Caldera – Oschatz: printing productivity squared

When you first meet Daniel and Joel Oschatz, the two printing brothers, as they call themselves, of Oschatz Visuelle Medien GmbH, the first impression is that they are really embracing their roles of CEOs of the company. Daniel is in charge of sales, while Joel heads up technical. The company was founded by their father as a photolab in 1983, and together, the two brothers have successfully brought it into the digital market.

In 1992, they had just one digital printer; today they are internationally recognized as a market leader in cosmetic branding, museums and exhibitions – and the company handles more than 100 000 jobs per year from their base in Niedernhausen, near Frankfurt in Germany.

Oschatz has been using Caldera GrandRIP+ software for more than a decade, currently driving more than 15 devices, including Durst printers and Zund tables. The company is also the first one to have installed and run successfully two new Océ Colorados with UVGel technology.

So, what’s their biggest project to date that they are able to talk about? “Blue Planet Aquarium in Copenhagen,” says Daniel, “which was challenging.” Joel explains: “It was one-and-a-half years ago. We had files of more than eight GB per piece for wallpaper, each one 3 x 4 meters, and more than two hundred pieces. It was a giant challenge to rip this in only five days. But thanks to Caldera, we had control of every step. We needed increased performance, so we worked with three Caldera PCs in parallel”. The result? The job was done on time, achieving high quality without investing in more licences, just duplicating the hardware and using the only RIP able to scale with their needs.

What makes the company unique? Joel explains that, “Oschatz Visuelle Medien is not just a printing company – it’s a company that provides tailor-made solutions in the printing process.” Daniel adds, “Our motto is ‘Kompetenz hoch Zwei’”, meaning that double management squares our effectiveness and productivity.” The brothers’ complementary skills and good communication is highlighted by the way they jointly answer questions in the interview – it stands out as the explanation of their success.

But another one is the match they found with Caldera as a partner: “It's a win-win situation between us two,” argues Joel. “I like the personality of you and your team and the great service you provide”.

Yes, success depends on people, and relationships are the key, but the product has to be excellent too. Coming from a photolab business with high expectations in color, Oschatz confirms that, “EasyMedia offers a multitude of possibilities and makes good things better. I like it.”

One might think the two brothers are over-exaggerating when they affirm, “Caldera is perfect in workflow, ripping, printing, cutting and packaging,” but from those two highly-professional individuals, it has the ring of truth. “I have worked for ten years now with Caldera software and there's never been an end to learning what the software is capable of. Every day I see a new button and when I click: a new possibility.”

And when we ask about the way forward, the two printing brothers are looking to build the next generation of printshops – Industry 4.0, with more customization, more automation and more productivity. Oschatz is connecting their ERP with Caldera Nexio to create an absolutely automatic digital workflow, allowing for more than 90% of the production to become completely automatic. Nexio is Caldera RIP’s JDF connector, allowing seamless job submission and real time feedback from production. It allows the integration of production into the company digital workflow.

Daniel has “a better feeling for the price and the pricing to our customers with the CostProof solution.” He also want everything “on one control panel, like a rocket start at NASA.” That’s why they are still investing in Caldera after all these years. “We have a lot of ideas, my brother and me, and I want to develop them together with Caldera.”

For more information about Caldera, please visit http://www.caldera.com.