Ricoh has integrated its Ricoh Supervisor and Ricoh ProcessDirector production management and workflow automation tools to bring enhanced data analytics capabilities.
Ricoh says the integration brings visibility down to individual document level, providing insights into production volumes as well as printer and inserter operator activities, all via customisable dashboards. This information should help users of the software identify trends, detect production bottlenecks, reduce use of consumables and gain other actionable insights that will support consistent and efficient production.
ProcessDirector is a vendor-neutral workflow automation solution designed to capture, transform and manage data and processes. It offers a scalable workflow and communication solution available with both subscription and perpetual pricing options, used by print and mail providers, financial and insurance organisations, manufacturers, retailers and government agencies.
Vendor-agnostic for both production printers and software, Supervisor provides operational data visualisation to help assess equipment utilisation and performance, eliminate manual data collection and understand throughput to plan for peak capacity and business growth. Available only via SaaS, Ricoh Supervisor uses Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to provide organisation-wide data visibility.
Connecting the two allows historical data to be used to generate trend reports for capacity planning, production optimisation and operator productivity improvement. The combination also enables users to identify opportunities and the need for preventative actions, with increased visibility down to piece-level, plus delivery metrics to better understand costs.
Eef de Ridder, vice pPresident, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe, commented: ‘To compete in today’s evolving production print marketplace, users need constant access to critical operational data and actionable reporting to improve operations; it’s not a nice to have, it’s a critical success factor. Harnessing the power of Ricoh Supervisor to apply business intelligence to data collected by Ricoh ProcessDirector equips clients with the historical and up-to-the-minute operational data they need to make informed, data-driven investment decisions that move their business forward.’
