soar Printing, an Auckland based company, founded back in 1920 as a family business, is at the forefront of the printing industry in New Zealand. Soar Printing employs over 70 people and offers an extensive range of services, from short run digital printing to long run offset printing and large format poster prints. Within their specific industry segments, the Soar divisions are market leaders utilizing the latest technology to deliver the best possible result. They have grown into that position by constantly evaluating and adapting new technologies to add extra value for their customers. This is especially true with their commitment to environmental issues and the ongoing policy of sourcing the most environmentally friendly processes and products.
Soar Printing mainly focuses on printing for businesses: deliverables include marketing material, business forms, Point of Sale display items and packaging. They count brand names like Nestlé, Estéé Lauder, ASB Bank, Telecom New Zealand, Air New Zealand and Sky City Casino amongst their customers.
“The single biggest change we’ve seen in the last few years,” says Fred Soar “is that print runs are getting shorter, and that printing has been substituted by other means of marketing communications such as social media and online marketing. We at Soar Printing try to adapt to these new trends by making sure we can offer reduced setup costs, taking care of shorter runs and offer more RIP print services.”
Anticipating this new trend in the printing industry and entering a new market, Soar Printing wanted to offer a WEB2PRINT solution for people who know how to use Adobe products and how to create print ready PDFs. Soar Printing was looking for a way to provide instant quoting and inline preflight to customers and at the same time remove the ongoing cost of those activities.
Based on callas pdfToolbox Server, PDF2PRINT was setup by Soar Printing as an independent storefront solution, targeting new customers throughout New Zealand. The ease of setting up standardized quality control using pdfToolbox allowed Soar Printing to not only build the solution into the storefront, but to also use it as a hot folder based application in-house.
The geographical distance between Soar Printing and callas software did not cause any issues. “The fact that callas software is situated in Europe and we in New Zealand created no problems at all. The storefront solution was developed over 6 months; questions were quickly answered and sometimes the time difference even made it easier because the answer or a recommended setup was sent over night. It was an interesting way to work.”
PDF2PRINT is a print upload portal built with callas pdfToolbox that allows preflighting and corrections on uploaded PDF files. It is an affordable and fast way to do easy print jobs without sacrificing quality and behind PDF2PRINT the newest digital and offset machines are used to attain the highest quality standards. In order to offer amazingly low prices, Soar Printing has kept a standard range of products that can be ordered through PDF2PRINT, including business cards, flyers, postcards, brochures and posters.
What happens when a customer orders through the PDF2PRINT storefront? The PDF file appears on Soar Printing’s server together with information about the order and the price it was ordered at. The order is then automatically transferred into the MIS system; once this is done, production can be started. In the background, calculations are running to work out where the break is between digital and offset printing for each product and price accordingly. Depending on those calculations, the order is printed either on an HP Indigo 5500 digital printing press or on a Heidelberg Anicolor press.

The callas pdfToolbox software was installed about a year ago and was launched earlier this year. Upon launch Soar Printing started a marketing campaign including online marketing and direct marketing to attract new businesses. The uptake in traffic and visitors has been significant and the orders are coming in.