INKISH mentions:
Ultimate TechnoGraphics is one of the absolute forerunners in the workflow/automation part of the graphic arts industry – not only because of the workflow/automation software but also because of their openness. In the months before PRINTING United, the company announced several partnerships and some major product announcements, like a brand new nesting engine, but too many, maybe even more important, an option to scale processing power dynamically as needed. This interview with Andrew Bailes-Collins – Head of Product Management – gives us great insights, so get on board – NOW!
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This is Morten from Inkish TV and I am here with our very good friends from Ultimate TechnoGraphics a, I would say, a Canadian super power software company, that do some of the most amazing software, and I am here with my good friend Andrew (Bailes-Collins).
Good to see you Andrew.
Andrew: Hi Morten, good to see you.
Morten: When I look at the announcements that you have made lately.
Andrew: Which one? There has been loads of them 🙂
Morten: I was just about to say that. You have new partners, we see Kongsberg as part of it in the background. You made one with Horizon, I think you made one with Duplo and probably more that I have not even seen.
I mean, partnerships I totally understand, and I also understand the value of what you are doing, cause also we have worked together for some time, so I think I get most of what you are doing. One of the things that I would like to ask you about, is that when you look at a machine like the Kongsberg that we see in the background and you have all these different items on a sheet, what is the biggest challenge to be profitable when you have a sheet like that?
Andrew: Well for us this is very very new. Well, not that new because we’ve had a nesting module before, but this is a brand new module.
Morten: So it’s about nesting?
Andrew: It’s about nesting. For producing the file, or the files, that goes to print and the file that goes to this machine. So, it’s a module for Impostrip. It has been build from the ground up. So almost a new product but part of an existing product.
Morten: So when you have a new nesting engine, I think it’s because you want to utilize the substrate more, right?
Andrew: Yeah yeah, well, that’s the funny thing. That was my initial interpretation on what we needed to do; getting the most product on the sheet, make the most of the media. But when you start talking to customers there’s other methods they need, some priority, for some of them it’s not so much about getting product onto the sheet, it’s about what happens afterwards. It’s about the finishing process as well. Taking the product once it’s cut, off the bed, and finishing it.
So, we have different nesting strategies, for different customers.
Morten: So that basically means that a customer who invests in your nesting technology, basically picks different nesting engines depending on what the priorities are. Should it be utilizing the hardware and software at the most or should it be optimized specifically for a specific finishing task.
Andrew: Yeah there are certainly different strategies. Because one of the things about our solutions is that it’s completely automated. So there is no manual intervention, that’s the big thing about it.
So, in order to meet the customer requirements, you can’t just have one way of doing it. You’ve got to give them options. Which may depend on production, it may depend on substrate, it may depend on the customer, it may depend on the product. But it’s important to have that variation and the ability to control it all, through automation through XML, so ‘somebody’ doesn’t have to get involved.
Morten: I was just thinking because I think that part of the digital transformation in general, where all the devises talk to eachother, so when you talk about for example the different needs a printer can have when it comes to finishing, does it mean that the machine can talk to the software for the imposition and make this kind off…
Andrew: Not yet. No.
Morten: But it could be something like that?
Andrew: Yeah, API’s connectivity, IOT information share, it’s all possible in the future. But at the moment, not yet.
Morten: So, what is the most important thing about the new software you have made?
Andrew: It’s a viety of things: Speed, Quality, New Nesting Algorythm with the ability to nest in different directions, different ways of nesting. It’s really a complete change. You went to see our very good friends in The Netherlands recently (Fotofabriek), one of our early beta testers who helped drive the development of the product. So yes, it’s not something you can do by yourself as a software vendor, you have to have feet on the ground telling you this works, this doesn’t work, this needs improving, that needs improving and that’s why I think it’s going to be a great product for us because it’s driven by our users. Although we threw a few ideas own in, it’s really production based.
Morten: And if you look at the challenge you have with this kind of things. One thing is that you have the correct nesting to the application you’re creating, but I take that it’s also about having the…
When you have a software suite where you do like nesting, and now I remember what I wanted to ask you about. Do you need to build templates how to do things.. how does it do it?
Andrew: Trust the software
Morten: Trust the software huh? Because in old times you needed to do templates, right?
Andrew: But nesting here you are giving the software certain parameters in which to work, but then you look at the products, they are all irregular shapes, so, potentially, no products are the same as the other and they are often mixing different products on the same substrate to get maximum media coverage. So there is no template. You select your parameters and then you trust the software, or you learn to trust the software, that the result you get is the one you need to print, to finish or alternative processes.
Morten: Often when you have like prepress and an understanding of how you do your binding it is very dependent on the usage of time and substrate as part of the pricing. Do you communicate two-ways to MIS systems?
Andrew: Yes, we can push back a lot of information as well.
Morten: Maybe what you are showing now is not a very expensive software. But if you have something that is really realy expensive, it plays a role right?
