PaperCut Releases New Software Version to Combine 3D Printing and Specialty Production Printing In One Solution

It’s important to keep your 3D printing software up to date, so everything is current and running smoothly. Global print management software company PaperCut, based in Australia, was founded in 1998, with an aim of helping workplaces that have difficulties with printing costs and print management. Since then, the company has helped 50 million users in 175 countries save trillions of pages of paper with its cross-platform, vendor neutral software solutions – PaperCut MF and PaperCut NG.

PaperCut also works in the 3D printing industry, and just announced that its PaperCut MF v18.0 software, which combines 3D printing and specialty production printing under one simple software solution, is now available to existing and future customers and partners.

Andy Slawetsky, President of Industry Analysts, Inc., explained, “The need for specialty print production is only increasing for organizations, especially universities. This market barely existed five years ago. Since then, there’s been a rapid increase in demand resulting in a high unmet need for specialty print jobs to be managed and tracked under a unified capacity.”

The latest version of PaperCut MF helps commercial, education, and professional service customers efficiently manage specialty printing jobs by using its new Job Ticketing capability, which includes user identification, security, and cost management features.

“Until now, the lack of connection between our customers’ general and specialty printing solutions – such as print rooms and 3D fab labs – has been a burden that cost them both time and money. To solve these problems, we’ve created a simple solution that will improve their specialty printing controls, security and payment options,” said Chris Dance, Co-Founder and CEO of PaperCut.

PaperCut MF v18.0 keeps the workflow efficient, and connects fab labs and print rooms at community and legal organizations, educational institutions, hospitals, and local governments with the software’s print management system. By integrating Job Ticketing, operators are able to accept 3D printing and specialty job submissions, like prototype production and laser cutting, then track them during the process, while also having the ability to communicate the current status to the user.

Until now, organizations that required specialty prints did not have efficient or affordable enough options to be able to produce and manage these types of jobs. Instead, they had to rely on expensive, limited software solutions or manual, inefficient management and tracking processes.

Job Ticketing is under the same software umbrella that people use to manage general office printing, so v18.0 users can submit print requests, track progress, make changes, and flag questions without having to be re-authenticated or set up a different profile. This means that operators can focus more of their time delivering high quality products, and less on managing processes.

The capability can also be used to drive customer engagement through a built-in messaging capability, solve billing problems by providing instant account balance checks, and increase efficiency by removing items that are out of stock.

According to the website, “This release is a real game changer. For the first time ever, PaperCut MF lets you track and control ALL print devices across your organization, including the production printers in your in-house print room, and 3D printers and CNC machines in your fabrication labs.”

The PaperCut MF v18.0 increases workflow efficiency and integration, but that’s not all – it can also reduce the need for users to purchase other software packages for the print room, and it supports all of the document fonts and formats on customers’ devices. End users can submit a 3D job or print room through the streamlined web interface, and the update allows for direct communication between customers and operators, as well as order progress updates.

The software leverages customers’ current accounting environment and user permissions, enabling operators to charge for jobs right back to their accounts. Plus, it features new security updates, which will keep customers compliant with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is working to create a harmonized data protection law framework across the EU and will be enforced across Europe soon.

Additional PaperCut MF v18.0 embedded solutions and updates are available across many MFD devices, in keeping with PaperCut’s vendor-neutral approach, so the platform continues to work together with manufacturer progress. In the new version, pricing is licensed, per print room, as a single, standard product; commercial and education customers will have exclusive access to a single price.

To learn more details about the product specs and interoperability, you can review the release notes here. An upgrade to the latest version of PaperCut MF is included if you have a current subscription to Premium Upgrade Assurance (PUA).

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[Images: PaperCut]