C&C Offset, says deputy general manager Francis Ho, “believes that increased automation and smarter production are the keys to growing stronger within the print manufacturing industry and staying competitive globally. But first, we need to connect the data from all our business units and facilities before we can become ‘smart’.”

That “smart” belief has driven the creation of C&C’s own cloud-based C-Smart platform, which took the company nearly five years to develop. “C-Smart connects our systems and individual platforms, including manufacturing processes, post-manufacturing services, and internal management,” Ho says. “This enables C&C to become more automated with higher workflow efficiencies to enhance company-wide performance while staying sustainable.”

The goal, Ho says, is to integrate new-generation information technologies—AI, IoT, big data, for instance—into the C-Smart platform. “We want real-time and standardized data and smooth information flow to feed a fully digital platform,” he says. “The purpose is to integrate a new generation of core technologies, based on business standardization, real-time prediction, and analysis of customer requirements with real-time decision-making and automated processing, thus achieving automation and intelligence for end-to-end business needs.”

Another goal is allowing its business to be transparent, easy, and rewarding to C&C staff and its clients. “Our priority is to survive, develop, and grow,” Ho says. “For this reason, C-Smart is not only for planning and forecasting but also for covering the whole operation, including finance and inventory planning. Going forward, our major clients can even track their work-in-progress and cost estimates through the platform.”

Seeking more technical, scientific, and sustainable solutions adaptable to the C&C environment and striving to cut down on costs and waste—materials, procedures, and time—are other goals. “We are constantly equipping our staff with new machineries for printing and binding, thus paving our way for more automation,” Ho says. “C-Smart is only focused on reducing downtime and increasing work efficiencies for now. Reduction of waste and materials will come from better automation and newer machineries.”

This year marks the 45th anniversary of C&C Offset, for which a grand ceremony was held in Hong Kong to celebrate the milestone and announce the change of the company name to C&C Joint Printing (H.K.) Group Ltd. “Over the next 12 months, our focus will be mostly on automation and sustainability and on developing our intelligent business units and facilities,” Ho says. “We are upgrading our equipment and workflow toward a one-pass approach for improved efficiencies and faster turnaround times. The improvements on our hardcover production line from printing to binding will be completed before the end of this year when C-Smart starts online. Next year, we will work on the soft-cover binding line.”

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