|
When it comes to accelerating efficiency, productivity and time to market in the general manufacturing sector, scores of companies have recognised the value of process automation and lean manufacturing techniques.
Intelligent, automated production processes enable manufacturers to increase consistency, eliminate defects, minimise bottlenecks, manage capacity and optimise scheduling to get products to market faster with increased quality and profitability. Just as process optimisation can transform the world of manufacturing, it can be a tremendous differentiator in the world of high-volume document production. Every day, forward-thinking print and mail operations are leveraging the advantages of super-efficient factory production techniques to streamline processes.
The term Automated Document Factory (ADF) created an industry buzz in 1996 when the Gartner Group introduced the concept of a large-scale, integrated mail, messaging and
document management process that integrated digital document creation, production, distribution, receipt and updating of enterprise systems. Like a lean manufacturing environment, an ADF combines process automation and computer-based production techniques to use the minimum amount of manpower, materials, money and space to produce high-value output in a minimum amount of time.
Print and mail operations migrate to ADFs for many different reasons. The adoption of manufacturing-like process automation enables them to reduce costs, minimise errors, maintain schedules, eliminate costly reprints and improve customer satisfaction. With an ADF, print and mail companies can make the most of existing assets and legacy applications, support multi-vendor, multi-platform operations, and improve overall operational control and efficiency to meet or exceed service level agreements.
Designing and implementing an ADF – big bang or phased rollout?
The original ADFs were built by a handful of early adopters who stood to gain tremendous returns through process automation. However, attempts to implement complete factory production systems at the same time as part of a large-scale “big bang” approach usually are not successful. Large-scale, all-at-once efforts are complex, costly and take a long time to implement. As a result, the initial business benefits and competitive advantages are often delayed or lost.
Consider general manufacturing.
Most factories have been built up over a number of years and very few are completely new. They become automated by introducing new technologies such as robotics and new management techniques such as process management.
Consequently, no two production facilities or the processes within them are exactly alike. The same is true of document production centres, most of which also evolve over time, often acquiring systems as the result of mergers or acquisitions.
For these reasons and more, designing and implementing an ADF is best undertaken as a phased deployment. The suggested approach is to identify requirements and implement the initial phase of the document factory – basic ADF systems – and then fund subsequent phases with the resulting savings and efficiencies.
Rather than turning the entire print operation upside down, choose the most obvious pain points, architect a roadmap and implement a pilot scaled back in terms of complexity and resources. In other words, plan strategically and implement tactically. Articulate your ultimate vision, identify your long- and short-term objectives, define your technology requirements and work from there to roll out your ADF in strategic phases to deliver the highest return on your investment.
The Gartner Group, in its 1996 document An Introduction to the ADF, asserted that, “building an ADF is a process not an event.” In other words, deploying an ADF represents a series of steps that enable print operations to make incremental improvements to reach an end goal. By nature, migrating to an ADF is a major undertaking. Rolling out successive phases of process automation delivers more immediate results with value that compounds over time. Within the context of the modern print and mail operation, the notion of generating maximum return on an ADF investment by applying a good solution now with vigour means:
- Implementing open, adaptive technology that doesn’t limit you to a specific vendor;
- Identifying and deploying ‘quick win’ projects that provide maximum benefits with minimum investments;
- Planning full ADF migration, making incremental improvements over time.
This approach makes excellent business sense for good reason: the first 60 per cent of the overall document factory implementation typically generates most of the benefits – specifically by enabling closed-loop, zero defect reprints – and you can fund subsequent improvements with the cost savings and efficiencies you gain early on.
Technology requirements
Developing and implementing an ADF calls for strategic planning and a best practices approach to assessing needs and identifying objectives. As with any manufacturing environment, the focus is on better quality, fewer defects and whittling out unnecessary costs and inefficiencies.
One of the most critical steps in deploying an ADF is establishing your technology requirements. Most print/ mail operations want to migrate to an ADF. However, technology requirements vary by customer, industry and objective – whether it’s to improve efficiency, unify islanded workflows, improve security or enhance document integrity.
A financial institution might want to migrate from a mainframe channel connection to server-based printing. A life insurance company may want to focus on being able to use multiple hosts to direct output to any available printer.
A utility company may want to enable any-to-any output with a single point of control. And an insurance provider may want to build a disaster recovery centre and run mixed vendor printers with full integrity.
Whatever your long-term goals, near-term objectives or industry-specific requirements, the best way to define your vision and create an action plan is to articulate your technical requirements. This enables you to create a roadmap for deploying a document factory in strategic phases.
Summary – the future
As the emphasis on zero defect quality, super-efficient document production and seamless process efficiency grows in product and document production, future innovations in ADF technology are already emerging from the development pipeline. These innovations are likely to include:
- Closed loop processing of returned/ undelivered mail to further reduce postage costs;
- Closed loop processes with marketing responses to measure campaign effectiveness;
- Greater use of 1:1 marketing integrated with transactional documents before print to minimise/eliminate hardcopy inserts, thereby reducing inserter costs, insert warehousing and obsolescence;
- Wide-scale deployment of RFID technology on documents/inserts to enable complete, end-to-end and closed loop document tracking and marketing effectiveness.
In summary, the integration of ADF technologies and closed loop processes along with RFID technology promises to infuse the entire document operation, across multiple workflows, environments and locations with production intelligence that delivers infinitely higher levels of efficiency, cost savings, business value and profitability.
|
According to a Pira report, RFID and printed electronics will have a big impact on the printing and publishing industries 
A little longer than 80 days perhaps, but UV-cure inkjet is circumnavigating the globe at its own accelerating pace. 
