Method and computing device for analyzing data from a loutry production system

Abstract

A method of analyzing data from a letterpress production system (10), the system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units (20) for processing a letterpress precursor to obtain a letterpress, and a computing device (30), the method comprising the following steps at the computing device (30): receiving data from the at least one production unit (20), the data comprises a plate identifier of the relief plate and information relating to the processing of the relief plate precursor by the respective production unit (20); the received data is analyzed and a relief report is created based on the analyzed data (40).

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is related to and claims the benefit of priority from Netherlands patent application 2034160, filed on February 16, 2023, which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The field of the present invention relates to processing data in relief printing production systems. Some embodiments relate to methods and computing devices for analyzing data from relief printing production systems. Other embodiments relate to methods and computing devices for operating relief printing production systems. Background Art

[0004] Printing with relief plates involves at least two distinct steps: first, manufacturing the plate. Then, ink is applied to the plate, which transfers the ink to the print medium. When printing with relief plates produces unsatisfactory results, the problem could arise from at least two potential sources. The first potential source is a defective plate itself—that is, an incorrectly manufactured plate. Another potential source could be that, while the plate conforms to its design specifications, there are issues with other processes, such as the quality of the ink applied to the plate during the printing process or the transfer of the ink to the print medium. When the final print result is unsatisfactory, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact source of the problem. It's possible that technicians mistakenly focus on the plate, which was ultimately manufactured to specifications, when the true problem lies with the ink or print medium. Furthermore, the source of the problem could lie in a manufacturing step, such as an imaging step, exposure step, or development step that wasn't performed as expected, making it difficult to pinpoint the root cause. Summary of the Invention

[0005] An object of embodiments of the present disclosure is to allow identification of the source of a problem when a printing result using a relief plate does not meet the required quality or the relief plate exhibits other defects. Specifically, an object of some embodiments of the present disclosure is to allow identification of whether the cause of the problem is associated with a specific manufacturing step, or whether the manufactured relief plate meets the required standards and whether the problem originates from the printing process.

[0006] According to a first aspect, a method for analyzing data from a relief printing plate production system is provided, the system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units for processing relief printing plate precursors to obtain relief printing plates, and a computing device. The method comprises the steps of receiving data from at least one of the production units at the computing device. The data comprises a relief printing plate identifier and information related to the processing performed on the relief printing plate by the corresponding production unit. The method comprises the steps of analyzing the received data at the computing device and creating a relief printing plate report based on the analyzed data.

[0007] Due to these features, the Relief Report contains detailed information about the results of the various manufacturing steps performed by at least one (and preferably at least two) production units, allowing the cause of problems during the manufacturing process to be determined. Furthermore, even when the Relief Report indicates that manufacturing was correct, it may be possible to conclude that the problem lies with the printing process. Therefore, when problems arise in the final print result, the Relief Report allows one to assess where the problem originated: was it with the Relief Plate itself, or was the Relief Plate specifications met, while the problem originated during the actual printing process? This makes it easier to identify the source of problems in the print result.

[0008] Furthermore, the Toppan Report serves as a certificate of quality for the printing plate manufacturer. When a printing problem occurs, the plate manufacturer can analyze the Toppan Report and confirm that the plates were produced according to the customer's specifications. This way, they can be certain that any issues with the print results are not due to a faulty plate, but rather to some other cause, such as the ink or print media, or how the ink was transferred to the print media in the press.

[0009] Furthermore, the data analysis can be performed by a computing device, preferably separate from at least one production unit. Production units often do not have sufficient computing power to analyze data quickly enough. Sending the data to a computing device can speed up the data analysis.

[0010] Preferably, the relief report includes summary information about the processed relief precursor based on information received from at least one production unit. The summary information provides an overview of any relevant processing information for the various manufacturing steps performed to obtain the relief. This is advantageous when one wants to have a global perspective on the processing of the relief precursor and allows for better identification of the causes of problems during manufacturing.

