Introducing Print Services:
There have been peaks of innovation followed by years of continuous improvement in the printing industry. As modern technologies converge, breakthroughs that were previously inconceivable can now happen more quickly than ever before. We at Keypoint Intelligence have identified five technology areas (cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and augmented reality) that will eventually lead to largely autonomous print production.
Although this may sound like a science fiction movie, this transition is most likely to occur by the end of this decade since each of these technologies has a compounding beneficial effect on the others. It has been demonstrated that a large amount of data can improve the accuracy and capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) by building the fundamental building blocks for machine learning and deep learning. Simply by being applied to each other, technologies can improve each other.
Often, the terms “smart factory” and “Industry 4.0” are used as umbrella terms for these technologies, but they fail to emphasize the connections and interdependencies between technology, processes, and people. Smart Print Manufacturing (SPM) is what we prefer to call the future of printing, which combines advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, with effective manufacturing processes to achieve semi-to-fully autonomous print production. In this article, we discuss our five core SPM technologies and their current status and potential future implications.
SPM technologies listed here are the most important ones
- A cloud computing service
During the pandemic, the initial value proposition of cloud computing was recognized–accessibility. Through cloud computing and software as a service offering, businesses that had already migrated to the cloud were able to an easier transition to work from anywhere. Research conducted by the North American Software Investment Outlook reveals that cloud-enabled software has increased by as much as 94% over the last year. Web-to-print (W2P) software that relies heavily on cloud technology saw a 10% increase as more PSPs began offering online ordering. Despite the pandemic accelerating the adoption of cloud computing, this trend is here to stay.
- Print Operations based on big data analytics
If someone talks about big data, you might not immediately think of companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook as much as ink and paper manufacturing companies. You’ll find that a lot of data is generated underneath the surface of any printing operation.
Print shops may have hundreds or even thousands of contacts and important information about their customers in their customer relationship management (CRM) system. The print shop’s management system keeps track of quotes, jobs, and stock levels to streamline production.
The biggest source of data is probably equipment on the shop floor, which can collect information about jobs, machine usage, and environmental conditions, as well as analyze output to ensure quality.
Reports are traditionally generated from print shop data by key staff and management to track key operational and financial metrics. There has been a big shift in data analytics provided by print management information system (MIS) providers and equipment manufacturers in the last few years. They can be built on top of well-known data analysis platforms such as Microsoft BI, Sisense, and Izenda, which gather data from various sources. The downside to these platforms is that professional services are often required for the integration of multiple data sources.
Data is generally captured locally or at the cloud level by manufacturers from Internet-connected equipment (assuming customers opt-in) to be fed into their analytics tools. PSPs need a more comprehensive view of their entire operations, including ink consumption and equipment uptime. Manufacturers of original equipment (OEMs) can provide insights related to equipment uptime, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and ink consumption.
With the implementation of data and interchange standards, along with the growth of industry technology platforms, we think that today’s data analytics options will become less siloed in the future.
- The use of robotics in production printing
Globally, the number of industrial robots installed has more than tripled from 2010 to 2019, placing the total installed base over two billion. In recent years, several trends have lowered adoption barriers and made robotics more accessible for everyone. As a result of price declines and growth in variation and capabilities, the most significant change has been a decline in cost.
To date, the use cases for production printing are limited, and OEMs have yet to launch many programs, including those which automate material movement with robotics. AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) have become increasingly common in warehouses owned by technology-forward PSPs with large or complex fulfillment operations. A desire to increase productivity while minimizing or shifting labor costs to higher-value tasks will accelerate adoption over the next decade.
- Printing with Augmented Reality
A digital layer is overlaid on the real world to create augmented reality (AR), a technology mainly used in education and entertainment applications. Print can link the digital benefits of AR to physical experiences by providing the trigger to launch the experience using quick response codes (QR codes) or other means. Video explainers on critical customer documents, as well as creative AR that allows customers to interact with a product, are just some of the wide range of use cases.
At SPM, we are focused on enabling or assisting print production rather than integrating AR into the printed product itself. In most cases, AR is used to diagnose and service printing equipment either by the OEM’s service technician or by the end-user. End-users can identify parts and can access instructions for repairing or replacing items based on the experience.
As AR evolves, we anticipate that it will play a major role in bridging the physical and digital worlds through the use of digital twins to visualize different scenarios of the print manufacturing process. Based on varying print volumes and application mix, AR could help model a new physical layout of the print shop or predict bottlenecks throughout the production process.
Bottom Lines from Print Service Providers
Keypoint Intelligence believes the printing industry is nearing another peak in innovation, similar to past moments of creative destruction which led to new opportunities. Creative destruction occurs when the new replaces (or displaces) the old while creating new opportunities.
Since each of the SPM technologies can amplify the effects of the others, they are likely to be more disruptive than the technologies that came before them. Instead of focusing on the negative effects of the transition, it is more useful to focus on some of the positive effects that have already occurred.
As a result of cloud computing, IT infrastructure and administration is redundant, but it provides access to the growing hybrid and remote workforce. Artificial intelligence and big data will disrupt creative and analytical tasks currently performed by people, but they will allow us to spend more time on higher-value work. To succeed in the transition from the old to the new, PSPs should always plan for the future by identifying and incorporating transformative innovations.
