From Finishing First to Future-Ready at Inkjet Summit

By Ashley Roberts and Toni McQuilken

How fast is the rate at which artificial intelligence (AI) is changing?

“It is as if we're getting the amount of technology delivered to us every month that, before AI, would have taken a year or more,” Steve Metcalf, founder, CEO, and chief AI officer of IMAGINE AI LIVE, said during the opening session on the second day of the 13th annual Inkjet Summit.

While AI might seem intimidating to those not familiar with the opportunities it presents, Metcalf took some time to explain some of the most commonly used AI tools and the differences between them. He pointed out that AI can even be used to optimize the printing process.

Steve Metcalf, founder, CEO, and chief AI officer of IMAGINE AI LIVE.

“When you have PhD-level intelligence on tap, why not hire some AI?” he asked.

Since AI is continually changing and evolving on a daily basis – he gave attendees updates from the morning of the session – Metcalf distilled the overwhelming topic into seven key strategies to automate using AI:

Automate your content: Consider its use for meetings, calls, training sessions, interviews, salespeople, and more.
Create agentic prompts: “You can create prompts that you reuse, instead of just that one-shot done prompt,” Metcalf advised.
Chat with your business: “Spin up” experts everywhere using AI.
Talk to your data: Make data analytics conversational (such as with the creation of a print schedule optimizer).
We automate everything: If there is repetition and toil, remove it.
Spend time with other AI leaders: To develop strategies, tools, and connections. For example, consider attending the four-hour IMAGINE AI LIVE printing track on May 28 in Las Vegas.
The CEO leads the way: Like everything else, Metcalf said, “it’s all about passion.”

Think Finishing First

A bottleneck for many print service providers is finishing. To address that topic, Bob Neubauer, content director of In-plant Impressions, led a panel of inkjet users to tease out the best tips for finding the right finishing equipment to complement inkjet technology. Neubauer was joined by Chris DuBach, executive vice president of Phoenix Innovate (Troy, Michigan); Greg Estep, managing director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (Washington, D.C.); and Nicolas Huard, vice president of operations and technology at Marquis Imprimeur (Montmagny, Quebec).

Even though the panelists come from three significantly different shops, one message was clear: start with finishing first.

“If we could go back, we would have started with the end in mind,” DuBach said.

(From left), Bob Neubauer, editor-in-chief of In-plant Impressions, moderated a panel on finishing featuring Chris DuBach, Phoenix Innovate; Greg Estep, GPO; and Nicolas Huard, Marquis Imprimeur.

He explained that it’s crucial to work backwards from finishing because it’s the most complicated aspect of the process.

At the GPO, however, it was a priority from the very beginning.

“We knew from the start that finishing would be as important as the printing engine,” Estep noted.

One consideration is whether finishing should run in-line, near-line, or off-line. The panel unanimously noted the limitations in running finishing in-line, pointing to space considerations, changeovers in paper, and the peak efficiency of inkjet technology versus the realistic capabilities of finishing.

When asked what advice they would share with other attendees, the panel provided actionable insights to help attendees make their next finishing decisions.

Huard advised attendees to take their workflows into consideration and work closely with their vendors to make the process more streamlined. He also noted print service providers (PSP) should analyze run speeds needed.

“You don't need to run the machine at the max speed,” he said. “It's more efficient to go slower and keep it running always.”

DuBach, however, said Phoenix Innovate found just the opposite.

“We tried to start at medium speed and we said, ‘Wait a minute, we're not going to make production time.’ So we had to learn to run at higher speeds," he said. "We had planned an 80% budget of speed, and for most of the applications, we're outperforming our speed projection.”

Key Research in Inkjet Investment

Lisa Cross, principal analyst, NAPCO Research.

Lisa Cross, the principal analyst at NAPCO Research, took to the stage to go over some of the highlights from the most recent research report, “Next Generation Inkjet Investment.” Cross pointed out that of those surveyed, 44% already own and operate production inkjet equipment, with 40% planning to invest in new or upgraded equipment in the next 12-24 months.

Cross had four points she wanted attendees to walk away with:

Inkjet is now a strategic asset – not just a technology upgrade.
Start looking to invest where it will pay off the most in your operation – prioritize your highest margin, fastest turnaround time jobs.
Customers now expect flexibility, not only to create more personalized pieces, but to change directions on the fly to improve response rates, something inkjet excels at.
Prepare for your second production inkjet investments. Whether you’ve already got inkjet on the floor, or you’re looking at your first investment, pay attention to what works, what goes well, and what you wish you had done differently so when the time comes to start the process again, you’ve got a better idea of what to look for to best serve your business.

“Customers expect flexibility,” Cross told the audience. “We see this across all our research studies – not just those geared toward inkjet, but all of them. They want to work with good providers that offer production inkjet. So staying competitive might require investing in an inkjet device to offer the personalization, speed, and quality these devices can offer.”