[0011] The relief report may include one or more of the following: a plate identifier of the relief, dimensions of the relief (e.g., length, width, and thickness of the relief), an identifier of at least one production unit that processed the relief precursor, settings used in at least one production unit, a percentage of waste indicating the area of ​​the relief not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief, a job identifier identifying a job performed on the relief precursor by at least one production unit, image data associated with processing by at least one production unit, measurement data measured during or after processing by at least one production unit (e.g., base thickness or relief depth), and a warning if an anomaly is detected in the analyzed data.

[0012] Therefore, a plate report can contain not only information that allows the cause of a problem to be determined, but also information that is useful to the manufacturer and / or the customer who prints with the produced plate. For example, such a plate report can be used to generate statistics that may contribute to improving the manufacturing process.

[0013] Preferably, the computing device sends the created relief report to an external terminal, such as a user device (e.g., a smartphone or other computer device). In this way, the operator of the plate production system or the customer who performs printing can easily consult the relief report.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the received data includes measurement data based on measurements performed by at least one production unit and / or the method further includes receiving measurement data from a separate unit downstream of at least one production unit. This allows the impact of processing by the production unit on the relief plate precursor to be measured, and such measurements can be used to evaluate the results of the manufacturing process. For example, the thickness of the plate can be measured after development of the relief plate precursor, or the level of stain or relief depth of the processed plate can be measured. It is worth noting that the separate unit can be, for example, located at the site where the relief plate is manufactured or at the site of a customer who uses the relief plate for printing.

[0015] According to some embodiments, the method includes receiving additional data by a computing device after the relief plate production system has produced the relief plate and / or during production. The data may be, for example, uploaded by an operator. The data may include, for example, information related to printing results obtained using the produced relief plate, information related to environmental conditions during production (e.g., ambient temperature), information related to malfunctioning components of the production unit, measurements performed on the plate by a user using a measuring tool, and the like.

[0016] Preferably, the measurement data includes data regarding the physical properties of the processed relief precursor (e.g., plate thickness), and / or the base thickness of the processed relief precursor, and / or measurement data based on measured printing results (e.g., the lowest stable tonal value produced in the relief, and / or dot gain). The lowest stable tonal value is determined, for example, by visual inspection using a microscope of a printed test image containing fields of varying tonal values. Dot gain is determined, for example, by using a color densitometer on the printed test image. Using these measurement data, the relief report can provide an accurate indication of the results of the processing performed on the relief precursor, which helps pinpoint the source of any potential problems with the relief.

[0017] Additional measured data on the properties of the relief precursor or relief plate are selected from the following group: thickness of the precursor, thickness of the finished plate, thickness of the base, depth of the relief, minimum tonal value, tonal value curve, dot gain curve, size of isolated dots, depth of negative lines, width of positive lines, straightness of lines, depth of negative dots, shape of dots, shoulder angle, roundness of dots (assessed on a scale from round top to flat top), mid-depth of the tonal value field, hardness, surface energy of the base and / or printing characteristics (e.g. measured using contact angle), elasticity, elastic modulus, curl tendency, anisotropy, roughness, resilience or a combination thereof.

[0018] Optionally, the measured data includes data related to the production units and / or data related to the environment surrounding the production units, such as the temperature of the relief plate precursor before, during, and / or after processing, and / or the temperature within at least one production unit. Such production unit and / or environmental data can further aid in analyzing and optimizing the relief plate manufacturing process. For example, if the quality of the printed result decreases or improves without changing the manufacturing process, such parameters can help understand where adjustments should be made to the manufacturing process or where better control should be achieved.

[0019] Optionally, the measurement data includes data based on the results of printing with the processed plate, and optionally also includes printing-related data, such as the type of ink and the type of print medium. For example, a customer performing a printing process might provide feedback on the quality of the print results obtained with a certain type of ink and print medium, and this can be further included in the relief report. By also including the results of printing with the relief, the relief report can include not only information about what occurred during plate manufacturing, but also printing information specific to a specific printing process (specifying, for example, the ink, print medium, and any other relevant printing parameters (e.g., print speed, print pressure, run length)). Thus, one can more directly conclude whether any potential problems stem from the manufacture of the relief itself or from steps in the printing process.

