This is an exciting time to be in the industry as the technologies continue to evolve, and new approaches to managing business operations are introduced. This provides our customers with new opportunities in existing and new markets and streamlines operations. Factors that typically have the biggest positive impact on company profitability without entering new markets address increasing productivity and the velocity of jobs through the facility, while ways to address the staffing challenges we are all facing is seen as one of the top negative factors. All of these factors are positively influenced by the introduction of the appropriate automation.
When evaluating the impact of automation to combat escalating costs, it is best to separate the discussion into the impacts it has from those that are built into production equipment and/or combine multiple processes into one operation, with those directly impacting the workflow getting the jobs to production, tracking progress and then completing any additional processing steps before delivery and billing.
Each facility experiences different opportunities and challenges from automation. An assessment from an internal team, or one utilizing external resources is necessary to ensure the correct areas are benefiting from investments in automation. The external assessment brings a fresh set of eyes into the process and also allows new best practices to be incorporated. Just because you’ve always done it a particular way, does not mean it is right or the most efficient; you should always be looking to see if there is a better way. Identifying the major pain points and then addressing them is not only the issue, but the cost in terms of time and monetary value to realize the improvement. It is important that you automate what can be addressed effectively, more akin to the 80-20 rule and then treat the exceptions as exceptions and look to address those after the previous implementations.
There are many hardware and software solutions available and I will focus on some of the options that are easily implemented, have significant time savings or allow different operators to all perform at similar levels. Automating the complete manufacturing process is often talked about, however that is only practical in a limited number of scenarios. The best approach is to use the assessment of the operations and implement the ones that will have the greatest impact from a cost perspective, as well as staff operations. I have been personally involved in many of these, and as I visit companies, I can often see significant improvements made with only modest investments. or more importantly, the effective use of technology the company already possesses.
From a hardware perspective, Konica Minolta’s inline IQ-501 provides great progress with having repeatable and consistent color, and the features continue to grow. It allows the front-to-back registration of the prints to be set in a very easy process, and provides press linearization at the touch of a button, or in an automatically scheduled manner. This provides a stable press that is repeatable day in, day out without the need for service or extensive color management. Color profiling and verification is available, indicating when the prints are passing certain criteria, or to identify work that needs to be done on the press and can now be completed in minutes when combined with the appropriate controller and color management software. This is simplified so that any operator can easily reprofile materials without having detailed color management knowledge. It is important to configure the pass/fail criteria to meet the expectations of the customer, with no unnecessary downtime incurred or prints that are delivered out of specification. To complement this, the presses are now able to automatically measure, identify and correct image defects such as streaks, spots, stains and inky backsides, resulting in improved uptime and the elimination of a significant amount of service calls needed – up to 60% for these items!
There are continued improvements with inline finishing capabilities on presses. The assessment of the job mix and quantities will determine whether inline or near line is best. Inline cutting using the TU-510 can be completed for items such as business cards, postcards, brochures, four-sided trim and creating perforated output. This is continually being developed and enhanced to provide a broader range of capabilities with increased flexibility. New inline capabilities for early 2025 include the availability for inline cold lamination of the printed material with different laminates available. Shortly after, we will see the introduction of enhanced media detection with the new production press that reduces the skill level for setting the paper by setting optimal values automatically, as well as automating the purge for jams and detecting incorrectly set paper before it gets to the print engine.
One of the simplest ways to introduce workflow automation can be through the use of hot folders to address job submission. Many of the repetitive processes that can be defined by a series of rules are prime examples of what can be automated, with different solutions available that can be identified during the assessment. There are specific print workflows, the most appropriate ones would be identified during the assessment, into which rules can be built around the subsequent processing step for a job. We have different options that are tailored for different workflow complexities, automation required and volumes. In theory, a job can go from initial submission directly to printing without any human intervention. Quality check points can be introduced to ensure quality and effectiveness of hardware utilization.
Integration of the process workflow with ecommerce solutions is a great time saver and can significantly reduce errors in the production. The simplest manner is using hot folders, though this still requires additional steps from the user. As the integration between workflow and ecommerce solutions increase, it is possible to automatically map products between the two. Their use continues to grow for both B2B and B2C environments. A recent application focused on the use of an ecommerce solution directly into a production workflow for a print facility with two operators and four presses. This resulted in the presses being fully loaded without the addition of multiple new staff doing repetitive operations.
Automation is one of the most important factors for driving profitability, retaining staff and providing the best opportunity to thrive and provide added value to operations. These projects need to be actively assessed, planned and executed, with clear outcomes along the way so their true value can be realized.
