Tiffany Bisson · Print Technology Consul...
A printer may be rated at an impressive number of boards per hour, but how many sellable boards actually make it through production?
At PRINTING United 2026 in Las Vegas, Wayne Beckett meets with Tiffany Bisson from EFI to discuss an increasingly important issue for print service providers: the gap between theoretical machine speed and real-world production throughput.
As part of EFI's product team, Tiffany works both before and after the sale. On the pre-sales side, that means helping ensure the right technology is placed in the right production environment. After installation, much of her work involves listening to customers — understanding what works, where bottlenecks develop, and which capabilities EFI should consider in future generations of equipment.
And customers aren't simply asking for faster printers.
They want uptime, easier material handling, fewer downstream processes, and ultimately more finished work through the factory.
A press can have impressive specifications, but if operators struggle with substrates, changeovers, finishing, or maintenance, the advertised speed becomes less relevant. That's why EFI increasingly looks beyond the print engine itself and considers the complete production process.
One example is inline protective clear ink, which can eliminate separate lamination processes for certain applications. Another is the ability of EFI's hybrid platforms to move quickly between roll-fed and rigid production, allowing print service providers to handle very different jobs on the same platform.
Automation obviously plays an important role, particularly on high-volume equipment such as the EFI VUTEk Q3h XP. Tiffany explains the different levels of material-handling automation available — from assisted loading and automated stacking to fully automated production.
But she also makes an interesting distinction.
Automation isn't always the fastest answer.
In a hybrid production environment, a printer may need to switch from roll-to-roll production to rigid boards, from large sheets to multiple smaller pieces, or between completely different applications several times during a shift. Full automation can be extremely effective for long, repetitive production runs, but it can also introduce complexity when versatility and very fast changeovers are more important.
That makes the equation more nuanced: automate the processes where automation genuinely increases throughput, but maintain flexibility where human interaction allows the production line to change direction faster.
EFI's hybrid platforms illustrate that philosophy. A printer can run two rolls simultaneously with different jobs and then transition relatively quickly into rigid board production. Rolls and substrates can be staged in advance, while different table and media-handling configurations support multi-lane, double-sided and varied production.
For print service providers looking to diversify, that flexibility becomes increasingly valuable. Signage, rigid display graphics, roll-fed applications, textile and other wide-format opportunities may require very different production methods, but customers increasingly expect PSPs to move between them quickly.
The objective isn't automation for automation's sake.
It's uptime. Fewer touches. Faster changeovers. More applications. And ultimately, more sellable output during every production hour.
Watch Wayne Beckett's conversation with Tiffany Bisson from EFI at PRINTING United 2026 in Las Vegas.
