Prepress
How automated workflow software drives business growth
Wednesday 20. September 2023 - If, with your current process, one staff member can onboard 10 jobs a day, you cannot scale beyond 10 jobs a day until you can hire a second staff member. However, consideration also needs to be given to where the new team member will work and how
By Juergen Krebs, Software Sales Manager, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe
When you consider your operations growth, how much attention is paid to scalability? Can the process you have in place work as well for 10 clients as it does for 100 or 1,000?
As workloads increase scalability is essential for seamless management and delivery.
While some processes can scale, others cannot.
And those processes that become inhibitors to growth generally have one thing in common – manual human interaction.
Every manual touchpoint in the print workflow journey is a point that could struggle to scale.
From order intake to job setup, production, and even delivery, every human touchpoint creates a possible bottleneck.
Often the solution is to hire another employee to address this operational need. But this is not always straightforward.
If, with your current process, one staff member can onboard 10 jobs a day, you cannot scale beyond 10 jobs a day until you can hire a second staff member. However, consideration also needs to be given to where the new team member will work and how any operational points that can currently accommodate only one person at a time can be reworked.
Key to eliminating those manual chokepoints and unlocking greater business scalability and growth in the world of production print, is automated workflow software.
It delivers far reaching benefits in the following ways:
Print operations can take on many more print jobs than their staffing limitations would allow.
Processes that took hours now take minutes or even seconds, and these results can be experienced at numerous points along the print workflow.
Workloads can be increased without the need to significantly increase staff.
Productivity and accuracy can be improved.
By automating repetitive, simple, manual tasks, Print Service Providers reduce the chance of introducing human errors into their job workflows. Tasks run more quickly and more accurately, too. This results in:
Reduced rework (and associated material and resource costs).
Better adherence to scheduling.
Improved client satisfaction.
With enhanced productivity also comes a greater emphasis on equipment utilisation. Workflow automation software can recognise the capabilities and availability of every printer on the production floor and dynamically balance the workload. Jobs can then be sent to the most cost-efficient system and work doesnt pile up for one printer while another sits idle.
Workflow automation software can also enable the reimagining of those business processes instead of building them around human touchpoint bottlenecks.
Many elements of print workflow can be automated by software solutions such as
RICOH ProcessDirector. It is vendor neutral and seamlessly works with existing hardware to help businesses manage higher volumes without compromising on quality.
Its also highly flexible and adaptable. Instead of requiring conformity to predefined workflows, ProcessDirector allows the endless customisation of workflows. Whatever the unique requirements, ProcessDirector can flex to fit. And as business needs change, due to growth, new technology or both, ProcessDirector evolves with them.
RICOH ProcessDirector gives back control of production efficiency and operational growth.