Managers of print and mail operations often deal with workflows that incorporate multiple equipment and software vendors. Plus there is a requirement to integrate with legacy systems, including billing, inventory, payroll, postal, and customer service. An unexpected change in any part of the environment can have ripple effects impacting production across the organization.
Just a few decades ago, white boards were updated hourly with job status as work made its way through the shop. That migrated to spreadsheets that included the status and throughput of equipment. This system still required manual input, but allowed managers to run different scenarios on the computer before making a decision.
Equipment manufacturers added management software to their product line. However, the printer software couldn’t talk to the inserters, and the inserter software couldn’t talk to the printers. And no vendor would allow interaction with competitors.
That led to the rise of third-party vendors who were “manufacturer neutral”. Through the use of cameras and scanners, the software could monitor every piece of equipment in the shop. The best systems would begin tracking while the job was still in digital format. Savvy managers now knew when and where every piece of every job was at every minute. That included reviewing and projecting utilization rates.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to be adopted in production workflow management. Large language models (LLM) are able to parse incoming jobs by specification – e.g., PDFs, Postscript files, raw data and attachments. Next, AI-assisted preflight tools are able to catch and correct errors. AI is being applied to job scheduling – optimizing complex equipment configurations. There are even companies that are integrating AI into postal processing.
Before you fire your expediters and floor managers, it’s important to understand that “AI Workflow Management” for print and mail operations is only in the early phases. Many vendors are still in the proof-of-concept stage. There is a significant gap between what is being marketed, and what is happening in reality.
Start meeting with vendors today. After receiving the sales pitch and software demonstration, ask for references that are using the solution. Anything that sounds like “hype” probably is. Get together with your peers and learn what is and isn’t working. And always talk with the Information Technology experts in your organizations about security and compatibility.
See you next week!
Amazing Astronomical Fact: The northern region of the world is called the “Arctic” because of the stars. The word “arctic” is derived from the Greek word “arktikos”, which means “near the bear”. That’s because Polaris, the North Star, appears in the constellation Ursa Minor – the Little Bear.
Most Americans know the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor as The Big Dipper and The Little Dipper.