Automation that actually ships.
Senior-led prepress automation for US commercial printers, converters, and label shops. Deep in Esko Automation Engine and HYBRID Cloudflow; fluent across the MIS, ERP, RIP, and workflow systems they have to talk to.
What Print With Synergy does.
Third-party Esko & HYBRID support
Your renewal quote. 48-hour fixed-price response.
Named-engineer support contracts for Esko Automation Engine and HYBRID Cloudflow — typically 25–50% below your current vendor renewal. SLAs in writing. Two-year cap on annual increases.
- P1 response: 1 hour
- AE 12+ and Cloudflow 11+ covered
- Your licenses. Our support.
The frontend ↔ print specialist
Most web devs can't read a JMF dump. Most prepress engineers can't ship a Next.js app.
A rare team fluent in both — PDF/X, spot color, imposition, AE Pilot tickets, SmartNames AND React, TypeScript, REST/GraphQL, Postgres, Docker, CI/CD. Everything PWS builds is AGPL-3.0+ on GitHub. Full source delivered. Fork it if you need to.
- Web-to-print portals: AE and Cloudflow
- JDF/JMF↔MIS bridges that hold in production
- VDP: data → templated PDF → 1-bit TIFF or LEN
Fractional engagements
Senior prepress automation leadership. Monthly retainer. 30-day exit.
Embedded in your team for architecture decisions, integration design, hands-on builds, code review, and mentoring. 10–20 hours per week. Proactive, not reactive — you get technical velocity, not just incident response.
- Architecture, integration design, hands-on builds
- Code review and standards enforcement
- Team mentoring and knowledge transfer
One-off workflows & emergency rescues
No retainer. Hourly or fixed-fee per ticket.
Esko AE Pilot tickets, Cloudflow workflow builds, custom JavaScript modules, JDF/JMF integration patches, and emergency rescues when a workflow breaks at 4pm Friday.
- AE Pilot tickets and Cloudflow workflows
- Custom JavaScript modules for AE
- JDF/JMF integration patches
- Emergency rescue: response within 1 hour
Everything on GitHub. AGPL-3.0+. Auditable today.
Esko and HYBRID are proprietary, closed-source, license-locked. PWS is the opposite. Same expertise — none of the contractual chokeholds. The AGPL license specifically prevents anyone, including me, from taking the code closed-source later. It's a forward commitment you can verify on GitHub right now.
- You get the source
Custom dev on the PWS stack is delivered with full source code. No proprietary runtime, no vendor-locked config format.
- You can fork it
If PWS disappears tomorrow, you have the right to run it, fork it, and hire anyone you want to maintain it.
- No software fees
The PWS stack itself is zero-cost. You pay for implementation and support — not a per-seat license that grows with your headcount.
- AGPL keeps it honest
The license prevents future closed-sourcing. Anyone who distributes a modified version must release their changes. That includes me.
What prepress shops say about vendor support costs.
They charge what they can get away with. Negotiate aggressively.
The maintenance contract comes up every year and is a sticking point with upper management.
The purchase price of the licenses should cover support. Unfortunately it doesn't.
20 years in prepress. Production code on GitHub.
The PDF tool suite is the credibility play — five real beta products that prove the engineering bench is production-grade, not slide-deck-grade. All AGPL-3.0+ on GitHub.
Five open-source PDF tools. AGPL-3.0+.
The full suite — preflight, build, structure, inspection, measurement — is AGPL-3.0+ on GitHub. Self-host on your own infra, use the hosted API, or embed directly into your AE or Cloudflow workflows.
Send your renewal quote. 48-hour fixed-price response.
Or book a 30-minute technical call — no sales deck, no obligation. Just a conversation with the engineer who'll be doing the work.