Thursday, 06 May 2021 14:08

Printshop Workflow – Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 to represent the fourth revolution that has occurred in manufacturing industry, it refers to the transition to an autonomous process using modern technology, machine-to-machine communication and the Internet of Things (IoT), all enhanced by data analysis and machine learning; this revolution is here to stay and it is no longer optional, businesses that transition to it tend to become more profitable and successful in their own segment when compared to a non-automated industry.

Automating your print production process offers several benefits, including the opportunity to improve the company’s financial health, optimizing production task execution times, thus helping increase efficiency, and improving production output. A key benefit of automation is that it breaks bottlenecks, meaning it helps reduce or eliminate the inefficiencies and limitations of manufacturing that affect productivity and a mayor cause of reduced profits.


A standard printer workflow consists of several steps and in most cases, a little proportion or none of it is automated.


Key Strategies and Tactics for Leveraging Automation

According to HP’s "Strategies for Leveraging Automation to Enhance Performance", here are some of the key findings:

  • Even a modest degree of automation goes a long way in improving production speed and productivity.
  • Respondents reporting higher levels of automation are more likely to invest in software than respondents reporting less automation.
  • Survey participants with highly automated workflows report producing more jobs per day than respondents with less automation. High throughput links directly to profitability because it minimizes non-chargeable plant time.
  • Respondents reporting higher levels of automation accepted more jobs from customers via online submission portals compared to those reporting less automation. Online print job submission is an essential step in workflow automation.
  • The factors seen as most potentially problematic with regard to bottlenecks was relying on expensive labor or high-touch processes. Given that reducing labor expense and eliminating needless touches are exactly what workflow automation is meant to accomplish, this finding alone underscores the wisdom of adding more automation wherever the need for it exists.
  • Overall, respondents report that producing and managing a high number of small jobs was unlikely to create bottlenecks. This indicates that the industry is learning how to cope with the decline of long print runs and the rise of on-demand production in small quantities.
  • Workflow

    It’s important to remember that the printing industry version of Industry 4.0, doesn’t mean to remove humans from the equation, it means that machines do the work that machines do better than humans do, and humans do the work that machines can’t do.

    Many of today’s workflow solutions handle the creation and distribution of documents through a variety of new channels, including mobile and internet based; we are seeing some of these solutions offering the ability to manage, proof and produce 3D products. Solutions are also being refined to address the specific needs of market verticals, such as manufacturing, retail and many other.


    Automated workflows present tremendous opportunities, but they aren’t “set it and forget it.” They require ongoing attention, investment and focus if they are to continue to produce results.


    The best practice is to adopt workflow method and solution that helps automate processes, while focusing on efficiency, decreasing the operational costs while still increasing throughput and depending less on human intervention, in order to have employees invest time in more productive tasks.

    Investments in Automation

    Holding back investment in automation means holding back growth potential, a mistake that no printing business can afford to make in an environment where growth and profit increasingly belong to the most efficient producers.

    The main takeaway from the Industry 4.0 is that it works, and for the most part, the printer industry know it works. The awareness of the added value is irrefutable. What’s needed is wider adoption so printing businesses can take full advantage of all the benefits workflow automation offers them.

    Published in Automation
    Tuesday, 11 August 2020 17:01

    EFI MarketDirect Fulfillment

    EFI MarketDirect Fulfillment is an inventory management solution designed to simplify and automate the pick and pack order workflows. This new inventory management product is part of the MarketDirect suite of web-to-print, eCommerce and cross media solutions.

    Equipped with intuitive and flexible administration tools, the new fulfillment offers creates a seamless order-to-fulfillment workflow that businesses can use to expand service offerings, creating efficiency in warehouse operations and drive even greater customer loyalty.

    Regardless of whether you’re offering fully managed print inventory fulfillment services or just managing a few items for one or two customers, MarketDirect Fulfillment makes it easy to simultaneously provide an intuitive order portal for your customers and a lightweight admin dashboard for your staff.

    This new software offers delivers out-of-the-box functionality for existing MarketDirect StoreFront web-to-print/eCommerce users, with a structure designed to reduce the time and complexities needed to start and manage print fulfillment operations. MarketDirect Fulfillment also leverages the latest in web eCommerce technology to provide a brilliantly simple and powerful administrative dashboard to manage both clients and orders.

    EFI MarketDirect Fulfillment is ideal for commercial print and packaging businesses, in-plant print centers and corporate marketing communications teams looking to create immersive order and fulfillment portals for customers with an easy-to-use and intuitive administrative dashboard for staff. As a part of the EFI MarketDirect StoreFront web-to-print workflow solution, both customers and internal users are presented with a familiar interface that gets them up and running quickly and efficiently.

    MarketDirect Fulfillment is designed for print service providers offering pick and pack, inventory management and warehousing services.

    This includes:

  • Commercial Printers
  • Packaging printers (Folding carton and Tag & Label)
  • InPlant Print Centers
  • Corporate marketing and communication teams


  • MarketDirect is integrated with the following EFI Productivity Suite solutions:

  • EFI Midmarket Print Suite (EFI Pace core)
  • EFI Enterprise Print Suite (EFI Monarch core)
  • EFI Packaging Print Suite (EFI Radius core)
  • EFI Quick Print Suite (EFI PrintSmith Vision Core)
  • EFI PrintStream Fulfillment Solution
  • EFI Fiery Servers and Controllers


  • In addition to EFI solutions, MarketDirect is designed to integrate with a wide range of services and applications to ensure your data, jobs, user data and orders are accessible across a variety of industry standard platforms including:

    Active Directory – SSO (Single Sign On)

    SSO (Single Sign On) Authentication enables you to integrate StoreFront with a service to ensure users can seamlessly login via 3rd party services.

