arifiQ news
arifiQ Awarded US Patent for Automatic Estimating and Job Onboarding Technology
arifiQ finds the best production process and provides a quote in seconds
The US Patent and Trademark office has granted arifiQ Development AB a patent for “A system and a method of optimizing a print production process”, adding that arifiQ is the only technology in the US able to solve the industry’s severe print estimating bottleneck. arifiQ remedies the estimating problem by unleashing automatic job estimating and onboarding for ad-hoc/custom jobs. arifiQ finds the best production process and provides a quote in seconds. The patented arifiQ technology is today used in arifiQ’s estimating products, via APIs, and also in white label products.
In a world where everything else is available immediately, the wait for print job estimates has stood out as unusual and deeply frustrating. arifiQ eliminates the wait – completely – with the world’s fastest optimizing and estimating engine for print.
Why patentable
The system and method are patentable because they replace human decisions made by skilled estimators who work on print job estimates for days, finding the best production process. arifiQ finds and determines the best: Imposition/signatures, sheet size, printing press, paper; i.e., everything required for the job… in seconds. In the same moment that job specifications are decided, runtimes and costs are also calculated.
arifiQ automation enables sales organizations and customers to initiate any print estimate online, get the quote, and place the order.
Optimization
The automatic optimization in arifiQ does not necessarily need to be based on cost/lowest price. Optimization can also be based on waste, delivery time, environmental impact, or other variables.
The Patent
The patent underscores the power of arifiQ’s advanced approach and represents a major departure from existing spreadsheet back ends and the primarily manual methods employed by the majority of the industry.
The arifiQ patent, US Patent No.10956099, covers:
- automatic calculation of production costs for each possible job,
- co-production (also known as “gang-run”),
- a virtual print driver, which sends job orders to the PSP[1] from any software application,
- an API for calculating print costs, and
- the ability to build marketplaces and portals, with multiple cooperating (or competing) printing companies.
Licensing
As this method for print estimating can become mandatory in the printing industry, arifiQ is expected to be inside or integrated with many different solutions including MIS, W2P, and Prepress and Production Workflows.
For instance, W2P systems of today can only provide immediate pricing for standard SKU jobs. The patented arifiQ method is breaking through that barrier to immediately price any type of print job, including custom print, making e-commerce possible for the demanding B2B segment.
“Printers and their customers cannot enjoy the benefits of digital workflows until every step is digitized. Patented arifiQ technology closes what is arguably the last – and definitely the largest – analog gap, by automating estimating and job onboarding,” says arifiQ technology inventor, CTO Stefan Karlsson.
Link to patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200167102A1/en?assignee=arifiq&oq=arifiq
[1] Print service provider
Read the news at:
Ink usage/cost for inkjet devices
Fast print calculation is at the heart of arifiQ. It wasn’t really that far-fetched that arifiQ could also be doing real ink usage estimations. Although it has been a struggle to be both correct and fast made ink usage estimates difficult, but the issue has now been conquered.
How arifiQ powers to automatically deliver the most rapid and accurate ink calculations:
- Reads the print job PDF file
- Captures the ink coverage and calculates the ink usage and cost
Together with arifiQ job estimating, this ink calculating capability provides a totally complete print job estimation, including specification of the job production process and cost.
Today this ink cost calculator is used in Canon Solutions America’s VIEW product – press release:
https://csa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/csa/company/companypressreleases/pressreleasedetails/2020/20200925-view/20200925-view
Allkopi Netprint – Norways largest print provider, automates sales- & order routine with arifiQ
The print production workflow starts at the customer. This insight made, the Paragon Group entity, Allkopi Netprint AS choose arifiQ as their new hybrid MIS- /sales tool solution.
- With arifiQ, our sales team are fully equipped to bring home orders, not only RFQ’s. Our goal is not only to increase sales, but also to enhance the customer satisfaction. arifiQ’s MIS capabilities with the amazingly easy-to-use interface, made all the difference to us, says Camilla Mørstad, Allkopi Netprint.
Demanding list of Requirements
When looking around for a new MIS, the list of requirements was quite demanding. One big issue was the management of Allkopi Netprint’s many production units. The 17 units needs to run as separate sites, but also tied together as a joint print portal with joint customer database and reporting.
The main purpose with a new MIS, is to speed up the sales process and administration processes internally and for that, automation is key. By integrating arifiQ to their ERP-, freight-, and production workflow system, Allkopi Netprint will get a smooth seamless workflow, from customer to delivery and invoicing.
- Our customers are gaining a higher service level, instant quotes, easy job onboarding and faster turn-around times. And we’re hoping to get higher profitability, more jobs to a less costly production process. A classic win-win situation, Camilla Mørstad says and smiles.
Implementation
arifiQ set out a challenging time frame for the implementation, only 3 months for 17 production sites, 100 printing presses and 200 in staff to introduce, starting off this week. Allkopi Netprint and arifiQ are both very dedicated to pull this off before summer holidays and excited to get it into production mode.
Facts about Allkopi:
Paragon Group Ltd is a British organization present in 17 countries, with a global sales reach €750+ million turnover. Allkopi NetPrint is a Paragon Group subsidiary based in Norway, with 18 print production sites throughout the country.
