Premier Paper is the first UK paper merchant to commit to the Zaikio Procurement platform, the cloud based application for automating the ordering of consumables developed as a first step in creating a cloud based eco system for print. The first target for Zaikio has been paper with merchants in the DACH countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland followed by some in Scandinavia, starting to use the system.
Premier, which has the necessary IT infrastructure in place across its network, is the first in the UK to sign up. It is currently processing what it needs to do to add its portfolio to the platform enabling customers to order through the portal.
Zaikio Procurement enables printers to place orders for paper without the need for emails and phone calls and without the time and hassle that this can take. The paper merchant receives an accurate order without the need for support for orders that are phoned or emailed in.
Zaikio already has a handful of UK printers ready to test this and other elements of the Zaikio automation ecosystem as it is rolled out in months to come. The core Mission Control element is due to be at the field test stage before the end of the year. the German developer is keen to bring more UK companies on board.
The Procurement engine will radically cut the time needed to order standard grades and sizes of paper and eliminate any mistakes that can creep in during the order process. Zaikio reckons that its use can save two hours of manpower a day for a small printer, eight hours away for a larger company. amounting to salary saved.
In Germany, one printer has confirmed “the time savings are enormous”. Druckerei Bastian places orders with its merchant Metapaper which access the merchant’s own data for delivery, price and availability. Status is automatically updated in the portal view that the printer sees.
Now Premier is the first merchant in the UK to sign up, having identified the potential. “We are constantly looking to improve our service and to give our customers the opportunity to search for and order their desired material directly and without fuss. We aim to be a supplier that is easy to deal with and Zaikio Procurement simplifies the ordering process and frees up valuable time and resources for our customers,” says marketing director Dave Jones.
Premier already has the APIs available to link it to Zaikio’s cloud, giving Premier a head start.
While Antalis is signed up to Zaikio Procurement in Germany, it is not yet online in the UK. This way Zaikio engages with two of the largest Japanese global merchants, KPP which owns Antalis and JPP, owner of Premier. Antalis UK is likely to join the system in the next year.
“We need to start somewhere,” says partner success manager Karl Ciz. “Premier has a huge spread of deliverables and warehouses which was a major defining factor.
“We are already seeing millions of pounds of orders been transacted in very smooth fashion through the system.
“Paper is just the first step of the wider concept or making everything accessible through data.” In Germany Zaikio has already added plates, inks and consumables through Heinrich Steuber, one of the major distributors in the country.
The bigger prize – Zaikio’s declaration of intent is to digitise the entire printing industry – is edging closer with Mission Control being prepared for launch. This will be the telephone exchange in a print workflow and communications network, linking information and intents from one application to another without the hassle of creating direct interfaces. The only interface that is needed is into Mission Control and from Mission Control.
This can include web to print applications, MIS, CRM and production workflows that until now have either had to operate within a walled garden, like Prinect, or by using JDF/JMF.
It expands on the capability of something like Switch by linking business systems as well as pure production and preflighting applications. It will, says Ciz, allow printers to choose their preferred application rather than be constrained by the tools that are already connected. And there is no onsite technology as everything is cloud based.
“Paper is just the first step,” he says. “There are at least three UK printers that are really interested and that we are talking to. It starts to open access to big data and the benefits that can accrue through optimisation of workflows.”
The funding that Zaikio has received from Heidelberg does not imply that this is a Heidelberg initiative, though the press manufacturer has made clear its interest in digitising the industry.
“Zaikio is a broad and open platform that provides interoperability between every single system out there. Heidelberg is backing us, so some of the conversations with other providers have been slower than we would like. But we have had high level conversations with other providers, with the biggest nervousness coming from the digital print world.”
From the Automation section in the Sep/Oct 2021 issue of the magazine
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