Printing environments continue to be challenged by a growing demand for productivity, says Hennie Kruger, DDS product and marketing manager of Oc'e South Africa. Those demands are: to deliver output faster and with greater image quality, yet with less waste, lower costs; and a diminished impact on the environment. While technology advances to deliver hardware that is faster, cheaper and better are important, you need to ask if your overall productivity requirements are really being met.
In order to ensure you select the right wide- or large-format production printing equipment for your organisation's needs, you must consider the four components of productivity and how the chosen system can impact them.
Quality
The output produced on a large format system is very indicative of the machine's quality. Some of the factors that influence quality are the dots per inch (dpi) of the print engine and scanner, the fusing process used, the algorithm used to digitise hardcopy input, and scan technology. Equipment that delivers consistently high quality prints and copies with any original, in any mode, means users do not have to worry about lost information or unusable output. Users save time, since output is always accurate, and your organisation can save money since much less waste is generated.
For example, conventional fuser roller technology requires fuser rolls to stay heated even in standby mode. This element of stored heat requires cooling fans that draw dust into the machine itself, which can pose quality concerns as well as lead to machine down-time due to necessary repairs. Alternative fusing methods, on the other hand, use innovative, energy-efficient technology in which heat passes through the media and the toner virtually melts into the paper. The fuser section turns on as paper approaches and turns off as paper exits. Because there's no contact between the drum and the radiant fusing section, there is no resolution loss, dot size degradation, or line fuzziness. Also, a straight paper path and absence of fuser rollers minimise opportunities for paper jams.
Traditional inkjet systems force users to choose between print speed and quality since users can select only one print setting for a file or job. However, systems equipped with intelligent print technology that automatically adjusts printer settings based on the image content without additional adjustment by the operator means sacrificing print speed for print quality is a thing of the past. By automatically sensing each part of a mixed image, from fine lines/text to photographs, and determining the best print quality and print speed for these individual areas, intelligent printing technology delivers optimal output.
Quality can also be compromised when scanning originals that suffer from background smudges and poor line quality, but there are systems that offer the capability to improve the quality of an original. Scanners equipped with intelligent scanning technology that eliminates unwanted background and wrinkles while keeping colours consistent produce the highest quality colour scans in productive, mixed used environments. Imagine a single page with a photo, drawing, plain text, reversed text, and shaded areas. Most copiers would attempt to scan all of these features by calculating an average setting with which to scan the entire page. However, intelligent scanning technology can actually evaluate each feature, calculate the optimal scan settings for each, and then print each feature based on those unique settings. This means that often copies are better than the originals. This technology overcomes the limitation of conventional CIS scanners to provide the right results the first time, without users having to manually fine-tune complex settings.
Reliability
Reliability is often defined by system uptime and parts replacement requirements. In a production printing environment especially, a large format system is critical to a user's workflow. Therefore, it's vital that it requires minimal service visits and parts replacements.
When selecting equipment, it should be designed for durability. In many traditional toner-based printers, the drum is exposed when clearing a media jam, and components can be made from lightweight plastic. An exposed drum leaves the machine susceptible to expensive drum damage whenever clearing a paper jam, while users can easily damage the machine if components are constructed of weak materials.
Look for a system that is completely enclosed, with a protected drum, and made of heavy duty, durable materials. Closed toner systems have been designed to isolate toner from the working parts of the printer - meaning there is no need to regularly clean toner from the interior of the printer and it's easy to load toner, even while printing, resulting in longer uninterrupted printing.
Toner handling can also impact a system's reliability. While systems that advertise no waste toner receptacles might seem more efficient, the need to re-circulate waste toner through the system can lead to frequent service requests to remedy poor print quality and breakdowns as the fuser roller and pressure roller can become dirty with toner.
Ease of use
First and foremost, the equipment you select must be easy to use. How a user interacts with a large format system is also a critical component of overall productivity. Daily tasks such as media roll changing, output collation, and job management and submission all affect overall productivity as it relates to the user experience.
On traditional inkjet equipment, media handling is cumbersome. Many systems require users to stop the system to load media, which interrupts operation. Some printers are designed with media loading located in the rear of the machine, which means the machine requires more operational space and can't be placed close to a wall. Users should seek out a system that delivers the greatest media flexibility, such as the ability to load media rolls "on the fly" with no interruption to ongoing operations, and an ergonomic operation requiring a small operational footprint.
It's also important to look for equipment that delivers the most flexible media options. This not only means the number of rolls the machine can hold, as advanced systems can hold up to six rolls each holding almost 200 metres of media - but also a greater flexibility of media choices, such as the ability to print on bond, film, Tyvek, polypropylene, and recycled paper.
In the job submission phase, ease of use is critical. This is why it's important to select a large format system that offers a full range of print/job submission management tools; from Windows certified drivers to robust print management software for sending to multiple print devices that address every customer need. Job submission tools should also reduce guesswork by offering productive functionality such as "what you see is what you print" preview, file-by-file transformation and individual "smart" inboxes. In addition, look for a scanner that offers easy to use templates. Scanner templates contain common user scan settings such as dpi and file type and make it simple for users to walk up and create high quality scans the first time.
Ease of use also extends to final document output, including document stacking. Many devices only offer a front catch bin, which leads to haphazard stacking or document collation resulting in disorganised prints and copies. Often extra floor space must also be dedicated for a table to sort the output.
A front accessible lower receiving tray and/or top delivery tray, on the other hand, ensures paper output is neatly stacked and easily accessible on top of the printer. Output curling can also lead to hard-to-manage collation, but dynamic anti-curl features, particularly useful in inkjet printers, ensures reliable stacking, even when printing on the most curled end of a roll.
Throughput
Mechanical print speed is only one component of throughput, and the difference between many systems is often marginal. Rather capabilities like controller processing power, queue management, instant-on availability, and copy/scan productivity are more critical to achieving greater throughput.
For example, many print systems have embedded controllers that struggle to process multiple document jobs or complex files that contain PDF transparencies and AutoCAD wipeouts. They also become overwhelmed when asked to perform print/copy/ scan functions concurrently. Systems with powerful controllers capable of handling complex files and concurrent tasks deliver a significant advantage. Concurrent processing allows for file processing, printing, copying and scanning to occur simultaneously. For example, while the system is printing one job, it can be processing the next and also copy or scan without stopping the production of the primary print job. This reduces user wait time and ensures superior overall system speed.
Throughput can also be significantly hampered if a system does not offer proper queue management. For example, if the machine views jobs as single files, multiple users who are simultaneously sending prints and making copies can cause interspersing of jobs, often in between multiple copies of a single file. With advanced queue management capabilities, it's possible to better control workflow by easily prioritising rush jobs, placing jobs on hold and changing the settings on jobs already processed. In critical situations, this functionality may make a dramatic difference in meeting demanding deadlines.
Systems that deliver a truly "instant-on" capability ensure they are ready to go when you are since no warm up time is necessary. In low volume environments where systems are generally not printing continuously, instant-on capability becomes an important factor. For example, when using some traditional toner-based systems, users can wait up to four minutes for their first print when equipment comes out of a "cold sleep" while other systems require a minimal 40 seconds before producing a first print. There is no need to compromise user readiness with a high-energy-use standby mode.
Many systems are simply not designed for a productive user experience. In many cases, equipment lacks the ability to create standard operating procedures for common workflow tasks. More advanced systems that offer templates actually simplify recurring tasks and enable one-touch operation, and these custom settings can be tuned to the company's unique workflow for copying and scanning. The result - users experience increased efficiency and productivity, lowered risk of mistakes and ease-of-use, so jobs are completed faster and more accurately.
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