When you choose a new wide-format

When you choose a new wide-format printer, it's natural to think about the obvious physical attributes of these devices in question - roll-fed or flatbed design(or hybrid), width or structure, how many ink colours (including bright white and/or metallics), (eco) solvent, UV-curable or latex inks, the range of supported substrates, resolution and art print modes and speeds. High volume users, especially with flatbed printers, may choose to think about automation options for unattended operation and multiple-shift working.

But what typically the purchaser of any new wide-format printer should also be thinking about could be the type and quality of work information that the device can capture and pass on for production operations and analysis. Even if that one inkjet printer is going to be the totality of your stamping business, you will need to integrate it with all your production and business systems to maximise the value you can achieve from it and minimise the costs of its operation and maintenance.

As well as providing an audit trek for quality assurance Food Allergy symptoms purposes, automatically collecting accurate and detailed production information allows wide-format print service providers to view exactly what each job costs, with terms of substrate and ink usage but more importantly, in owner and machine time. Many wide-format print service providers rely on 'per square metre' costs that often assume alternatively idealised working conditions.

During active periods operators are unlikely to consider the time to log or record his or her activities but unforeseen manual intervention is an unpredictable and often costly aspect in production that can make the difference among profit and loss on a particular job. Re-running jobs due to un-noticed faults in incoming files, for instance, is a sure-fire way to lose money on a job.

The more this aspect of procedures can be captured and analysed, the greater the understanding of true production charges that can be achieved. This information helps to distinguish profitable types of work - in addition to customers - so that these can end up being actively pursued, while providing previously warning of problems that cause holds off and escalate production costs, no matter if caused by supplied artwork or by simply internal practices.

The functionality of different manufacturers' products varies in this respect but preferably a wide-format printer will be able to record and communicate for each job the dimensions or linear meterage, the substrate used, the resolution in addition to printing mode (single or multiple-pass, for example) and colour management settings, machine status (printing, idle, offline for maintenance or wrong doing conditions), operator input, and ink and media usage. For roll-fed devices, a 'media remaining' sign is also extremely valuable in planning function.

Capturing and communicating data of the type involves both the printer and the RIP, so the degree of integration amongst the two and then onward from the MAKE AN INSULTING to a production workflow system and MIS are important factors to ask regarding. Although many RIP/front-end systems have a center to output data in very simple common file formats such as CSV or Excel-compatible spreadsheet, automatic data transfer will reduce the potential for error or even delay. If operators have to conduct additional processes to capture or exchange this information, it is less likely that it will be performed, especially at peak times when it really is perhaps most important to know exactly what's living with the shop and how long it might be taking.

To get the most out of your next wide-format printer, make sure you add 'integration capabilities' to your checklist.