Index:
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Printing Industry Articles:
The
Road to Automation -
Is 0-100 the Only Way?
by
Wolfgang Blauen |
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JDF is here to stay…no
question about that. A different question is…does every automated
solution have to be JDF-based and how do you prepare your company to move
to an automated environment in the future?
The Jump to JDF
Moving from manual processes to JDF in one jump is often
not an option:
- Automating processes is frequently difficult.
Employees do the work, but don’t know all the processes – things
just seem to happen.
- JDF is a big investment with limited short-term
return. You must invest in JDF-enabled equipment and the
supporting infrastructure (hardware, operating systems, networks,
databases, and applications). All components must be fault
tolerant – eliminating single points of failure – thereby
increasing the investment.
- No complex implementation happens without glitches!
A complete switch to JDF-enabled equipment can initially be disruptive
to the production cycle. There’s equipment downtime and likely
extensive retraining.
- Computerized production management systems create a
strong dependency on IT. If your IT goes down, your production
stops. Most printers lack the skills needed to provide
rock-solid IT operations.
But does one have to look at automation as an "all
or nothing" technology? Or is there a methodical approach to
"growing" and automated environment that minimizes the
investments and allows a company to realize some benefits of partial
automation while working towards a desired end state?
(read
on ...)
Copyright (c) 2008 by In Scope-Solutions,
Inc.
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