A few weeks back while I was researching my story about paper cutting and handling in the bindery, I had a long and fascinating conversation with Henrik Christiansen, CEO of Graphic Robotics about the robotization of paper handling, and the immense challenges and rewards of the work they’re doing. In the weeks following the interview, I found myself circling back around to dig deeper into the “why,” which led to justification and cost, which I was really curious about. I thought it would be helpful for all of us to understand the quantitative side of automation, so I asked Henrik to guest-write an article for us. He graciously agreed, and we will be publishing his work in a two-part article. Part one is about the consequences of chain productivity and efficiency, and part two will dive deeper into the labor costs and opportunities of automation.

Henrik Christiansen: Ever since our great grandfathers got the brilliant idea of using tools and machinery, we have tried to make things better, faster and cheaper. Consequently, the concept “productivity” has been around forever, but it seems as if several of the bigger printing equipment manufacturers recently have intensified the focus on the concept, so let us take a closer look at productivity and what it really means for your print business.

Productivity is to evaluate the output in relation to the input, where a higher productivity is a consequence of an increased output based on a constant input, a constant output based on a decreased input, or even an increased output based on a decreased input.