    CorpSystem Sales Tax Online by CCH

    With CorpSystem Sales Tax by CCH, you can ensure you’re collecting taxes correctly for any jurisdiction in the United States.

    PunchOut integration via XML

    Using PunchOut integration you can embed your products directly into 3rd party procurement systems – simplifying purchasing for your buyers.


    EFI-MarketDirect-Fulfillment


    EFI-MarketDirect-Fulfillment

    Photo courtesy www.efi.com


    Published in Software
    Monday, 18 May 2020 23:54

    Printshop Workflow Automation

    Every print shop faces some common challenges when it comes to managing their workflow, process automation is usually found in large print shops, with large print volumes and where jobs are printed over and over again.


    Printshop-workflow-automation

    Workflow Automation Software works in combination with other programs running in your print shop, it is important to note that some of your actual software infrastructure may already have some automation processes involved. To further automate the workflow is important to be able to communicate one software with another, in most cases, specific Workflow Automation software may not be required.

    Software

    Generally, print shops have one or more of the following software running:

    • Web to Print Software
    • Variable Data Composition
    • MIS Print Management
    • Color Management

    A web to print software has many advantages and functionalities, first it gives your shop a front store, helping users find their way into what they will need and letting customize their final product, it helps the owner determine a print order management.

    Variable data printing enables the mass customization of documents with text and image changes for groups of addresses based upon which segment of the market is being addressed. Customization and personalization allows a company to connect to its customers using a variety of software solutions.

    MIS (Management Information Systems) help print shops collect and manage their own information for decision making, this software integrates with existing systems to help handle real time information and tasks, harvesting information and letting other connected applications take actions is essential for workflow automation.

    Color Management it is the measurement and control of each and every step in your production process, maintaining as a goal to know exactly what your output is going to look like, before you actually print.

    Sometimes, specific software may comply with many of the above-mentioned functions, for example:

    Agfa has developed a complete, automated Sign & Display production hub called Asanti, the software includes a color management solution, integration with the latest version of Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE), highly specific functionalities (e.g. nesting, see-through concept, proofing support) and fast, automatic pre-flighting.


    Printshop-workflow-automation

    Asanti is sold as a scalable workflow tool that distributes input from various sources over multiple hardware systems. (agfa.com)


    Another good example is Durst Workflow software, claimed to be an All-In-One solution, which includes all steps of the pre-press and production process in one single application, modules are available for different processes such as: Label Workflow, Large Format Workflow and Corrugated Workflow.


    AT-Inks-UV-UV-LED-Inkjet-Ink

    Durst Print Workflow can also be integrated into an existing ERP/ MIS environment, and is said to be an all-in-one solution thanks to its Job management and reporting tools, color management and data and print preparation. (agfa.com)


    Workflow

    You need to determine the existing kind of production workflow currently being used in your print shop, if the work is built around a software-based flow of work, or from the point of quoting to the point of delivery, or do you have semi-automated processes linked by spreadsheets and/or different software, sticky notes, whiteboards, phone calls, regardless of any, if your workflow is not efficient, neither is your production process.

    Possible and existent current workflow inefficiencies could be:

    • Customer interactions and order entry.
    • Too many persons involved in same tasks, generating bottlenecks.
    • File checking and prepress preparation.
    • Print programming and physical printing.
    • Finishing, shipping and fulfillment.

    AT-Inks-UV-UV-LED-Inkjet-Ink

    Usually these workflow inefficiencies lead to bottlenecks, the mayor bottleneck in any print shop is preparing files to properly be printed, this process can be automated in most cases.


    There are several bottlenecks but the most common ones are listed below:

    • Dealing with a high number of small jobs
    • Increasing throughput; shortening production times
    • Keeping up with change; training users
    • Customizing the workflow to specific needs
    • Complexity of software

    Deciding to move to any new software for production workflow (MIS or similar) usually comes after evaluations of current productivity and researching for the right tool or correct operation processes. Reconsidering strategy often leads to new initiatives that include reexamining workflow initiatives.

    For smaller shops, costs control is a must, so automation and use of modern print and workflow management tools becomes an investment that can convert into a risk, due to the potential expenses involved in implementing it, but at the end, it is all the cost of success.

    Workflow initiatives and enhances

    • Add workflow to offer new products & services.
    • Improvement of process automation.
    • Integration of workflow components.
    • Improvement of customer interactions via web-based systems.
    • Improvement of operational efficiency (billing, invoicing, CSR).

    AT-Inks-UV-UV-LED-Inkjet-Ink

    Print shop workflow depends on your infrastructure, equipment and resources.


    The best practice is to adopt workflow method and solution that helps automate processes, while focusing on efficiency, decreasing the operational costs while still increasing throughput and depending less on human intervention, in order to have employees invest time in more productive tasks.

    Published in Software

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