AUTOMATION FOR THE
PRINT INDUSTRY
Improving the print industry with
warehouse automation
D
espite the rapid growth in online content, consumers are
still relying heavily on print. Random House in New York is
currently publishing more than 15,000 new titles with over
350 million print copies per year. The New York Times Sunday print
edition is also thriving and the current circulation of over 1 million is
predicted to significantly increase. As the industry expands, technolo-
gy is transforming how warehouse and distribution centers operate.
Large-scale operations, like Random House and The New York Times,
are beginning to rely on automated storage/ retrieval systems (AS/RS)
to maximize storage and minimize space. An increasing number of
printing and publishing companies are selecting AS/RS to handle
the task of storing and conveying newspapers, inserts and paper rolls
throughout their warehouses. AS/RS can be beneficial in maintaining
production speed and quality while simultaneously keeping produc-
tion costs under control.
The economic and environmental benefits of using a high-density
AS/RS include lower operating costs (lower energy, labor, product
waste costs) and increased accuracy. Integrating a high-density AS/RS
can reduce square-footage requirements by 50 percent when compared
to conventional warehouses, while lowering energy consumption by
30 percent. In addition, when an AS/RS is used in conjunction with a
warehouse execution system (WES), printing and publishing compa-
nies have the knowledge of where materials and inventory are stored
for an efficient picking, packing and shipping process to minimize risk
for lost or damaged materials.
Achieving Efficiency in On-Demand Printing
In the printing-on-demand industry, materials are not printed until
the company receives an order, allowing prints of smaller and larger
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The Satellite Review
quantities. In the newspaper industry, printers must be diligent about
what sections of the paper they print in advance in order to print
time-sensitive news quickly.
Automation can benefit the on-demand printing industry to serve the
raw materials required for each activity. Automation could be a useful
tool in staging different sections autonomously so non-time sensitive
materials, such as advertisements in a newspaper, can be printed in
advance to improve printing efficiency.
Managing Inventory in Publishing Warehouses
Unlike products in the food and beverage space, books don’t expire.
This means that publishers often end up with excess inventory of
books with new titles coming out, so warehouses can fill up quickly.
Automation can benefit publishing warehouses by controlling inven-
tory to preserve space. The ability to know where each item in the
warehouse is stored can be possible through a high-density AS/RS
combined with a WES. Having the knowledge and the ability to auton-
omously retrieve materials to be picked, packed and shipped positively
impacts publishers by saving time, storage space and manual labor.
Ultimately, automation can enable printers and publishers to reduce
time and energy costs, increase inventory space and accuracy, and
improve product traceability. Although warehouse automation is not
a new concept, it is relatively new in the printing and publishing in-
dustry. In order to compete with digital media, printers and publishers
must find ways to save money to cover the overhead costs while still
having the disposable income to stay on top of trends and technol-
ogy advances to gain an edge in the increasingly competitive global
marketplace.
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