▲ Wallis has emphasised the importance of the human element when producing printed materials sharing. It’s become a bit of an obsession (my wife would probably prefer I spent more time watching “Sort Your Life Out” than banging on about workflows). We’re currently automating our prepress, parts of our finishing processes, and everything up to the point where a job hits the press. The goal is to eliminate the need for skilled studio time on around 70% of files. This means quicker turnarounds, fewer touchpoints, and fewer chances for errors. Creating instant repeatable tasks not only relieves some of the burden but also removes an element of human error. If there’s a problem with the automation then we only have to fix it once, not add it to a list and try to remember the extra steps. Our biggest challenge isn’t just automation, it’s balance. We want to be more efficient without losing the thing that sets us apart: our human touch. That’s what keeps us different from the giant, faceless print factories (no offence). It’s literally the value we are adding. The Barriers to Automation Two big hurdles held me back from automating sooner: mindset and money. Most automation tools seemed to demand massive investment, not just financially but in time and (ongoing) expertise. If you’ve got the cash and a developer on staff, you can build a dream system that runs itself. But for most smaller printers, that’s not realistic. We didn’t have the budget or internal resources, so I wrote off the idea completely. That was a mistake. What changed was realising we didn’t need a custom-built machine, we could start small. Off-the-shelf products, tweaked for our needs, did the job. We’ve always worked closely with independent or familyrun businesses, and we’ve taken that same approach with our software suppliers – partnering with people who are willing to adapt and improve with us. My background in software has helped bridge the gap between developer and printer, which has made this transition much smoother. The Unexpected Benefits Even though our setup isn’t fully live yet (and honestly, when is software ever done?), we’re already seeing the upsides. Just mapping out our customer journey and internal workflow on paper has brought clarity. You start spotting bottlenecks and wasted steps. The software simply turbocharges that clarity. Once we’re fully integrated, we expect to reduce manual prepress tasks by 70%, letting our team focus on things that genuinely need a human touch, like building relationships or solving design challenges. Where Automation Fails Our clients don’t want a transactional experience. They want to know someone is paying attention. They’ll chat to us about football, politics, or how they can’t stand the latest budget speech. That human connection matters. We’ve built in human checkpoints for every file, no matter how perfect it looks, it's reviewed before print. Software doesn’t catch a missing date on a wedding invite. It doesn’t question a weird fold line. But we do, and that’s the difference. Learning the Hard Way At first, we got it wrong. Some clients assumed we’d stopped caring because the emails looked too generic. One literally said: “If a human had looked at this, they’d have caught it.” That was our cue to be clearer: automation helps us care more, not less. It gives us time back to focus on people, not paperwork. How It Helps Us Compete We’re not trying to be Amazon. Big companies already run at a speed and scale we can’t match. Automation won’t change that. But for us, it’s helped manage the load. We’ve held off on hiring, and instead, made better use of the great people we already have. That’s the beauty of smallscale automation – it’s not about replacing your team, it’s about supporting them. Automation is Not: 1. Out of reach. 2. A massive, all-or-nothing transformation. Too many printers over-engineer their systems, trying to build the perfect machine. But that’s a rabbit hole. My advice? Start small. Book demos. Talk to printers who’ve done it. There are tools out there for us smaller guys. They work. You just have to be willing to learn – and to let go of the idea of perfection. The Future of Automation (For Us) Everyone wants to automate everything these days. But we’re not building that kind of business. For us, automation is about time, allowing us more of it for the parts of the job that actually matter. It’s not about replacing people; it’s about making our jobs better, because let’s be honest – an algorithm doesn’t care about a print job, but we do. 37 www.printmonthly.co.uk July / August 2025 - Issue 355 FRESH PERSPECTIVES | NEIL WALLIS ▼ Inkwell Printing has implemented automation to several parts of its process in order to streamline and improve print jobs
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