Reducing waste
I would think that workflow automation could go a long way to reducing waste, since it would lower the possibility of human error. I know there are a few products out there that claim to automate workflow, but I've heard that some don't live up to their claims. What experience has anyone had with automation software?
I work for a company called Objective Advantage that writes automation software. In addition to the significant capability of our product, Symbio, to reduce errors and therefore waste, we try to get printshops to think differently about the jobs that they do. The strategy involves finding similarities in the jobs that you do and working towards using standardized templates rather than treating each job as a unique custom job. It may mean focusing on certain types of jobs that you already do often or particularly well. With Symbio sending instructions to jdf enabled devices based on these standard templates that are pre-created, we can take orders from a web to print system and have the imposed sheets printed, finished and ready to ship in a matter of minutes with little or no wasted time or wasted paper. We have one client with just 2 Canon C7000 presses producing around 500 jobs per day (running 3 shifts). Some clients have made better use of it than others simply because they understand the concept and use what they have to it's potential, whereas others have the resources to do well, yet they continue to struggle to acheive profitability because they haven't shifted their thinking. They still try to do everything the old way despite all of the new tools that are available to them.
Even ignoring the automation software for the moment, I would say that is a big factor for many print shops. They do not learn enough about the software or equipment they already have to take full advantage of the benefits that can be gained.
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