Printful shares insights on using artificial intelligence in print-on-demand
Printful, the print-on-demand drop shipping company, shares insights on how artificial intelligence (AI), especially machine learning (ML), is helping the company identify illegal content, and making sure thousands of customers don't order products with poor quality designs.
Printful was founded by people with a strong IT background, that's why the company approaches the on-demand printing business with the knowledge of automation, technology innovation, and process optimization.
One of the ways the company uses machine learning is for detecting customer-uploaded image transparency. When printed, images that have high transparency often look different from what was previewed on a screen. To make sure customers can fix their images before moving to fulfilment, Printful's algorithm warns the customer about possible colour differences in the print file.
A Printful employee can manually check up to 10,000 files per month whereas a ML tool can process the same amount of files in 2 to 4.5 minutes. “We have to make sure our customers get quality products, and with the help of machine learning, we can help thousands of customers by improving their experience every day. We wouldn't be able to do that just by ourselves,” says Janis Akmentins, Head of Engineering at Printful.
Printful also uses Smart Image Tool—an ML tool that's trained to recognize the DPI (dots per inch) of images uploaded in Printful's Mockup Generator. If an image has a low DPI and risks yielding poor print results after being resized or otherwise adjusted in the Generator, the tool doubles the DPI. As a result, the customer can make their image larger without compromising quality.
Amazon Rekognition is an ML tool that Printful specialists use to detect copyright violations and avoid printing fraudulent or illegal content. This tool can identify texts, labels, recognize politicians, and other celebrities. In cases where Rekognition is unsure whether the file content violates copyright, Printful's Content Team reviews them manually.
Topics
Interested in joining our community?
Enquire today about joining your local FESPA Association or FESPA Direct
Recent news
The pros and cons of Digital Signage and Printed Signage
Sonja Angerer discusses the pros and cons of both digital signage and printed signage. Current developments such as artificial intelligence and spatial computing are changing the situation once again. How will this shift affect printers?
How to create an efficient smart factory
Debbie McKeegan speaks to industry specialists at Personalise Make Wear in Amsterdam about smart factories and customisation technology. Debbie speaks to Antigro, Caldera, Print Logistic, Inkcups and Kornit Digitial.
Standard lighting conditions for wide format printers and their many markets
Paul Sherfield shares the various standard conditions that are required for wide format printers as colours can appear differently dependent on the differing types of lighting and environments.