Method for automatically determining an imposition plan

1. A method for determininig (i) on a data procesing system, (ii) in a computer program or (iii) on a computer readable medium, an optimal routing for manufacturing a printed product, the method comprising:

selecting a printing device from a first group of printing devices for printing said product, the first group comprising at least one device;

selecting a folding device from a second group of folding devices for folding said product, the second group comprising at least one device; wherein the first and the second group together comprise at least three devices;

calculating a plurality of imposition plans from a given set of input data including product specification data of said product, printing press data of said selected printing device and folding machine data of said selected folding device;

determining, from said plurality of imposition plans, a specific optimal imposition plan for said product;

repeating said determination of said specific optimal imposition plan for all combinations of printing devices of said first group and folding devices of said second group, thus obtaining a plurality of specific optimal imposition plans for said product;

determining an optimal imposition plan from said plurality of specific optimal imposition plans for said product, thus obtaining said optimal routing for said product, said optimal routing comprising (i) an optimal printing device out of said first group of printing devices and associated with said optimal imposition plan and (ii) an optimal folding device out of said second group of folding devices and associated with said optimal imposition plan.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of imposition plans are all possible imposition plans for said given set of input data.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

representing each imposition plan of said plurality of imposition plans as a folding formula indicating a folding order of said product and suitable for setting up a folding machine.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of imposition plans are all possible imposition plans for said given set of input data.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising: determining said specific optimal imposition plan from said plurality of imposition plans by means of a selection criterion that is selected from the group consisting of minimum production cost of said product, minimum production time of said product and optimal use of available machinery and resources.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising: representing each imposition plan of said plurality of imposition plans as a folding formula indicating a folding order of said product and suitable for setting up a folding machine.