THE CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL PRINTING PRESSES

This is a continuation of this discussion in our last edition. It is key to remind us that the printing industry is a very dynamic and technology driven industry. The last decades have witnessed many discussions and apprehensions on the future of the industry with many predicting total extinction due to internet influence and advancement in information technology (ICT). The fact remains that printing as a trade, can never die. Hence this discussions on some of the challenges facing practitioners in this sector.

1. Waste management: In digital printing, pricing of products are very competitive. It is therefore pertinent to the practitioners to pay serious attention to details and develop high capacity to manage waste in terms of inputs and process. Substrates and toners are major inputs and any lackadaisical attitude on the part of the operator will attract dire consequences in terms of waste. In this business every drop of toner or waste sheet counts. The question is do you want to do a profitable business? Manage your wastage.
2. The challenges to print readiness: From one job to the next, you never know what shape flies will be in when they arrive. You don’t know how many formats are involved either. Then production information on covers tabs and finishing options for example, may be out of order or simply missing. It means that pulling together the print ready PDF file can take more time than you have, affecting scheduling, deadliness and ultimately, impacting on your bottom line. You have to get the right software from the digital press manufacturer to deliver the solution you need to make all this and more a thing of the past.
3. Reduce errors and costs: The right software will define a simple program that automates repetitive tasks. And fewer manual touch points means fewer delays. The preview screen shows everything including finishing so as files are previewed before they go to print. As a result you can avoid disruptive work arounds and redos. It is naturally follows that the faster you can create a print- ready PDF file, the less it costs. When you process jobs faster, you create room for more work. With the right software you also get functions that can be value added services, like last minute editing which can make you even more competitive.

Using the right software will help you to:

• Provide an intuitive graphical user interface and visual ticketing
• Combine scanned and digital content
• Set up the order of pages
• Assign job properties such as special instructions
• Set up chapters
• Perform simple edits such as deskew of scanned documents, logo replacement, text insertions, sizing and rotation.
• Add tabs with text and images for a professional finish
• Preview the final file to ensure it is accurate before submitting it for printing
• Enable last minute editing.

4. The challenges of efficiency:

Production print environments lose efficiency for several reasons. Job media is not
Coordinated, causing unnecessary paper changes. Jobs are submitted to the wrong printer or printers are down. High priority jobs are stuck in print quences behind regular jobs. Devices are only used part time due to lack of job scheduling and balancing. And the big one is manual tasks with repetitive operations taking too much time and producing errors.

5. Maximize your throughput

Print and production manager software solve these issues with one single point of control and management of jobs. As a result, you can transform your business into one that runs at top efficiency. You increase throughput, lower operational costs and reduce errors. All of which helps fuel profitability and opens up your capacity to offer customers even more.
The print/ production Manager Software’s advantages of digital print management across multiple devices.

• Use a web submission client to submit PDF jobs
• Create visual tickets with the WYSIWYG interface- makes it easy to set job controls and preview jobs.
• Automate job scheduling based on printer capabilities and availability- let’s you see jobs lined up according to printer resources
• Set up alerts that enable operators solve printer related issues fast
• Immediate error recovery – identifying necessary pages for reprint
• Sending email notifications on the status of their jobs.