[0020] Preferably, at least one production unit comprises an imager configured to ablate a mask using an imaging device (such as a laser) for a subsequent exposure step, and the relief report comprises one or more of the following: imaging duration, imaging power, imaging speed, position of the imaging device, measured parameters of an actuator (e.g., a motor) for moving the imaging device relative to the relief precursor (e.g., motor current, motor speed), time intervals for generating imaging features corresponding to imaged pixels (e.g., timing values ​​for controlling a beam of the imaging device), beam diameter values ​​and / or beam shape values ​​for controlling a beam of the imaging device, number of iterations performed by the imaging device, an indication of which imaging head or heads of the imaging device have been used, temperature inside the imager, power consumption of the imager. Optionally, the imager may comprise means for studying the quality of the obtained mask, for example, by determining optical density or other optical methods, such as those described in DE 2020 22002301 U1 and US 2022 / 0349796 A1. Furthermore, operating times of the various components (e.g., start time, end time, or duration) may be recorded. These parameters can not only allow improvements to the manufacturing process, but also determine when components of the imager are not functioning properly.

[0021] Preferably, at least one production unit comprises an exposure unit having a main exposure device and / or a back exposure device for exposing the relief and back sides of the relief precursor, and the relief report comprises one or more of the following: main exposure device and / or back exposure time, main exposure and / or back exposure power and / or dose, number of exposure cycles performed by the main exposure device and / or back exposure device, movement speed of the main exposure device and / or back exposure device relative to the relief precursor, temperature of the relief precursor and / or temperature in the exposure unit, data relating to cooling of the exposure unit, power consumption of the exposure unit. By also including temperature and / or cooling-related data, which are important for good exposure results, in the relief report, exposure problems can be identified in an improved manner. Furthermore, the operating times of the various components can be recorded.

[0022] Preferably, at least one production unit comprises a washing machine, and the relief report comprises one or more of the following: characteristics of the washing medium (e.g. solvent or water), washing speed, washing temperature, washing duration, viscosity data of the liquid in the washing machine, solids content of the liquid, liquid levels in different compartments of the washing machine, liquid consumption, times of addition or removal of liquid, power consumed by the washing machine.

[0023] Preferably, said at least one production unit comprises a dryer, and said relief report comprises one or more of: drying temperature, drying duration, consumption of drying medium (eg air), power consumption of the dryer.

[0024] Preferably, the at least one production unit comprises a post-exposure unit, and the relief report comprises one or more of the following: the type of light source (e.g., UVA, UVC), the exposure duration, the exposure power, the temperature during the exposure, and the power consumption of the exposure unit. Furthermore, the operating times of the different components of the post-exposure unit may be recorded.

[0025] The relief report may comprise one or more of data regarding relief precursor processing, such as one or more of the following: processing date, total processing time, rest times between different processing steps, sequence of processing steps, interruptions, errors, manual processing steps.

[0026] The method may include the steps of analyzing the relief press report and determining the cause when relief press parameters or printing results do not fall within their expected ranges or print quality. These additional steps may also be performed by a computing device. Predetermined criteria may be developed to determine the presence and possible causes of a problem from the information in the relief press report.

[0027] In the production unit, the method may further comprise the steps of reading or receiving a plate identifier of the relief plate precursor to be processed, and transmitting the plate identifier together with information related to the processing performed to the computing device. Optionally, the production unit may further receive a job identifier for identifying a job performed on the relief plate, and transmit this to the computing device.

