Revolution Print automates its business with printIQ

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Victoria’s Revolution Print automates its business with printIQ technology

Revolution Print director Leon Wilson shares the company’s journey of how it went from being a bricks and mortar business to one that has embraced automation

Revolution Print, located in Alfredton, Victoria, has seen greater success since it started using printIQand other tools to automate its business processes. The company, which was started in 1902, transitioned into the digital space about 18 years ago. Its director Leon Wilson said the business was using an older MIS software and although it had a separate solution for an online print website that worked well, the two systems did not communicate with each other and provided no capabilities for production management.

Revolution Print then explored four different software solutions but could not find one that met all its needs until it came across printIQ about eight years ago. The company implemented the system internally in about a year and launched it externally for trademarked locations and customers in what it calls its “corporate cloud” soon after. Today, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of all orders for Revolution Print come through printIQ. To further automate its processes, Wilson drove more functionality with tools such as Enfocus Switch.

How this works is, orders flow in from printIQ and the accepted job information is then moved into the production process, where artwork and impositions are automatically routed into the necessary “hot folders” to move to the next step in production. This process allows the business to even receive orders on the weekend, which staff can action when they come into the premises on Monday morning – the stack has about 400 jobs ready to be produced.

Running alongside the software investments, Revolution Print is one of only three installations in the whole of Australia with a B2 sheet-size digital inkjet press in the Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1. It has also invested in equipment from MGI to offer digitally embellished finishing options. These capabilities have enabled the company to accept new businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when one of the largest printers in the world contacted it about producing premium luxury products that it wanted to offer as a reseller.

This capability brought in over $1 million in additional revenue each year for Revolution Print, with over 200 additional orders per day.

Making concrete decisions

Revolution Print’s confidence in the printIQ platform is strengthened by its accuracy with job costing, which allows the company to pull up any job and analyse the actual timing from start to finish, including the equipment used and the people that worked on it.

This type of analysis allows it to adjust its quoting for future jobs to increase profitability. The reporting functionality inside printIQ provides custom-built reports that are auto-generated and emailed every morning with the previous day’s job production totals and performance, allowing Revolution Print to focus on the big things instead of the small ones.

What Revolution Print is capable of producing using printIQ’s technology on the back-end Wilson said he sees the software as an organic, living, breathing thing that is never complete. “As it is software, there is always room for improvement with the upgrades. It has been exciting to explore even more ways that printIQ can integrate with platforms for pre-press, ganging, and imposition,” he said.

“Revolution Print is on a pathway to realistically improve our automated processes upwards of 10-fold, aiming to scale up for the ability to effectively handle over 1000 orders per day with the same or even less time than it currently takes to do less volume.

“printIQ is the core piece of our ability to empower our customers to order premium products with luxury stocks and finishes without any intervention needed on the front-end of our team.”

?According to Wilson, printIQ is a “complete game-changer” and is “ground-breaking technology”, and the only way to create the future of print is by embracing software and technology and putting it in the hands of smart people.

“Although investments in automation are not cheap, it is a long-term investment that will ultimately make things easier for our clients and for our business,” he added.

You can also read the ProPrint version here :Australian Printer May 2023 by The Intermedia Group - Issuu