step 4 Let the Data Flow From Productions

Production printing is quickly transforming into an industry based on data-driven manufacturing. Data for print production presents several challenges for PSPs.

PSPs must determine what metrics are useful for their operations. Do you want to track SLA performance, overall equipment efficiency (OEE), waste metrics, operator productivity or other key performance indicators (KPIs)? Without a clear KPI, the correct data may not be collected and almost certainly will not be used effectively.

The data must be collected. The data collected needs to be analyzed often using comparables to a prior period, the last time the job was produced or industry benchmarks.

The data must be collected to support your objectives. Many PSPs use electronic shop floor data collection as part of their print MIS solution. Increasingly, the equipment can augment or replace some of the production data. The machine can report back production times, ink and material usage, quality indicators, status markers and other data that feeds an analytics dashboard or is accessible to other software through a set of APIs.