[0028] The method further includes the step of attaching or including a relief report or a relief report identifier to / with the relief plate. This functionality links the relief report to the specific processed relief plate. The relief report thus serves as a passport for the processed relief plate, for example, accompanying the processed relief plate when it is sold to a customer. The relief report allows relief plate manufacturers and / or customers printing with the relief plate to identify whether problems arise with the relief plate itself or with the subsequent printing process of applying ink to the relief plate.

[0029] According to another aspect, a method for analyzing data from a relief printing plate production system is provided, the relief printing plate production system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units for processing relief printing plate precursors to obtain relief printing plates, and a computing device. The method comprises the step of receiving data from at least one of the production units at the computing device. The data comprises information relating to the processing of the relief printing plate by the respective production unit, and optionally, a plate identifier of the relief printing plate and / or information relating to the status of the respective production unit. More generally, the received data may be any of the data detailed above with respect to the first aspect. The method further comprises the step of analyzing the received data at the computing device and creating a status report of the relief printing plate production system. The status report provides an overview of the production status of the relief printing plate production system and is generated by the computing device based on data received and analyzed over a period of time. For example, the status report may be provided periodically, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, the status report may be sent periodically to an operator, such as via email. In this way, the operator can automatically receive an overview of the status of the relief printing plate production system, as opposed to providing the information on a display of the relief printing plate production system.

[0030] According to a further aspect, a method for analyzing data from one or more relief printing plate production systems is provided, each relief printing plate production system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units for processing relief printing plate precursors and obtaining relief printing plates, and a computing device. The method comprises the following steps at the computing device: receiving data related to the processing performed by the respective production unit from each of the one or more relief printing plate production systems; and analyzing the received data and displaying the data in a graphical user interface of the respective relief printing plate production system based on the analyzed data. The graphical user interface is configured to display at least one of the following:

[0031] - a graphical representation of the variation over time of at least one parameter associated with the respective relief printing production system;

[0032] - a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the respective printing plate production system as a function of the resolution of the imaging file used by the respective relief production system;

[0033] - a graphical representation indicating, for each production unit, at least one parameter of the corresponding relief production system;

[0034] - a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the power consumption of at least one production unit;

[0035] - a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with solvent consumption of at least one production unit;

[0036] - information allowing the corresponding relief production system to be compared with other relief production systems;

[0037] - a geographical map indicating one or more relief production systems and one or more parameters associated with the one or more relief production systems.

[0038] Thanks to these features, it is possible to track the temporal evolution of a plate production system. Additionally or alternatively, it is possible to study how a plate production system reacts when image files of different resolutions are input into it. Additionally or alternatively, it is possible to compare parameters from different production units. Additionally or alternatively, one can observe the geographical distribution of the plate production systems and relate trends observed from the graphical representation to the locations of the production systems. Additionally or alternatively, when there are at least two relief plate production systems, one relief plate production system can be compared with the other relief plate production systems. For example, some plate production systems may belong to one customer, while other production systems may belong to another customer. With these features, one can compare data from different customers and discover trends in the data.

[0039] In addition, using a graphical user interface, information can be presented in a more visual way than with numbers or tables, so operators can analyze data in a more direct way.

[0040] Each relief printing plate production system may include a production unit of the first type, and the method may further include determining, based on the received data, which features of the production unit of the first type are used in each relief printing plate production system, and optionally ranking the used features based on the number of times the features have been used. Not all features of a production unit may be used to process a relief printing plate. By accurately understanding which features of a production unit are used, the characteristics of the relief printing plate can be more accurately mapped to the specific features of the production unit. Furthermore, feedback can be provided to the manufacturer of the production unit regarding the most frequently used features.

[0041] Preferably, the at least one parameter includes at least one of the following: the number of relief plates processed by the production unit, the surface area processed by the production unit, a waste percentage indicating the area of ​​the relief plate not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief plate, a process parameter of the production unit, an integrity parameter of the production unit, the power consumption of the production unit, and the status of the production unit. The number of plates or the surface area processed over time can provide a good indicator of the efficiency of the production unit. Furthermore, by comparing these numbers for different production units, the entire relief plate production system can be adjusted to a more efficient state, for example, by adding a slower type of production unit. Information about the waste percentage can be used to optimize the image placement on the relief plate precursor. The status of a production unit is typically plotted over time and may indicate whether the production unit is "idle," "in production," "number of jobs scheduled," "initializing," "off," "error state," "plate transport mode," and so on. This allows the operator to track the status of each production unit.

