By identifying the right business and target market,

Taking into account customer needs,

Printers and processors are available at

Increase its success rate when evaluating automation.

Automation can mean many things in the whole packaging printing and processing process.In addition to the actual production of the work, tasks such as cost estimation, verification of prepress documents, assigning orders to the appropriate presses, and preparing for shipment, the process of translating packaging concepts into final output is cumbersome.

While packaging printers are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency, implementing automation can be daunting.But according to Tilia Labs, CEO of Tilia Labs, a developer of multiple automation software solutions for India's packaging industry, the best place to start is with an evaluation of existing systems.

"Take stock of your systems and how they are now relative to the systems available," Mr. DE jong said. "if you buy the fastest digital presses and quickly follow up on projects, that's great.But how do you feed that data into the system?You need an optimized workflow to make it profitable.How many people do we need after lights out?How much more human input?"

Meyers' golberrybide 205 fully automates the color fingerprinting process, eliminating the need for a specialized print run to calibrate the color.

From left to right: Dave cconnon, vice President of operations at Tilia Labs;Vice President of creative services, GlennBrown;CEO MikeLane and retail marketing solutions group vice President of operations ChrisDillon.

Similarly, on the production side, knowing the steps that require the most time from the operator is the first step in determining the most efficient automated process.Rodney pennings, sales director of Paper Converting Machine Co. (PCMC), a maker of flexible printing presses, says steps such as automating roller cleaning and moulding can produce immediate results by strategically reducing human intervention.

"I advise processors to look at their facilities and determine which areas require the most operator intervention," he said. "where does your operator spend the most time?The processor should track the number of steps and times taken by the operator throughout the printing process and analyze this data to see existing inefficiencies.By focusing on these areas and introducing automation to minimize the human intervention required, processors will start to see a direct impact on their business."

01

Automation beyond packaging

Although the goal of targeting software, equipment, and functionality is the first step in the quest for automated logic vendors for printers and processors, it is not always a simple process.For example, Christopher Dillon, vice President of operations for meyers retail marketing solutions, a minneapolis-based label and packaging printer, explains that his company takes a customer-centric approach to automation.

For example, investing in automatic waste removal equipment could save meyers' operators a lot of time, allowing them to focus on other, more profitable areas from a human perspective.

"Our approach to automation is really developed in collaboration with our customers," Mr. Dillon said. "we're always working with them to identify needs they may not even be aware of and to look at how we can help them automate in unique ways."

By remaining customer-centric, Dillon explains that meyers has been able to adopt computational methods to become more automated, pinpointing the most beneficial aspects of automation's business.Instead of taking a "holistic" approach, Mr Meyers has moved into automation, reducing costs and improving accuracy.

PCMC presses are designed to reduce energy costs, including quick preparation, waste reduction and quick order change

"We're really focused on winning the market for our customers, not just posturing," he said. "this approach allows us to build momentum.Reducing labor costs and eliminating errors is really our focus."

According to DE jong, one often-overlooked aspect of the printing and processing business that could benefit from automation is storage and organization - especially in die-cutting.

"It's hard for them to keep up with die-cutting and reuse them effectively," he said. "we can help automate the process."

The package printer can use TiliaLabs software to code the shape of each mold in the company and its storage location, DE jung explained.Then, when a knife plate is generated, it automatically checks the inventory and alerts the operator if an existing knife plate exists that can be reused, as well as its location.

"These molds are expensive, so it saves them a lot of money," he said.

2

Beyond the basic

As technology in the printing and packaging industry continues to become more automated and efficient, printers and processors should keep a close eye on the latest developments that are best for their business.

"It takes time to maintain speed through rapidly changing technology, but it's critical," Dillon said.Companies that adopt the latest technology may also find it boosts overall morale.

TiliaLabs provides planning and collage software that automates prepress and production tasks.

According to pennings, the development of artificial intelligence in the printing press is expected to have a major impact on the flexographic world.He explained that printing machines that accept ai might see an improvement in the quality and consistency of their output.

"The latest generation of flexographic presses USES artificial intelligence to integrate directly into the device," he said. "this helps create machines that can print more consistently with less variability.In the next 12-18 months, I think we will continue to see an acceleration in the integration or transformation of ai technology into printing devices.With this in mind, I think we will also see further development of existing products and components that are already in use in the flexographic industry.In the next 3-5 years, I believe we will continue to see further integration of this automation technology as AI plays a more important role in flexographic printing.I don't think the adoption and development of this technology is a linear curve.It is a steep ramp that will continue to roll out and adopt at a faster rate."

Another important aspect of automation is that in an industry struggling to attract young workers, the latest technology can inspire a younger generation to enter the printing industry.In addition to making packaging printing an attractive area for young workers, automation can help fill in the gaps and complete tasks that the same workers are not interested in doing.

"One of the biggest challenges for processors today is to find and retain an educated and reliable workforce," said pennings.As the ageing workforce continues to move towards retirement, we are beginning to see a shortage of Labour and fewer young operators entering the industry.This means that processors need to operate their facilities and machines with fewer people."

According to DE jong, short-form orders and mass customizations are putting pressure on packaging printers to do more, do it faster, cost less, and lose expertise and experience when their existing workforce retires.

Automation is more about staying ahead of the curve than investing in any solution, Dillon says.It's about the store making strategic decisions about where and how to implement the new solution on a regular basis, not just promising it once, rather than looking at it again."It seems intuitive, but keep up," he says. "technology and automation are critical to the success of today's environment.You need to be profitable to upgrade, but you need to upgrade to stay profitable.If you're looking for something that extends your current capabilities, investing and taking this approach can also help ensure that you don't buy something that looks cool but doesn't matter to customers."

Translation from:Packaging Impression