Five new trends in the printing and packaging industry in the future

In recent years, the rapid development of a new generation of information technology: 5G, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc. are bringing huge changes to enterprise production and people's lives. The increasing maturity of new technologies provides a strong technical guarantee for the implementation of smart factories, and also reduces cost pressures for the industry. The printing industry has also undergone tremendous changes in recent years. For example, in the past, a magnifying glass was used to observe the accuracy of overprinting. Nowadays, fully automatic inspection equipment can automatically detect problems such as missing images and colors. At the same time, smart devices such as robots and automatic palletizing are increasingly appearing in the operation and production of printing companies. It will also bring new trends in the following five aspects to the printing and packaging industry.

01. More efficient automation technology:
Automation has always been the core of industry. With the development of various sensors and recognition technologies, more powerful and efficient automation systems will continue to appear. Perhaps one day, machines will replace manual work on offset presses. Humans only need to conduct daily monitoring and inspection of the automated system. At present, because many automated industrial equipment are still costly, such as robots, industrial arms, etc., under normal circumstances, companies still try to avoid hardware and software upgrades and transformations. Therefore, most printing companies may change very slowly. Nowadays, not only the printing and packaging field, but many industries are in the process of the game between machines and humans. With the gradual increase in labor costs and the development of automation, it is an inevitable result that many positions are replaced by machines.
02. Innovative human-computer interaction mode:
Computer screens and even more primitive displays still dominate the industry, but this situation is changing. When viewing equipment components, augmented reality applications can provide more valuable feedback and provide employees with IoT-derived information about manufacturing equipment, enabling the company to better manage and maintain it. Virtual reality can also use more traditional technologies to provide staff with powerful visualization capabilities.
At the same time, technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things have enabled various machines to be integrated and unified operation and control. With the popularization and improvement of voice recognition technology, operators only need to say a word to get corresponding information or give instructions to the machine.
03. Better predictive maintenance:
For many years, predictive maintenance has played an increasingly important role in industrial environments, and the continued growth of IoT components has provided more information than before. Once the printing press has a problem, it will have a great negative impact on production. Combining machine learning and other artificial intelligence tools, modern industrial software is more effective than in the past to determine when it is necessary to replace equipment components based on personal experience.
Relying on the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, real-time monitoring of printing-related equipment, timely maintenance and maintenance, so that the machine can avoid malfunctions. Unlike other technologies, the benefits of predictive maintenance are easy to calculate. As an industrial Internet of Things technology, predictive maintenance will surely become an excellent assistant for industrial managers in the future.

04. Self-service network printing:

The concept of network printing has long been put forward. With the support of the network, printing companies can not only break through the limitations of time and space, but also extend their marketing tentacles to a wider field, providing customers with 24-hour uninterrupted services at low cost, automation and efficiency. , It can also maximize the collection of scattered personalized needs from end consumers, making it a useful supplement to existing business sources.
In the application market, the number of printing companies involved in network printing is increasing. However, it must be admitted that there are few successful ones. How can they realize the nature of network printing and establish automated pre-press procedures and standardized operation specifications for enterprises. The self-service network printing is like the current e-commerce platform, after all the customer's personalized parameters are selected, production and delivery are started.

05. Integration of upstream and downstream printing companies:
For printing companies, the first stage of intelligent development is to realize the full intelligence of the enterprise. Imagine that in the future, printing companies will realize intelligence from raw material management, pre-press plate making, printing production, post-press processing, printing quality management to final outbound delivery. Manually, there may only be two words left at the end: "choice", choosing which paper, ink, craft, etc. to use. The second stage of intelligent production may take a long time to be realized, and is accompanied by continuous integration of resources.
The intelligent printing factory is not aimed at the upgrade of a single piece of equipment or a certain technology, but an overall and systematic upgrade. It is a fundamental change in the in-depth integration of information technology and manufacturing and integrated innovation. It combines modern information communication technology with network technology, artificial intelligence technology, and cooperates with key technologies such as smart production equipment, smart logistics, warehouse management systems, industrial robot system integration, cloud service platforms, green energy-saving equipment, manufacturing execution systems, etc. .
The traditional printing industry relies heavily on the number of labor. The pre-press, printing, post-press, logistics and other links require a lot of manual operations. The transfer and connection between each link brings huge labor intensity and the working environment of employees. It has always been a problem faced by the printing industry.
With the continuous development of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technology, intelligent printing factories can connect all the links of traditional printing together for unified and coordinated management. At the same time, all links will gradually reduce the need for labor. In the end, the printing enterprise will realize the digitization and intelligent control of all equipment, transfer, logistics automation, unmanned operation, and informatization and real-time interaction of production management, thereby improving quality and efficiency, reducing loss and labor intensity, and reducing the number of personnel ,lower the cost.