[0042] Optionally, at least one production unit comprises an imager configured to ablate a mask for a subsequent exposure step, and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: the state of the imager, the number of laser beams, the size of the laser beams, the power consumption of the imager, the maximum ablation power of the imager, the ratio of the ablation power actually used by the imager to image the relief to the maximum ablation power available on the imager, the measured rotation speed of the drum in the imager with the relief precursor fixed to the drum, the connection quality of the imager, the temperature of the imager and / or the relief precursor, the imaging resolution, the imaging duration, the imaging start time, the imaging end time. Optionally, the imager may comprise means for studying the quality of the obtained mask, for example by determining the optical density or other optical methods, such as those described in DE202022002301U1 and US2022 / 0349796A1. In addition, the operating times of the different components of the imager (for example the start time, end time or duration) may also be recorded.

[0043] Optionally, at least one production unit includes an exposure unit having a main exposure device and / or a back exposure device for exposing the convex side and / or the back side of the relief printing precursor. Typically, the exposure unit is located downstream of the imager. The at least one parameter may include one or more of the following: main exposure and / or back exposure time, main exposure and / or back exposure power or intensity, number of main exposure and / or back exposure cycles, quality of the connection to the exposure unit, parameters of the exposure unit's cooler, power usage of the exposure unit, and temperature of components of the exposure unit. Furthermore, the operating times of the various components of the exposure unit may be recorded.

[0044] Optionally, at least one production unit comprises a washing machine, and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: properties of the washing medium (e.g., solvent or water), washing speed, temperature of the liquid in the washing machine and / or temperature of the relief being washed, maximum washing temperature during relief washing, minimum washing temperature during relief washing, duration of washing, viscosity data of the liquid in the washing machine, minimum viscosity during relief washing, maximum viscosity during relief washing, viscosity at the start of washing, viscosity at the end of washing, solids content of the liquid, liquid levels in different compartments of the washing machine, consumption of liquid, time of adding or removing liquid.

[0045] Optionally, at least one production unit comprises a dryer, and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: duration of drying, drying temperature at which the relief is dried, minimum temperature during relief drying, maximum temperature during relief drying, temperature at the start of drying, temperature at the end of drying, consumption of drying medium (e.g. air).

[0046] Optionally, at least one production unit comprises a post-exposure unit downstream of the dryer, and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: duration of post-exposure, delay times between different steps performed by the post-exposure unit, minimum temperature during post-exposure of the relief, type of light source (e.g., UVA, UVC), duration of exposure, exposure power, maximum temperature during post-exposure of the relief, temperature at the start of post-exposure of the relief, temperature at the end of post-exposure of the relief. Furthermore, operating times of different components of the post-exposure unit may be recorded.

[0047] According to a further aspect, a method for operating a relief printing plate production system is provided, the system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units for processing relief printing plate precursors to obtain relief printing plates, and a computing device. The method comprises the following steps, performed by the computing device: receiving information from at least one production unit relating to the processing of the relief printing plate precursor by the respective production unit; analyzing the received data to detect malfunctions and / or to detect whether improvements to the relief printing plate production system are possible; and, if a malfunction or possible improvement is detected, notifying a user and / or performing predictive maintenance, for example, by email or any other messaging service. The method can also be used for multiple relief printing plate production systems, each having at least one production unit, and in this case can provide even better results.

