COMPUTER-INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING -- Strategies for a "Smart Fa

BY LARRY WARTER

In order to survive in an ever-changing industry, today's printer will have to become the "smart factory" of tomorrow. The "smart factory" concept integrates all of the internal printing plant processes with information flows linked to the outside.

Many of the criteria for being a true "smart factory" are related to standards (including accredited standards, as well as industry specifications), which address aspects of the process that everyone agrees should be standardized and, at the same time, leave opportunities for individual companies to differentiate themselves in other parts of the process.