Essen, 24.11.2021 – Just a handful of clicks, data check included and a 3D preview even before the order. Printing can be that easy – at least if Printkit has its way. For its approach to making online printing customer-centric and thus even more intuitive, the online printing start-up from Berlin received the IOP Award for Most Innovative Online Printer of the Year at this year’s Druck&Medien Awards.
© Photo by zipcon consulting / zipcon.de
Printkit UG was founded in April 2020 as a spin-off of the software company Breakpoint One and has set itself the task of rethinking the ordering process in online printing and making it completely intuitive. “We have implemented numerous software projects in the printing industry in the past,” Olaf Sacher recalls of Printkit’s beginnings. “This experience together with our background in data and product visualisation ultimately led to the idea for a new, user-centric approach to online printing.”
The resulting online print platform, Printkit, makes process steps that were previously often calculated separately the standard and offers real-time 3D visualisation for all products.
In this way, paper, folding and finishing as well as all other details of the job are to be visualised in real time and quasi photo-realistically. In addition, Printkit offers the possibility to share, discuss and coordinate a created job with others. And thanks to the integrated real-time data check, any errors and problems can be corrected even before the actual order is placed.
All this also convinced the Druck&Medien Awards jury: “The company has linked its online print portal with a 3D visualisation of the print product. This entry or approach, which is already practised in the apparel sector, for example, was considered innovative for print,” they said in their statement.
“We warmly congratulate the Printkit team on winning the award for Most Innovative Online Printer of the Year and are delighted that the e-commerce idea is being carried further into the printing industry. With its solution, Printkit proves that the ‘keep it simple’ approach can also be successfully implemented in the printing industry,” says Bernd Zipper, Chairman of Initiative Onlineprint.
And the people behind Printkit are also proud to have been honoured with the IOP Award at the Druck&Medien Awards 2021: “For us the award came as a total surprise! We haven’t really digested it yet. The award is a huge confirmation of our work over the past years and shows that we are on the right track with our approach. It means an immense amount to us and also gives us new motivation to implement the many ideas we still have in the drawer,” explains Printkit managing director Olaf Sacher.
By the way: Print service providers can also use Printkit’s Digital Twin solution and real-time data check via a licensing model.
The Druck&Medien Awards, which were presented for the 17th time this year, are among the most important awards in the German printing industry. They honour companies in the printing industry in 25 different categories, ranging from the best sales team, environmentally oriented companies to the printing manager of the year. Every year the Initiative Onlineprint (IOP) presents the award for the Most Innovative Online Printer of the Year as part of the Druck&Medien Awards. The IOP currently has 42 member companies. The board of directors consists of Bernd Zipper, Thomas Masselink and Wilhelm A. Soll.