Environment
is allowing print companies the chance to operate in a more efficient way. Sam Yarnall, sales and marketing director at Clarity
Software, said: “We are moving towards a future where software doesn’t just manage financial cost, it manages carbon cost. “Smart production scheduling allows businesses to batch jobs more effectively, meaning machines aren’t sitting idle or heating up for inefficient single runs. “By optimising the production flow, AI helps sign
makers reduce their daily energy consumption without impacting their lead times.”
The benefits of AI within printing processes have been
covered above, but what does that mean for the print industry as a whole?
AI AND THE PRINT INDUSTRY
Sustainability is a hugely growing focus for the industry, and as a tool AI is supporting these goals. One of the ways that printers are meeting sustainability needs is to limit the material waste that they produce when manufacturing products. AI can support a reduction on material waste,
by having systems detect real-time defects, reduce misprints, optimise ink usage and track environmental impact.
Sam added: “The conversation around AI and the
environment often gets stuck on the energy usage of data centres, but for the print industry, the immediate impact is far more tangible. “The single biggest environmental cost in wide-format is substrate waste. Intelligent nesting and estimation algorithms are critical here. “They ensure that print businesses are squeezing
every millimetre of value out of a roll, drastically reducing the amount of vinyl and rigid media that ends up in the skip.” These AI innovations have helped to address
several persistent challenges in the industry, including printing errors, materials waste and more customised output.
Sam continued: “Sustainability isn’t just about
swapping to PVC-free materials; it is about stopping errors before they hit the production floor. An MIS powered by accurate data prevents the ‘re-print culture’ that plagues the industry. “If intelligent software can flag a potential sizing mismatch or stock issue at the quoting stage, we save the ink, the energy and the media of a failed job. That efficiency is the most practical form of sustainability we have.”
THE PRINT INDUSTRY’S FUTURE WITH AI Looking towards the future, AI’s place within the industry is becoming more and more intrinsic and therefore more crucial to the operating of machinery and printers. The environmental impact is still, and should be, a cause for utilising AI in the right way, to make the industry more sustainable and greener for not only future generations who enter the industry, but also to promote the industry’s successes in sustainable milestones. In the end, AI is a friend of the printing industry’s sustainability focus, but it still needs to be used in the right way, and as software and machinery manufacturers create technology with AI, creation must include sustainability at its core.
THE
CONVERSATION AROUND AI AND THE ENVIRONMENT OFTEN GETS STUCK ON THE ENERGY USAGE OF DATA CENTRES, BUT FOR THE PRINT INDUSTRY, THE IMMEDIATE IMPACT IS FAR MORE TANGIBLE
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