Contact:
Allkopi NetPrint, Camilla Mørstad, camilla.morstad@allkopi.com, telefon +47 400 20 755
arifiQ Development, Carina Karlsson, carina@arifiq.com, +46 70 389 19 09
arifiQ Awarded US Patent for Automatic Estimating and Job Onboarding Technology
arifiQ finds the best production process and provides a quote in seconds
The US Patent and Trademark office has granted arifiQ Development AB a patent for “A system and a method of optimizing a print production process”, adding that arifiQ is the only technology in the US able to solve the industry’s severe print estimating bottleneck. arifiQ remedies the estimating problem by unleashing automatic job estimating and onboarding for ad-hoc/custom jobs. arifiQ finds the best production process and provides a quote in seconds. The patented arifiQ technology is today used in arifiQ’s estimating products, via APIs, and also in white label products.
In a world where everything else is available immediately, the wait for print job estimates has stood out as unusual and deeply frustrating. arifiQ eliminates the wait – completely – with the world’s fastest optimizing and estimating engine for print.
Why patentable
The system and method are patentable because they replace human decisions made by skilled estimators who work on print job estimates for days, finding the best production process. arifiQ finds and determines the best: Imposition/signatures, sheet size, printing press, paper; i.e., everything required for the job… in seconds. In the same moment that job specifications are decided, runtimes and costs are also calculated.
arifiQ automation enables sales organizations and customers to initiate any print estimate online, get the quote, and place the order.
Optimization
The automatic optimization in arifiQ does not necessarily need to be based on cost/lowest price. Optimization can also be based on waste, delivery time, environmental impact, or other variables.
The Patent
The patent underscores the power of arifiQ’s advanced approach and represents a major departure from existing spreadsheet back ends and the primarily manual methods employed by the majority of the industry.
The arifiQ patent, US Patent No.10956099, covers:
- automatic calculation of production costs for each possible job,
- co-production (also known as “gang-run”),
- a virtual print driver, which sends job orders to the PSP[1] from any software application,
- an API for calculating print costs, and
- the ability to build marketplaces and portals, with multiple cooperating (or competing) printing companies.
Licensing
As this method for print estimating can become mandatory in the printing industry, arifiQ is expected to be inside or integrated with many different solutions including MIS, W2P, and Prepress and Production Workflows.
For instance, W2P systems of today can only provide immediate pricing for standard SKU jobs. The patented arifiQ method is breaking through that barrier to immediately price any type of print job, including custom print, making e-commerce possible for the demanding B2B segment.
“Printers and their customers cannot enjoy the benefits of digital workflows until every step is digitized. Patented arifiQ technology closes what is arguably the last – and definitely the largest – analog gap, by automating estimating and job onboarding,” says arifiQ technology inventor, CTO Stefan Karlsson.
Link to patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200167102A1/en?assignee=arifiq&oq=arifiq
[1] Print service provider
Read the news at:
Ink usage/cost for inkjet devices
Fast print calculation is at the heart of arifiQ. It wasn’t really that far-fetched that arifiQ could also be doing real ink usage estimations. Although it has been a struggle to be both correct and fast made ink usage estimates difficult, but the issue has now been conquered.
How arifiQ powers to automatically deliver the most rapid and accurate ink calculations:
- Reads the print job PDF file
- Captures the ink coverage and calculates the ink usage and cost
Together with arifiQ job estimating, this ink calculating capability provides a totally complete print job estimation, including specification of the job production process and cost.
Today this ink cost calculator is used in Canon Solutions America’s VIEW product – press release:
https://csa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/csa/company/companypressreleases/pressreleasedetails/2020/20200925-view/20200925-view
Allkopi Netprint – Norways largest print provider, automates sales- & order routine with arifiQ
The print production workflow starts at the customer. This insight made, the Paragon Group entity, Allkopi Netprint AS choose arifiQ as their new hybrid MIS- /sales tool solution.
- With arifiQ, our sales team are fully equipped to bring home orders, not only RFQ’s. Our goal is not only to increase sales, but also to enhance the customer satisfaction. arifiQ’s MIS capabilities with the amazingly easy-to-use interface, made all the difference to us, says Camilla Mørstad, Allkopi Netprint.
Demanding list of Requirements
When looking around for a new MIS, the list of requirements was quite demanding. One big issue was the management of Allkopi Netprint’s many production units. The 17 units needs to run as separate sites, but also tied together as a joint print portal with joint customer database and reporting.
The main purpose with a new MIS, is to speed up the sales process and administration processes internally and for that, automation is key. By integrating arifiQ to their ERP-, freight-, and production workflow system, Allkopi Netprint will get a smooth seamless workflow, from customer to delivery and invoicing.
- Our customers are gaining a higher service level, instant quotes, easy job onboarding and faster turn-around times. And we’re hoping to get higher profitability, more jobs to a less costly production process. A classic win-win situation, Camilla Mørstad says and smiles.
Implementation
arifiQ set out a challenging time frame for the implementation, only 3 months for 17 production sites, 100 printing presses and 200 in staff to introduce, starting off this week. Allkopi Netprint and arifiQ are both very dedicated to pull this off before summer holidays and excited to get it into production mode.
Facts about Allkopi:
Paragon Group Ltd is a British organization present in 17 countries, with a global sales reach €750+ million turnover. Allkopi NetPrint is a Paragon Group subsidiary based in Norway, with 18 print production sites throughout the country.
Contact:
Allkopi NetPrint, Camilla Mørstad, camilla.morstad@allkopi.com, telefon +47 400 20 755
arifiQ Development, Carina Karlsson, carina@arifiq.com, +46 70 389 19 09