Scan to Print Goes Open

by David J. Wilson for the Contex Sales Conference, April 2001

Scanners have long been used as a tool to enable existing drawings into both document management systems and existing CAD systems. Proven benefits in the form of time savings and facilities cost reductions have easily justified scanners as a way to transition drawings from paper to a digital format.

Throughout its life cycle, a drawing is accessed, viewed, printed, and referenced many more times than it is modified. Any improvements to the printing and distribution of these drawing assets will provide significant time and cost savings throughout the life of the drawing. In today’s e-competitive environment, who can’t afford to be more efficient with existing assets?

This paper will look at the emerging trends evolving in the "net century" that will effect the way information is shared, reviewed, and accessed. We will focus on the role scanning systems have in improving the distribution and print (reprographics) of legacy and active drawing archives.

The electronic archive comes of age

Within our new millennium, we can’t help but look to the new distribution medium in place, the web. In a few short years, email is or has replaced traditional physical mail in delivering information to people. In the scheme of modern day life cycles, this event happened overnight. While large volume printing tasks will be met by the higher end and proprietary scan to print systems, smaller and mid level reprographics are taking on a whole new paradigm and are leveraging the technologies we hear about every day.

The reprographics world has and will continue to evolve to accommodate electronic distribution and archiving. A digitally archived drawing, scanned or already existing in CAD form, is the starting point to maximize the lifecycle benefits found with electronic distribution. An active set of documents and drawings (scanned and CAD) can be indexed into a database system and published to some media form or to the web. Electronically publishing a project to DVD, CD-ROM or Portal can be accomplished with little investment in hardware and software.

Bid specifications for major construction projects is a prime example for using this approach. The AEC community often requires a lengthy and competitive bidding process between subcontractors. This process almost always necessitates a large demand for duplicating drawings and support documentation used in the projects. The emergence of web publishing tools, portal communities, and media archiving tools eases this process.

In today’s e-archived world, print everything distribution is being supplemented with on-line access or print on demand using web browsers, CD and DVD duplication, viewing software, and web based archive management tools. The need for printing these drawings is being affordably met with on-demand strategies with LED and inkjet systems. Capturing existing drawings into this environment is met with scanning components that can operate in a scan to print or scan to file methods.

The changing role of print distribution

Prior to 1996, a pick up and deliver method was the driving force for many reprographics companies. This gave way to the digital duplication process seen in the integrated OCE and Xerox based systems that offer integrated but proprietary scan and print systems. Now, companies are moving the digital reprographics process to a document portal and management service powered by the internet. This new eprographics™economy is initiated by getting drawings into an electronic scanned image format. Drawings can be accessed with near real-time delivery speed, costs to distribute are a fraction of print media, and the availability of on-demand printing gives us local hard copies for only the documents we need.

The Net Century - repro to eprographics

We’ve all become spoiled with the power of the web and search engine technologies. Everything at our fingertips. Search, find and access what we need when we need it. Once found, view it, redline it and print it. This is often called print on demand. Rather than print everything on paper and send it to a client, the digital era allows us to place all files in intelligent and compact databases (CD or DVD), or through an on-line portal. This allows them to print only what they need, when they need it.

This trend is supported by research conducted by the International Reprographics Association (IRgA) in its "Strategies for the Digital Era". This report acknowledges that while media consumption is on the rise (more prints), outsourced reprographics is on a decline. Companies are moving to a "Distribute then Print" philosophy as opposed to print everything then distribute once.

The other trend impacting reprographics outsourcing is the move to more localized and departmental scanning and printing systems. Inkjet and affordable LED printers make it easy for companies to have their own printing capabilities without having to go to specialized outside or inside services. Scanners, like those from market leader Contex Scanning Technology, can support the independent needs of a department or operate as integrated components to existing printing equipment. The scanner acts as an enabler to create the digital archive that can now be distributed electronically.

There are several distinct groups of print distribution (reprographics) providers we would like to explore in this article.

Blueprint Houses

This group consists of companies who maintain a business of making blueprints from originals and return both the copies and originals to the client. They will restore poor quality images using scanning or photographic processes.

