Big Picture - January/February 2018 - 22

AUTOMATION AND EFFICIENCY

KEEP YOUR EYE ON AUTOMATION

BIG PICTURE

January/February 2018

Change is inevitable. To survive, we either need to embrace
change and recognize the new opportunities that change brings
us or we risk facing extinction. Automation is just one of those
changes that is slowly creeping into all aspects of our lives, though
it's not always evident.
Automation can be obvious, such as a robot loading and
unloading boards on a UV flatbed printer, or perhaps subtle
enhancements that can be hidden within the workings of a
particular device or even a software workflow. Each can help to
deliver benefits, including improvements in productivity and quality, reducing waste and labor costs, and enabling your business
to be more successful.

SELLING THE BENEFITS OF AUTOMATION
Companies can be rather reluctant to implement disruptive
technologies in their shops, fearing that employees will perceive
this as an effort to eliminate jobs. It could instead be argued that
implementing automation can allow a business to free up staff to
focus on different or entirely new tasks, which can be especially
important in cost-effectively
growing your business. This
workforce realignment can
become a way to encourage
advancement in the company
through workers learning
new skills and potentially
recognizing greater reward
for their efforts!
OBVIOUS OR EMBEDDED
Implementations of automation can make a world
of difference. Following are
some examples.
Last year for the Océ ProCut digital finishing devices,
Canon Solutions America
released the Océ ProCut Auto
Pilot automation option that
can help simplify production,
improve productivity and quality, and reduce labor costs.

Previously, an experienced cutter operator would be required to
define all the tool settings for all the common substrates used
and then manually call up each job's cut file by keying in a job
number or scanning a barcode with a handheld barcode reader.
By itself, this is still relatively productive, but what if that operator
is sick one day or leaves the company? Or, what if the business
wants to expand from one shift to three shifts? Would you know
where to find two additional skilled operators?
That's where Océ ProCut Auto Pilot shines. By utilizing an
illuminated sphere containing a Canon digital SLR camera, Auto
Pilot watches for prints containing special fiducial marks placed
in a select area of the cutting table. The system recognizes
which job is placed on the table and automatically calls up the
correct cut path. Provided the required tools are already loaded,
at the push of one button the Océ ProCut will begin cutting,
utilizing those same tool parameters that were predefined and
saved by that one skilled operator. Now an unskilled worker can
safely load jobs on the table and produce quality work. Additionally, once cutting, that same worker can walk away to perform
other tasks and simply glance across the shop to see what color
the sphere containing the camera is. This color-changing LED
bulb within the sphere indicates if the cutter is in operation, if it's
idle, or if the system requires operator intervention.
There are also some never-before-seen automation features
within the Océ Colorado 1640 64-inch production printer - one
of which is referred to as PAINT (Piezo Acoustic Integrated
Nozzle Technology). With other inkjet printers, the operator would
need to continually check the quality of the prints coming off
the printer and ensure there are no artifacts due to lost nozzles.
If there are, the operator would need to stop printing, clean the
printheads, and then reprint the affected jobs.
With the PAINT system, the UVgel printheads incorporate
patented continuous nozzle monitoring to detect and correct any
underperforming nozzles. During each and every printing pass,
Canon's nozzle monitoring technology automatically checks all
nozzles using acoustic sampling and even detects whether nozzles
are going to misfire before they actually do. In the event of nozzle
failure, corrective maintenance is automatically performed. This
preemptive approach results in truly unattended printing without
related artifacts and no need for operator intervention.
csa.canon.com

http://csa.canon.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - January/February 2018