How AI is Helping Commercial Printers Increase Print Quality, Efficiency and Performance
It’s safe to say artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the attention of nearly every industry — and many industries are already experiencing the efficiency benefits of AI-powered technology in accelerating and enhancing processes or workflows.
While some commercial printers have already incorporated AI, there’s still some uncertainty or lack of understanding about how AI can help improve print quality and performance, and how AI can give printers the capacity to handle more jobs more efficiently to drive revenue and growth. With AI software and AI-enabled-enabled print devices, commercial printers can harness the power of machine learning to create more flexible, agile production processes.
With this in mind, let’s look at how AI is helping commercial printers increase print quality, efficiency and performance, and what you need to know to start thinking about how you can integrate AI-powered print processes.
AI can provide more detailed production analytics
One thing AI excels at is collecting and analyzing massive amounts of data to help companies make more informed decisions, identify trends and optimize productivity. AI can provide commercial printers with more detailed production analytics to better understand redundancies in their print processes and avoid potential bottlenecks in production via detailed demand forecasting.
For instance, AI can gather and interpret data from a month’s or even a year’s worth of print jobs to surface trends in what customers want or predict material needs to facilitate more timely replenishment. This can virtually eliminate work stoppages due to lack of materials and it can help commercial printers better forecast their ability to accommodate print runs of any size.
AI can also help commercial printers monitor and evaluate equipment performance to identify operational issues before they arise. With AI, commercial printers can create a more accurate, detailed preventative maintenance program to ensure equipment is fully operational when needed and help extend the service life of print devices or finishing machines.
Not only does this help commercial printers optimize productivity and reduce maintenance costs, it allows printers to better anticipate and plan for the kinds of print projects customers want. This kind of data-driven planning can help printers be more competitive and agile in a crowded space in service of increased customer acquisition and growth.
AI can help commercial printers enhance quality control
Commercial printers have to account for a wide range of quality control (QC) checks during the preproduction and production phases to ensure that the final printed sheets match a customer’s design files.
Some of these preproduction QC tasks include verifying the appropriate file formats are being used or adjusting file formats for compatibility with a printer’s equipment, and some of the production QC tasks include running press checks, ensuring color accuracy and checking for perfect registration.
These can be costly and time-consuming tasks to execute, and they can be even more costly if not done correctly as they can result in reprints that delay delivery and create prolonged production bottlenecks. AI can help commercial printers enhance quality control by significantly streamlining and accelerating these quality control tasks, and by identifying color accuracy or registration issues before the press begins running.
Plus, AI’s ability to synthesize large volumes of historical data can provide key material and process checks for printers to support decisions like the choice of paper, ink or finishing techniques to reduce print errors or blemishes.
This helps commercial printers provide the highest quality print to their customers quickly, allowing for a more positive experience to drive customer loyalty and longevity.
AI can help commercial printers create more sustainable print
Yes, AI can help commercial printers reduce their carbon footprint to enhance the sustainability of their print processes. For instance, AI’s predictive capabilities allows printers to optimize the use of resources like paper, water and ink to help reduce waste.
With recommendations about the amount of ink required for a specific job or the most efficient way to facilitate multiple jobs at once to increase press runtime efficiency, AI empowers commercial printers to make more environmentally friendly decisions with an eye toward process efficiency and productivity.
AI-powered technology for commercial printers can empower companies to increase the efficiency of their processes and provide high-quality print materials. Thinking of AI as an ally as opposed to a foe is the first step in harnessing the power AI has to offer in helping printers leverage an increased level of production flexibility, agility and efficiency.
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