Blueprint houses can handle small to mid-size drawing reproduction requirements. Their core business is not concerned with archiving but with providing copy/print services. Only the larger players have tackled the digital reprographics environment using OCE or integrated systems. This is mainly due to the large up-front investment required for these higher end systems.

Reprographics Job Shops with Archiving

This group offers many of the same functions as the blueprint houses, but will also offer an archival service to their clients. Typically, they store the hardcopy drawings or aperture cards then produce copies for the clients on demand. Some will handle the distribution of multiple copies of drawings for bid requests or other client purposes.

Many reprographics shops have developed a digital approach using hybrid scan/print systems. Some of the more progressive players are offering published CD databases and web distribution services by utilizing scan to file capability in their systems. This allows them to change their business models to incorporate digital service –thus keeping clients.

In-house Reprographics Departments

These departments are found within major corporations to provide document capture, storage and distribution services for their company’s engineering drawings. Their goals are similar to those of reprographics job shops. A digital archive is usually maintained and drawings are scanned and distributed upon demand.

Companies moving toward electronic archival implementations would often target the processes of these departments as their first step towards Engineering Document Management and other electronic archiving systems.

On-Demand Departmental Reprographics

Ultimately, speed, quality, and ease of services are what people want most in meeting their reprographics demands. With low ownership costs and low fixed (buy-in) costs, these printing requirements are being met with affordable ink jet plotter systems available from big name players. While they don’t match the performance characteristics of the larger LED systems, they do meet typical volume and price/performance demands of the individual user and many small and mid-size companies.

This cost phenomenon has spurred strong growth for companies to rely on their own printing services without the need for outside services or specialized in-house reprographics. This takes into consideration drawings already in electronic form, but what about those original blueprints or contractor supplied plots that are not in digital form

Back to the future -The changing role of Scanners

Scanners have provided the method for bringing existing paper archives into Document Management, raster drafting, and vector CAD environments for years. The latter part of the 90’s saw the explosion of scan to print reprographics with giants like OCE and Xerox moving from traditional reprographics duplication products to digital scan to print lines. In both situations, scanners are used as the front-end capture system for existing paper based archives.

A problem common to the integrated system is inherent in the scanner design. They were built to deliver fast scan to print capabilities. As a result, speed was emphasized while image quality and enhancement were sacrificed to meet these design objectives.

Cost is another factor to consider. An alternative to a tightly integrated system is to use your existing plotter hardware with a more open scanning system that can communicate directly with the plotters memory. Instead of ending up a proprietary system designed for fast printing, you end up with high quality components that operate independently or as an integrated scan-to-print system.

The best approach is a solution where a scanner is capable of addressing the critical image enhancement quality concerns for the scan-to-file needs, and a flexible architecture that integrates with existing equipment as a scan-to-print system. Scanners like the Contex line of Scan-to-Copy systems offers a "open" strategy allowing companies to use existing investments in printer hardware, offers flexibility in configurations, is more cost effective, and produces higher quality imaging.

All is not Black and White

Another evolution for scanners is Color reprographics capability. A new line of affordable and open color scanner systems, like the Contex FSC 36", Chroma 40", and Magnum 50", have emerged that tie into established color plotting suppliers (HP, Epson…) for a scan to print offering yet also act as standalone monochrome or color input devices.

The concept of closed loop calibration enables these scanners to automate the color calibration process and control the saturation and lightness during the scanning process. First, they generate a test color pattern of known color sequences, then scan in the test pattern and adjust as required. Software that is supplied with these systems makes it possible to perform typical enlargement, reproduction, and duplication services

Conclusion

Now and in the near future, we are seeing an emphasis back on the traditional scan to file approach to accommodate the emerging focus on the digital archive. Getting a drawing into a quality digital file is the initial requirement to empower the life cycle of a drawing.

David J. Wilson, President and CEO of Open Archive Systems, Inc., a solutions provider for B2B Web enabled management and archiving systems for CAD, scanned images, and office documents. Mr. Wilson is a respected consultant and expert in the digital imaging and archiving environment serving many Fortune 100 companies, reprographics organizations and vendors in the industry.