The Future of the Prınt Industry

Since digitalisation and automation are more prevalent in our lives, print shops are also facing entirely new challenges. Printers want to provide target groups with individual short- and long-run products in order remain at the forefront of their customers’ minds. This development means that there are more and more jobs on the market, but they have much smaller production runs than a few years ago. In the early days there were mostly big runs, today the industry encounters many more small jobs. For the printer this means more planning, organisation and higher set-up times, which have a negative impact on productivity. In order to survive as a printing company in these fastmoving times, printers must adapt to the agile requests from customers and the industry as a whole. The need for customised products is not going to go away – if anything, this is going to increase. Printers have to deal with producing a unique product, in a reasonable timeframe, and at a reasonable cost. The industry has done a wonderful job of upgrading presses to meet these challenges. They have become faster and faster and give printers the capabilities to produce a product in a reasonable time. However, what we are still failing to do is to analyse the supporting processes and simplify them. The solution is simple: with the digitalisation of recurring administrative processes, preparation times can be reduced to a minimum. CASE STUDY Procurement process of a printing company If we look at the procurement processes of a printer, the challenges are clear. Printers still pick up the phone to suppliers and manufacturers to enquire about current prices, delivery times as well as delivery quantities and to place orders. Personal contact is often an advantage – but is it necessary for every consumables order? Wouldn’t it be easier and more efficient if the printer could scroll through the supplier’s range and order their requirements digitally? Similar to the B2C portals we all use privately? Suppliers are trying to solve this challenge with their own eShop systems for printers. The problem for printers here is that each supplier has its own solution. Especially for those who have many suppliers, it is often too complicated to search on two or three different portals and maybe even call the third one because they do not have a website that works well – so printers often decide to contact all of them directly by phone and thus possibly achieve a price reduction. Ideally, however, there would be one interface for printers to access materials from all suppliers. And suddenly the printer has more transparency, saves muchmore time and becomes much more productive by digitising its procurement process. Based on current salary rates, spending two hours ordering paper each day could be costing you over £10,000 per year, all of which could be re-deployed onto more profitable work.These costs can be significantly minimised if processesthat have been established for years are reconsidered and recurring work steps are digitised.On the way to more productivityThe solution to these hidden costs is so simple; yet few manage to follow this logical step. Often the barriers lie in the minds of the decision-makers. Just because it has always been done this way does not mean it is right today.Times have changed and we have to react to current needs. It is important that manual and analogue processes are digitised and automated to meet the high demands of end customers.To achieve this, printers must try to distribute information as quickly as possible between different internal and external parties and systems to increase productivity and efficiency:● Between software, to avoid manual input● Between machines and systems to optimise utilisation● Between partners and customers to make supportingprocesses efficientZaikio Procurement for a digital procurement processis taking on the challenge of digitising the printing industry. The company’s first product is Zaikio Procurement. Printers can use it to organise their material requirements in a single system and even collaborate with their colleagues in purchasing and  warehousing. This saves printers all the telephone calls and emails that were previously necessary and also avoids annoying errors. With participating partners such as Premier Paper, Antalis and Sappi, printers can already access the retailers’ range and place orders – all from the Zaikio Procurement App. More suppliers will be added soon who also have consumables such as printing plates and ink in their range. If important suppliers are not yet on Zaikio, the required order can still be recorded centrally and ordered by phone or with a standardised email. Centralising and digitising the purchasing process not only makes the buyer’s job easier, but also gives the management a clear overview of requirements and expenses in the print shop. Zaikio Procurement is free of charge for printers and can be tried out without monetary expenditure.YOUR SUPPLIERS AVAILABLE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS ● Organise all your material requirements in one app● Get all price and availability information from participating suppliers● Order all required materials in just a few clicks● Keep track of your deliveries in the weeks aheadContact us or just try it out for free07803 922592Karl Ciz kc@zaikio.comprocurement.zaikio.comWe already process our paperorders  via Zaikio Procurement – and the time savings are enormous.Direct access to the supplier’s systems eliminates the tedious task of updating prices on our site”Nico Kessel Vice managing director of Druckerei Bastian in Föhren, GermanyFurther scenarios in the digitisation of the printing industryThe simplification of a print shop’s internal processes does not stop at procurement. With Zaikio Mission Control, Zaikio is already developing further products for the digitalisation and automation of the print shop. Mission Control will be the control centre of a printing company and is intended to connect different applications within a printing process and distribute data – without any individual integrations. The medium-term goal is to establish seamless workflowsbetween prepress, production, purchasing, warehousing and logistics, independent of press, software or material suppliers.