Boston, MA, July 2, 2004--Just as electronic engine control systems produced radical performance improvements in automobiles, two Xerox Corporation (Stamford, CT) scientists believe that digital color printing will reap similar advantages from the even more advanced control system technologies now being implemented.
In a paper describing new frontiers in xerographic system controls presented yesterday to the 2004 American Control Conference, Xerox researchers Eric S. Hamby and Eric M. Gross referenced a McKinsey Quarterly article on the impact of control in the automotive industry: Electronic engine control systems enabled the internal-combustion engine, over the last decade, to more than double its average horsepower per liter, while at the same time significantly lowering cost and sharply reducing emissions.
"Efforts to apply control system technology to the digital color printing industry are just beginning to intensify, and the potential for systems and control principles to impact this industry are enormous," they said. Until very recently, digital printing product performance was primarily achieved through hardware design -- by specifying tight tolerances on components, subsystems and materials.
Among the areas where control technology is expected to make significant impact on the digital color printing industry are reliability, cost, and print quality consistency -- from print-to-print, day-to-day and machine-to-machine. The scientists concluded by urging members of the systems and control community to consider digital printing an emerging area where there is an opportunity to make significant contributions.