It is possible to track your jobs and the individual images in a nest by accessing the Tracking tab in the Cloud. From here you can preview the nested job & print part labels that can be kept with the job as it travels around your workplace. Lets first take a look at how this is possible and the information we can access by logging into your Cloud account at https://app.printfactory.cloud and navigating to the Tracking tab:
The tracking tab has three options:
Print Job Bag
The print job bag page gives you the opportunity to print a document containing an overview of the nested items in the job. It shows you how many copies of each image are in the nest and the order in which they are printed. You will also see a preview of the nest, the print deadline (if set in the XML – we’ll get to that!) and the nest efficiency/wastage. Scanning the QR code on this document will open a web browser containing the nest information.
Print Job Label
The print job label page gives you the opportunity to print a small job label containing information about the nest, the print deadline & a QR code. Scanning the QR code will open a web browser containing information detailing the images in a nest and the order in which they are printed.
Print Part label
The print part label page gives you the opportunity to print a label for each individual part in the nested job. The design of this label can be customized by entering your Cloud user settings and heading to the Print part label(s) behavior section:
Here you need to decide the part label behavior (for multiple copies of the same file) and also the design of the label. Lets look closer at what these options mean:
Job (nest) contains a multipage document: If you have this option turned on you will receive only one part label per file if the file is a multipage document or there is more than one copy of it. If you turn this option off you can then decide the custom settings:
Document size is less than: If you set a width and height here you will receive only one part label(when there is multiple copies of the part) for any document that is less than the size you have set.
Copies of document within job (nest) is bigger than: If you set a number here then you will only receive one part label for any document that has a number of copies higher than the number set here. For example, if you input 20 & your job contains 19 copies of an image, then you will receive 19 part labels. If your job contains 21 copies then you will receive only one part label because the trigger to create only one label has been met.
And/Or: You can combine both of the above options using the AND option or you can choose only one trigger by choosing the OR option. For example:
Using the above parameters will mean that if your document size is less than 100x100mm & the nest contains over 10 copies then you will receive only one part label.
Now onto the part label design settings:
Here you can select one of three different designs. Design 2 and Design 3 contain UserData information. If you’re using XMLs to submit your jobs(again, we will get to that!) and your XML contains custom UserData then you will want to choose either design 2 or 3. Lets see how they look:
Here is an example of a part label using design number 3. As you can see it contains an image preview of the part, the file name, how many copies of this part is printed, the print deadline, a QR code that links to the nest information and finally all of the custom user data. A part label like this will be printed for each individual image in the nest so that it can be kept with the part after it has been printed and cut out.
UserData/XML
If you’re using our Cloud nesting & automation features then you are probably using XML job tickets to submit your images into the nest. As previously mentioned the print deadline and custom user data can be set in the XML and this information will be printed on your tracking labels. See the example below:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<NestParts>
<Documents>
<Document Copies="3" IsTemporary="false">T:\Work\ShowCase Artwork\ShowCase Artwork\Cloud nesting-20220624T111148Z-001\Cloud nesting\Spot Mapping_600x600.pdf</Document>
</Documents>
<PrintDeadline>2022-06-29T12:00:00+0200</PrintDeadline>
<UserData>
<OrderID>6060606060</OrderID>
<Barcode Type="128">2022_6060606060</Barcode>
<Finishing>Sewing</Finishing>
<Carrier>TNT</Carrier>
</UserData>
</NestParts>
In the above XML job ticket you can see the <PrintDeadline> and the <UserData> fields. This information will correlate directly with the user data and print deadline that is printed on your tracking labels.
How to search for a job?
If you know the job name you can use the job name field to search for the job. Alternatively you can plug in a barcode/qr scanner into your computer & scan either the cutting marks barcode or the job label QR if it exists. The job will then be found for you.