Automating the planning, estimating, and impositioning of printer orders via multi-step cutting that involve die cutting

A method of industrial print job imposition that employs mismatched sized die-cutters and media comprising:

• receiving a print order including a requisite number of print products;
• receiving a specification of available equipment, the specification including characteristics of a plurality of available die-cutters associated with the print products in the print order and characteristics of a plurality of available printing apparatus, wherein each of the available die-cutters and available printing apparatus have a corresponding media size;
• identifying a first printing apparatus of the plurality of available printing apparatus and a first die-cutter of the plurality of available die-cutters, wherein the first printing apparatus is configured for a media size larger than the first die-cutter;
• generating a first planning scheme and a first imposition scheme based on the first printing apparatus and the first die-cutter, wherein, when executed, the planning scheme and imposition scheme comprise print instructions to complete the print order;
• and
• ranking the first planning scheme and the first imposition scheme against a plurality of other planning and imposition schemes based on a predicted efficiency based on the specification of available equipment.

A system of industrial print job imposition that employs mismatched sized die-cutters and media comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory including instructions that when executed, cause the processor to:
• receive a print order including a requisite number of print products;
• receive a specification of available equipment, the specification including characteristics of available die-cutters associated with the print products in the print order and characteristics of available printing apparatus, wherein each of the available die-cutters and available printing apparatus have a corresponding media size;
• and
• generate a planning scheme that combines a first printing apparatus and a first die-cutter from the specification of available equipment, the first printing apparatus is configured for a media size larger than the first die-cutter.

A method comprising:

• receive a product order including a requisite number of work pieces;
• receiving a specification of available equipment, the specification including characteristics of available die-cutters associated with the work pieces in the product order, wherein each of the available die-cutters have a corresponding media size;
• generating a planning scheme that combines a media size and a die-cutter from the specification of available equipment, wherein the media size is larger than compatible with the die-cutter;
• and
• generating an imposition scheme that includes a packing alignment of the requisite number of work pieces to an exemplar media sheet, the imposition scheme including media subdivisions plotted out to the exemplar media sheet, wherein each media subdivision of each of the plurality of imposition schemes includes a die-cutting operation instruction.