Diego Diaz, Product Manager for Autonomous Press & Robotics at HP
For many print businesses, automation begins with good intentions. A workflow here. An API there. A new tool layered into an already complex stack.
But as operations scale, automation stops being optional and starts becoming foundational.
Diego Diaz, Product Manager for Autonomous Press & Robotics at HP, has a front-row seat to this shift. Working closely with print businesses running HP Indigo and PageWide systems, he sees first-hand what happens when growth collides with disconnected systems.
And increasingly, that collision happens fast.
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When Growth Outpaces Infrastructure
HP provides extensive APIs across its presses and PrintOS environment. The tools are there. The documentation is there. The capability is there.
But capability does not equal implementation.
“A lot of our customers just don’t have the in-house ability to connect our systems to their workflows.”
As print businesses grow - opening new facilities, processing thousands or even tens of thousands of jobs per day - complexity multiplies. Manual visibility breaks down. Job routing becomes unmanageable. Production data becomes fragmented across systems.
“When they start producing a thousand jobs a day, 10,000 jobs a day or even more, managing and routing those jobs becomes something that a person can’t do on their own.”
At that point, scaling becomes less about ambition and more about infrastructure.
The Integration Gap
Most vendors are experts in their own systems. MIS providers know their MIS. Press manufacturers know their presses. ERP systems know accounting.
Few bridge across all of them.
“A vendor might be an expert in their one system, but then they can’t bridge it to the other systems and connect them.”
The challenge isn’t access to APIs. It’s orchestration - pulling press data, inventory, production metrics, scheduling and financial reporting into a coherent operational view.
Diego has seen customers struggle not because the tools were insufficient, but because the integration layer was missing.
“They’re looking to dynamically reroute jobs, change batching based on device availability, and see production metrics in one place. The APIs allow that - if they have the knowhow to connect them.”
That “if” is where many operations stall.
Why Print Experience Matters
Diego’s perspective is shaped by his own background. Before joining HP, he owned and operated print businesses. He has lived the operational reality of the print floor.
That context informs how he evaluates implementation partners.
“You’re not just getting a technology solutions company. You’re getting people who truly understand the pain points because they’ve done it on their own floors.”
Integration is not purely technical. It is operational. It requires understanding how imposition works, how press operators interact with systems, and what it means to process thousands of jobs per day without friction.
“The customer can speak in ideas and dreams and goals. And they can fill in the gaps.”
That ability to translate business ambition into executable workflow is what separates development from integration.
You Don’t Have to Replace Everything
One of the biggest misconceptions Diego sees is the belief that transformation requires a full overhaul.
“They believe they need to replace everything - new MIS, new ERP, new workflow - and that it’s a multi-year investment.”
While large-scale change can bring significant benefit, it is not the only path forward.
Companies can begin with focused improvements - automating order intake, imposition, inventory visibility or production routing - and build momentum from there.
“You don’t have to bite off everything all at once.”
Small wins create clarity. Clarity builds confidence. Confidence accelerates adoption.
Automation Is a Cultural Shift
Automation is not a switch that flips once and stays fixed. It is iterative.
“It’s not something you ever finish.”
Improving intake increases volume. Increased volume changes batching. Batching affects shipping. Shipping impacts inventory. Each improvement exposes the next opportunity.
Organizations that understand automation as an ongoing journey tend to scale differently.
“I’ve never known a company that got to that 50 million, 100 million mark without automation.”
Nor, he adds, has he known one that reached that level through automation and wished they had stayed manual.
Automation Doesn’t Kill the Human Touch
There remains a persistent fear that automation removes people from the process.
Diego challenges that idea directly.
“When you put in lots of automation, that’s actually where you get to unleash your workforce so they can spend time doing what humans do best.”
The human touch is not data entry. It is customer retention. It is service. It is relationship-building.
Some of the most automated shops, he notes, deliver the strongest human-to-human experiences precisely because their teams are not buried in repetitive tasks.
Automation removes friction. It does not remove people.
The Competitive Reality
If Diego had to give a single reason for investing in automation, it would be simple.
“Because your competition is.”
Manual process is not a competitive strategy. Loyalty is fragile if service suffers. Customers gravitate toward speed, consistency and reliability.
Infrastructure protects margin. Infrastructure protects customers.
Without it, growth eventually exposes the cracks.
The Equalizer
One of the most powerful aspects of effective integration, in Diego’s view, is its ability to level the playing field.
“Working with companies and integrators like Innovaic can be an equalizer that allows any company, big and small, to accomplish the same levels of automation as the biggest companies.”
Enterprise-scale workflow is no longer reserved for enterprise-scale teams.
With the right integration partner, mid-sized print businesses can access the same operational visibility and automation maturity as far larger competitors.
That shift changes the competitive landscape.
Looking Forward
Automation is not about chasing trends. It is about building systems that support sustained growth.
As presses become smarter, APIs become richer and production environments become more data-driven, the need for integration expertise only increases.
For Diego, the pattern is clear. The companies that embrace automation intentionally, iteratively and strategically tend to scale further and more sustainably than those who hesitate.
Infrastructure is no longer optional.
It is foundational.
Ready to Align Your Systems for Scale?
If your presses, MIS, ERP and production data are not speaking to each other - or if scaling feels heavier than it should - it may be time to evaluate how your systems are integrated.
Start the conversation with the Innovaic team and explore what aligned infrastructure could look like in your environment.
You can also watch back the full video.
