IIC’s Printing Testbed to demonstrate IIoT capabilities for the printing industry

The Industrial Internet Consortium has announced the Smart Printing Factory Testbed, which focuses on automating print production and predictive maintenance for factory-based printing equipment.

Led by Fujifilm and supported by IIC members, the smart printing testbed collects job status, machine condition and production-quality data for factory-based printing equipment using integrated sensors. From there, the platform can deliver plans for predictive maintenance as well as optimized production coordination with everyone in the factory.

IIC’s latest testbed also gives users full control over the printing equipment through the use of an IT/OT console. It also works with legacy printers who don’t have an end-to-end IIOT ecosystem, since sensors can be attached to send, store and analyze data.

“As in other manufacturing industries, the printing industry is required to respond to mass customization and must improve processes in order to stay competitive. However, replacing a legacy printing system with a fully automated one is not easy because companies use equipment from various manufacturers,” said Fujifilm IIoT Team Leader Izumi Watanabe.

The smart printing testbed acts as incubator with one of it’s objective focusing on simplify complex printing production lines, including cross collaboration with ecosystem partners.

Fujifilm hosts the Smart Printing Factory Testbed and Supporting IIC members − IBM, Fujitsu, Toshiba and RTI – provide enabling technologies for data acquisition, management console, production planning, design implementation and security.
www.IIC.com