In last month’s blog, we took a closer look at the efficiencies you can experience when using MaxLab Client, emphasising how it streamlines user interaction and enhances overall workflow. This month, we’re turning our attention to MaxLab Production Agent, a crucial component of the MaxLab ecosystem.Â
Powering through heavy workloads
If MaxLab Client is the user-friendly interface that makes your day-to-day tasks more manageable, then Production Agent is the unsung hero operating in the background. It’s the robust engine that powers complex processes, managing heavy workloads with precision and reliability. While you may not interact with it directly as often, its impact is significant—ensuring that tasks are completed efficiently and with minimal need for user intervention. Essentially, MaxLab Production Agent quietly handles the heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on what matters most without being bogged down by the intricacies of backend operations.
What does MaxLab Production Agent do?
The primary function of MaxLab Production Agent is to convert designed artwork from the layout designer or other packages into high-quality images for direct printing. It efficiently handles the rendering process, allowing you to print directly to a connected printer. Additionally, the Production Agent offers flexibility by enabling you to render the file as a JPEG image or multi-page PDFs, depending on your needs. This versatility ensures that your designs are easily accessible in both digital and physical formats, streamlining the production workflow. Meaning more throughput.
We offer direct connectivity to a wide range of devices, enhancing the flexibility of your production process. Additionally, with the "render to file" option, if your printer supports a ‘hot folder’ mode, we can connect to it seamlessly through this method as well. This ensures that your production setup can accommodate various workflows and device configurations, providing you with a versatile and efficient printing solution.
Devices where we have direct connectivity:
Noritsu
Fuji Frontier
Epson
Windows Printer
Render to File
Render to PDF
Digital Delivery
Order Fulfilment
Orders can be created in several ways, offering flexibility to suit your workflow.
Automatically generated and downloaded directly from your ordering website, streamlining the process for online transactions.
Create orders using product barcodes and the built-in order builder within MaxLab Client, providing a seamless and efficient method of handling on-site orders.
Your customer service team can create orders via the portal, facilitating quick and easy management of customer complaints, and ensuring a smooth end-to-end order process.
Once orders are created, they can be seamlessly transferred to MaxLab Production Agent for rendering and completion. The Production Agent takes over from there, efficiently processing the orders and preparing them for output. Using auto routing, each order is automatically directed to the most appropriate printer based on predefined criteria, ensuring that the production process is both streamlined and accurate, eliminating manual intervention, reducing errors and speeding up order fulfilment.Â
Now, let’s dive deeper into how auto routing works and the benefits it brings to your production workflow.
Product Routing
Product routing is one of the key strengths of MaxLab Production Agent, offering flexibility and efficiency in managing your workflow. It can be as straightforward as sending an order directly to a specific printer or more customised by automatically routing products to any device. With the option to create tailored product routes, you can optimise your workflow, ensuring that orders are processed quickly and accurately, while maintaining full control over how and where each product is produced. While product routing might seem complex when described, it's a one-time setup. Once configured, you can quickly and efficiently produce thousands of images across multiple print outputs, including the option to email a link for digital image fulfilment. This powerful automation streamlines your workflow, ensuring consistent and scalable production with minimal ongoing effort.
One way to utilise routing is by directing specific products to designated printers. For example, if you have a large format printer dedicated to printing only large prints, you can send the entire order as one, and MaxLab Production Agent will automatically route those large prints to the appropriate printer. However, there’s no need to pre-route all your products. When releasing an order, you can choose how to handle items without predefined routing information, allowing for a manual override if needed. This flexibility ensures that your production process is both automated and adaptable to changing needs.
Another optimisation strategy is to assign specific paper widths to individual printers. For instance, if you have two printers, each equipped with two paper cassettes—one for 8-inch paper and another for 5-inch paper—you can streamline production by avoiding frequent paper changes. Instead of having a printer switching between paper widths, which can slow the process down, you can route all 8-inch prints to Printer A and all 5-inch prints to Printer B. This targeted routing ensures continuous operation, maximising printer efficiency and reducing downtime.
Yet another approach is to use load balancing if you have multiple printers capable of producing the same products. This allows you to distribute the workload evenly across several printers, optimising production efficiency and reducing the strain on any single device. Load balancing ensures no printer is overwhelmed, leading to faster turnaround times and smoother operation across your production line.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this blog diving into MaxLab Production Agent’s features designed to boost your business efficiencies. If you’d like to know more about how MaxLab can help your business save time and increase productivity, contact our team to book a call.
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