[0048] Through these features, after the computing device has analyzed the received data, when it notices an anomaly, it can alert the user and / or have implemented maintenance based on the analysis (for example, based on empirical data on how long the production unit can operate before maintenance is required). In this way, the relief production system can be operated in a more proactive manner, responding to data from the production unit in real time, or even proactively predicting when maintenance will be required. The service life of the relief production system is extended. The relief production system according to this embodiment is more reliable. In addition, with the alarm, the operator does not need to monitor the panels of the relief production system constantly or even every day. Instead, he will receive an alarm when a problem occurs.

[0049] Optionally, receiving includes receiving parameter data about the production unit over time, and analyzing includes predicting when components of the production unit will need to be replaced or repaired based on the received data. By predicting when components will need to be replaced or repaired, the toppan production system can be operated more proactively. Rather than waiting for problems to arise before reacting, the toppan production system components are constantly maintained in optimal performance.

[0050] Each aspect of the present disclosure may include any one or any technically possible combination of the following features.

[0051] The computing device can be a central computing device or a distributed computing device. It can also be part of a computing cloud. Therefore, this embodiment does not require modifications to existing production units to implement advanced data analytics. Furthermore, placing computing resources in the cloud can reduce the burden on local computing resources.

[0052] The at least one production unit may include at least one, preferably two, more preferably at least three, and even more preferably at least four of the following units: a transport unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a developer unit (e.g., a washer or thermal developer unit), a post-processing unit (e.g., a dryer), a post-exposure unit, a post-processing unit (e.g., a cutting unit configured to cut a plate), a mounting unit configured to mount the relief precursor onto a substrate (e.g., a sleeve), and a storage unit. Most preferably, the at least one production unit includes at least an imager, an exposure unit, and a developer unit. The production units may be grouped together in a single machine.

[0053] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computing device comprising computer-executable instructions configured to implement the steps of the method of any one of the preceding embodiments.

[0054] According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of any one of the preceding embodiments when the program is run on a computer.

[0055] According to a further aspect, there is provided a relief production system comprising at least one production unit for processing a relief precursor to obtain a relief, and a computing device as defined above.

[0056] Any feature of any aspect of the disclosure may be combined with any feature of any other aspect(s) of the disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0057] The above and further aspects of the present disclosure will be explained in more detail below based on several embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

[0058] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment according to the first aspect of the present disclosure;

[0059] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram according to a further aspect of the present disclosure;

[0060] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating two relief printing plate production systems according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, each relief printing plate production system including an imager, an exposure unit, a washer, and a dryer;

[0061] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment according to further aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] Flexographic or letterpress printing is a printing technique commonly used for large-scale production. A flexographic or letterpress printing plate is a relief plate with printed elements (often called bumps or dots) that rise above non-printing elements to produce an image on a recording medium such as paper, cardboard, film, foil, laminate, etc. Cylindrical printing plates or sleeves are also available.

[0063] There are various methods for making flexographic printing plate precursors. According to conventional methods, flexographic printing plate precursors are made of a multilayer substrate comprising a backing layer and one or more photocurable layers (also called photosensitive layers). These photocurable layers are imaged by exposing them to electromagnetic radiation through a mask layer containing the image information, or by direct and selective exposure to light (e.g., by scanning a plate to transfer the image information in order to obtain a relief plate).

[0064] The relief precursor may be, for example, a digital relief precursor or an analog relief precursor. In the case of a digital relief precursor, the mask layer is an integral layer of the precursor, and imaging of the mask layer results in an ablative layer. In the case of an analog relief precursor, the mask layer is typically a separate layer, such as a film, comprising areas transparent to radiation and areas opaque to radiation, which is applied to the relief precursor prior to exposure to electromagnetic radiation. For example, an opaque ablative layer on a substrate layer may be used, and structures may be generated by ablation, or the transmittance of the film layer may be altered by exposure to a laser.

[0065] Figure 1 An embodiment according to a first aspect of the present disclosure is shown. According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for analyzing data from a relief printing plate production system 10 is provided. The relief printing plate production system 10 includes at least one, and preferably at least two, production units 20 for processing relief printing plate precursors and obtaining relief printing plates. The at least one production unit may include, for example, at least an exposure unit and a development unit. Optionally, an imager may also be present, or the relief printing plate precursor may be imaged or a mask may be provided elsewhere. The relief printing plate production system 10 also includes a computing device 30.

