As production demands grow, doing more with the same team has become essential. During a FESPA Insights webinar, experts discussed how automation is being used to improve efficiency, reduce manual touch points, and deliver more consistent results, all without increasing headcount.

Hosted by FESPA content and conference producer Jack Collins, guests included Piet De Pauw, Head of Marketing at Enfocus, and Mark Boyt, Principal Analyst Workflow Automation, Keypoint Intelligence.

Automation is important because the gap is still wide. Among print service provider (PSP) respondents, the installed base is still mixed. That leaves substantial room for workflow, prepress and finishing automation to drive the next wave of productivity. Keypoint Intelligence statistics:

– 47.2% have not yet implemented automation in print operations.
– 36.6% are considering workflow automation for job tracking and scheduling.
– 32.5% are considering automating prepress operations.
– 29.4% are considering automated finishing and cutting equipment.

De Pauw said there is a misconception that wide format cannot be automated, while Boyt said there is a lot of fear of the unknown, without knowing where to start.

‘An automated system is something that is more difficult to prove itself, unlike a printing machine in a shop,’ added De Pauw.

He spoke about the well known ‘Mini-Me’ campaign which is often demonstrated at trade shows to highlight the importance of automation. Through an automated software and hardware system, visitors can submit photos of themselves, after which the background gets removed using software, followed by printing the photo onto cardboard, which is then cut to shape. This is all done in less than a minute, which is far shorter than to do it manually. The process not only ties together speed, steadiness and accuracy, it reduces manual error and demonstrates how a business can operate at optimum speed and full efficiency.

‘Human resources are getting scarcer and businesses need to find ways in which to better use the resources they have, and find other ways of filling in the gaps. That’s again where automation comes in,’ said Boyt. ‘There is value in humans, so put them into those places where that value can truly be realised, and let technology manage other areas that are more repetitive, or that adds value by removing the error.’

The Pressure Points Are Clear: Skills, Integration And Productivity

Main barriers for PSPs:

– 44.6% cite high investment costs.
– 37.8% cite lack of staff training.
– 37.2% cite integration complexity.

These are practical barriers, not a lack of belief in automation. They make implementation support and real examples more important and they also explain why labour and workflow conversations now sit together.

Reported productivity impact:

– 37.0% increased efficiency and reduced production time.
– 26.6% reduced manual labour needs and costs.
– 24.7% improved consistency and quality control.

De Pauw urged PSPs to first ‘get the hang’ of automation before expanding.

Boyt added that there will still be humans in various parts of the process, but human roles will shift, ‘It’s going to be a joint operation. It’s really about taking away that repetitive, dull stuff, he said. ‘There is still human skill that adds value into the process. It’s the human error that we want to remove out of it.’

‘Trade shows like FESPA are a perfect way for potential users to educate themselves,’ said De Pauw. ‘Go to the really boring booths, without the machinery,’ he added.

Boyt concluded that planning in advance and not waiting too long to implement an automation system will keep you ahead of your competition.

FESPA
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