Automating large-format print finishing - where are we, and where are developments taking us?
Technical
Making Software Investment Pay
The Big Display Company has swapped its Shopvox estimating and production system for a PrintIQ solution. So has the move been worth the time and money? I asked its marketing director Jack Murphy…
Getting it together
Software integration is where we’re told it’s all happening, but many PSPs are yet to be convinced that the benefits of investing in today’s solutions outweigh the headaches. Should we expect that to change anytime soon?
Meeting in the middle
What is ‘middleware’, and why should large-format PSPs care? Well, as OneVision Software marketing manager Raphael Gruber, reiterates, everyone is talking about end-to-end digitisation of production processes, but what about the bit in the middle? We know that integration and connectivity are important, but so often systems do not properly ‘talk’ to each other. Middleware is intended to smooth out that problem.
Know the newcomers
Now that we’ve had the key trade shows for the UK’S wide-format digital print sector we thought we’d bring you up to speed with product introductions made in the first half of the year.
Fancy parametric modelling?
Coker Expo owner and CEO Ashley Coker is doing it. Should you?
Message to Manufacturers
Given it’s trade show season, we asked a number of large-format print chiefs what technical advances they’d like to see that would improve their businesses. Here’s what they highlighted.
From cradle to grave
Eco and supply chain issues - how are they impacting large-format printer/finishing machine manufacturing and distribution strategies? We asked the companies that make them to bring you up to speed.
Deep Impact
What will most impact the large-format print sector in 2023 and beyond? That’s the question we put to a broad range of suppliers to this sector. Here’s what they identified.
On the finishing line
This has hardly been a year of major innovation when it comes to large-format finishing systems, but in a bid to bring you up to speed with the advances that have taken place in 2022 we asked suppliers to flag up what they’ve added to their offering, and also where they feel there is still the most need/scope for further development?
Lights off, working on
As remote operation becomes more widespread we ask manufacturers what they are doing in regards to printer diagnostics and other technological advances to keep devices running and help large-format PSPs operating lights off.
Focusing on the findings
In conjunction with the newly published Image Reports Widthwise survey 2022 we asked a number of manufacturers how the findings reflect what they’re seeing within their own companies and in the wider market - and how they are tackling key issues flagged up by the poll.
Textile printing – a seam of gold?
We hear an enormous amount from printer manufacturers about the opportunities afforded PSPs by textile printing. Yet, our Widthwise survey findings show relatively little exuberance in this sector when it comes to the oft forecast moneyspinner. So should you be having another look at textile print kit?
Using your intelligence
Be clever and think smart. Software developments and integrations mean large-format PSPs have more opportunity than ever to gather and analyse data from across the whole of their operations, and to use that intelligence to make them more efficient and profitable.