The CIP4 Organization is an international standards association whose mission is to foster the adoption of automation in the printing industry. CIP4 brings together systems and software vendors, printers, publishers, consultants, educators, integrators and distributors to define standards that support print automation, and to help educate and promote automation globally. CIP4 is known for the Job Definition Format (JDF) that is used to define the interchange of data between systems in an automated production environment. JDF is flexible enough to cover every process and supports all types of printing, including digital printing, offset sheetfed and web printing, gravure and flexography, wide format printing, and applications in packaging, newsprint, and more. JDF supports both process information for devices on the shop floor and customer intent information for front-end/customer facing systems, and includes a “Job Messaging Format” (JMF) that supports the command and control of systems on the shop floor by print MIS, scheduling and job planning systems. In addition to driving production, JDF can also be used to collect information from devices on work in progress and completed for reporting, invoicing, and systems management purposes. In 2018, the new Exchange Job Definition Format™ (XJDF) and the messaging Format XJMF™ were published. Due to evolving and more-demanding workflow requirements in the printing industry, a comprehensive redesign was required in the structure of JDF. However, both formats can be automatically converted into each other and both formats (legacy JDF or modern XJDF) are often successfully deployed in parallel in the graphic arts industry. CIP4 also specified the PrintTalk format. It is based on the business and transaction model of print procurement and sales automation.