Andrew: You are absolutely right. It’s not just the creation and production of it. It’s feeding that information back. Because as it’s automated, you don’t want somebody having to count, having to measure. You need that information going back into ERP or your MIS system. So, you need to keep track of it. You know your costs. So, that’s been an important part of this to make sure that we’ve got the correct data that our customers have requested. And I’m sure there will be other things along the way. But yes, really a well received product so far.
Morten: Is it processor intensive to have nesting like this?
Andrew: No. Not particularly no.
Morten: The reason I’m asking this is because our friend Chris from Fotofabriek, he was also sating that one of the things he liked about it was the scalability. Because with the new scalability option in your product suite,
basically it gives the opportunity to let’s say you have multiple presses, and you have a lot of complex jobs, and you need to do it as fast as possible, you can use that scalability.
Andrew: As you say, it’s one of the benefits to have multiple nesting engines working concurrently. So if you take Chris, I think he has between 18 and 24 presses that Ultimate Impostrip is driving, so it’s a challenge for him obviously to fullfil to maximize those machines. But with the scalability of Impostrip, it allows him to do that. Not only for nesting but also for the commercial work as well. So this is a across the board.
Morten: Also for bindery?
Andrew: Not so much for Ultimate Bindery. Bindery is less processor intensive. But to produce the PDF and the JDF for print and production, yeas, that’s where the Impostrip Scalable kicks in.
And also what we accounced here is the ability to have this all in the Cloud with a docket container. That’s even more scalable you know. Lot’s of different solutions depending on what the customers’ requirements are.
Morten: Now here on your booth at PRINTING United you’ve got a Kongsberg machine. Is that just a random picked machine or is there a special reason you have this machine on the show?
Andrew: Well, as you know I used to work for a Belgian company, so I’ve got some friends at Kongsberg. Innitially I started to talk to them about the camera marks that are a requirement for any table. Then the relationship just grew and fostered and then before PRINTING United we approached them if we could get a table and it’s going from there. As you can see it’s really nice, everything on our booth and everything on their booth is going through and nested by Ultimate Impostrip.
Morten: So just to be sure, so does that mean that when you use the nesting engine, and you use scalability, it is not depending on a certain cutter, basically?
Andrew: No, we’ve got no limitations on media, no limitations on workflows, no limitations on products. You just buy the amount of nesting engines for the productivity you need. So there’s very few, marketing based, bottle-necks with us. It’s a very straight forward business model.
Morten: When I go back to all the announcements you have with partnerships last month. You also know that we find partnerships also very important. But if you think about the partnerships on your side, it also seems like committing to technologies and committing to build something where technology and hardware plays even closer together. How important is that as part of the digital transformation.
Andrew: For us it’s a reciprocal environment. Most of our partners are building machines that require software to drive them. And that goes for print engines as well as finishing engines. So we build all our products to the best of our ability to meet customer demands. And a part of that is the integration. You know that integration is a massive part of what’s been going on in the automation world. Starting with files coming in and now it’s actually even more important in the back end. MOst people have automated most of their production. Finishing automation is kind of the last step to it. So yes, it’s very important to us as a business.
Morten: Do I remember right that last year at PRINTING United you had like a huge focus on Ultimate Bindery right?
Andrew: Always on both. Because they work in conjunction with eachother.
Morten: When was it introduced? Because they didn’t come at the same time right?
Andrew: No, Bindery is already 15 years old. We were one of the first companies that started to drive finishing automation.
Morten: But wasn’t it a renewed focus on bindery then?
Andrew: It’s constant. I mean we now support nearly 60 devices. So it’s just been a progression. What I think has changed and what maybe has peaked your interest, is that the market is ready for it now. You know when you start to evangelize something your very early adopters, now it’s much more, people are much more aware that that’s something they need to do. Especially in short-run, quick turn-around, there’s no way they can do it.
You can’t have lot’s and lot’s of set-ups on your finishing device. You’ll need to drive it through JDF so every job is literally set up independently.
Morten: I am disappointed with myself that I didn’t know that bindery was 15 years old. But I have maybe one excuse, and that is that as you say that the change of the market towards digital transformation that I asked you about, is definitely for the past 2-3 years, since COVID, even more a ‘headline’ right? And I think that the need for products-of-one or very very short one or even more personalized print, has just increased the focus on how you use this technology right?
Andrew: Yeah, massively. You know, we were here at the breakfast meeting talking about margins being cut and everything. So, if your margins are being cut where do make it up? Profitability. You make things faster, you make things better. And that’s one of the pieces that people are looking at now to improve their overall margin.
Morten: How was the show so far, almost ending day one?
Andrew: I haven’t gotten of the booth yet. It’s been busy. Really busy. Yeah very good. We’ve got the table that has been a good attraction. And then the software, the customers etc. It’s been really good. I mean it’s just the first day as well.
Morten: It’s good that this isn’t an 11 day show right?
Andrew: Well, my mind is already on it (DRUPA red.) I don’t know about you but we’re already thinking about that.
Thank you!