By Andy Fetherman, Director of Digital Solutions, Muller Martini Corp.
The influx of digital printing has compelled many in our industry to secure their place in the digital future. But the technology and processes they choose must also accommodate faster and wider print engines, handle a growing number of print files, process shorter and shorter runs, applications and products.
The result? Greater complexities in the finishing process, demanding an accelerated, more streamlined workflow. Barcode-enabled “Touchless Workflow” automates make-ready and is Muller Martini’s solution for achieving optimum efficiency in a digital finishing environment. By reading a barcode on a product that has been embedded in the trim area at prepress, “Touchless Workflow” automatically provides the criteria needed to properly—and quickly—set up a job. This eliminates the need for the operator to key in set-up data at the machine level, which increases line productivity and reduces human errors associated with manually re-entering data for each make-ready.
The proven advantages of Muller’s barcode-enabled “Touchless Workflow” include:
- Less downtime. Digital printing is all about processing many more titles to accommodate shorter and shorter production runs. “Touchless Workflow” intelligently sets up sequential jobs without human intervention, so you’re ready to produce the next batch almost on the fly.
- Less waste. With “Touchless Workflow,” on-the-fly automation enables the first book to be a good book nearly every time. That means that make-ready waste is negligible, if not zero. And jobs become more profitable because there’s considerably less need to forecast waste.
- Productivity gains. As set-up times decrease with “Touchless Workflow,” you increase machine capacity allowing you to run many more jobs per shift. That’s essential to accommodating your growing digital mix—while still meeting traditional demands.
- Investment Savings. “Touchless Workflow” does not require costly, proprietary software to implement. The barcode is simply embedded by your traditional prepress system and is read on the machine in real time to enable make-ready.
Secure your profitable place in the digital future. Whether you are running a book of one or 100, or a healthcare booklet with a personalized cover, barcode-enabled “Touchless Workflow” lets you efficiently and effectively produce job to job with no or very minimal make-ready.