Will 2009 be the Year of Automation?

January 6, 2009

An analyst from New Zeland, commented on my blog "Digital Presses Need Automated Workflows" from a link on Print Junkie. "Now that industry is under intense pressure, (will) we finally see print companies step outside their comfort zones and look to workflow automation to reduce costs, eliminate errors and add valuable new services? Will 2009 be the year of change?"

May I be so bold as to proclaim that 2009 (and 2010) will indeed be marked by a rapid increase in digital print automation. And our analyst friend has itemized the fundamental reason it will happen: It has to.

Print providers can't afford not to, because those who invest the rather small price of automating their workflows will be taking away the customers of those who do not. That's a very strong motivator.

There was a time when it was fair to question whether a investment in automation would pay off. It would be overstating the case to state that this is no longer a legitimate concern. But the software and hardware needed to make automation systems that work have matured. While they have matured, their price has declined dramatically. Competition has also forced developers to look toward mainstreaming their product lines instead of looking for a small but lucrative customer base. If others folks can build the same workflow for less money, there is little incentive to stick with higher-priced vendors.

A decade ago, large expensive, powerful and proprietary workflows the likes of Scitex Brisque dominated the marketplace. The Brisque is one of the few that has survived. Of course Scitex did not survive: the Brisque is now one of many Kodak workflow products. And Kodak markets it as a system that is modular and plays nice with as many players as possible. Creo - which for a brief period of time was CreoScitex and is now known as Print on Demand Solutions, Kodak IL - still develops color servers for many players using the slogan, "You Select, we connect."

Ironically, the URL "Scitex.com" is now, "Your one-stop Bulgarian real estate service for buying property in Bulgaria - apartment, house, land, office, hotel or other Bulgarian properties for sale." Try it if you don't believe me.

We're seeing a trend: make your software compatible with everything out there and price it so folks without mega-budgets can afford it.

That means small players and hybrid workflows are becoming more and more popular routes for entering the world of automation, and that is a trend I see as rapidly accelerating over the next several months.