[0066] Wherever at least one production unit is mentioned herein, this also discloses the possibility of having at least two production units.

[0067] At least one production unit 20 may include at least two of the following: an imager, an exposure unit, a washer, a dryer, such as Figure 3 As shown. More generally, the at least one production unit 20 may include at least two of the following: a transport unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit (e.g., a washer or a thermal developing unit), a post-processing unit (e.g., a dryer), a post-exposure unit, a post-processing unit (e.g., a cutting unit configured to cut the plate), a mounting unit configured to mount the relief plate precursor onto a substrate (e.g., a sleeve), and a storage unit. It is worth noting that the plate production system may also include multiple exposure units (same or different) or multiple developing units (e.g., a washer and a thermal developing unit), or more generally, multiple of the above units operating in parallel.

[0068] The computing device 30 is configured to receive data from at least one production unit 20, the data comprising a plate identifier of a relief and information related to processing of the relief precursor by the corresponding production unit 20; and analyze the received data and create a relief report 40 based on the analyzed data.

[0069] The computing device 30 is preferably distinct from at least one of the production units 20. According to one embodiment, the computing device is located in a server. According to one embodiment, the computing device 30 is located in a computing cloud. According to some embodiments, all production units 20 of the plate production system 10 are configured to send information to the computing device 30. According to some embodiments, the information received from all production units 20 of the relief plate production system 10 is used to generate a relief report.

[0070] According to one embodiment, the computing device 30 is capable of transmitting the relief report 40 to an external terminal, such as a mobile computer device or a stationary computer device, and the user can then read the relief report 40 on the external terminal.

[0071] The computing device 30 receives data from at least one production unit 20. The computing device 30 receives the data via a wired or wireless method. The data includes a plate identifier of the relief plate. The data also includes information related to the processing performed on the relief plate by the corresponding production unit 20.

[0072] The identifier is, for example, attached to or integrated into the relief precursor. Alternatively, the identifier is attached to or integrated into a carrier (e.g. a trolley) that carries the relief precursor. The carrier is linked, for example, wirelessly to at least one production unit. Alternatively, the trolley can have a plurality of screws, each screw being able to occupy at least two positions. By the combination of the positions of the screws, information about the type of precursor on the trolley can be obtained. For example, there are three screws on the trolley, and each screw has two positions. In this arrangement, there are a total of eight possible combinations of screws, which can represent eight plate types. According to some embodiments, the trolley can be identified, for example, by an RFID tag.

[0073] According to various aspects of the present disclosure, an indication of the identifier is generated in the relief precursor by the imager. According to some embodiments, the identifier is already visible to a person even before the relief precursor is exposed by the exposure unit.

[0074] The production unit can receive a job instruction and process the plate according to the job instruction. The job instruction may also include an identifier for the relief plate precursor, typically a unique identifier. Each job instruction may have its own unique identifier, different from the identifier of any other job instruction. According to some embodiments, the unique identifier is a universally unique identifier (UUID). The UUID can be created using specific software, such as the Win32 API function UuidCreate provided by Microsoft as part of the Windows API. The job instruction may also include at least one lookup parameter configured to allow the production unit to determine configuration settings for processing the relief plate precursor. The lookup parameter may include information about the type of relief plate precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the lookup parameter may include information about the size of the relief plate precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the lookup parameter may include information about the thickness of the relief plate precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the lookup parameter may include information about different processing options for the same type of relief plate precursor. For example, for one type of relief plate precursor, it may be desirable to be able to process the plate under different parameters to meet the needs of different customers. For example, for plate type A with customer requirement C1, the job instructions include a first set of lookup parameters that enable the production unit to process the relief printing plate precursor with setting 1. For plate type A with customer requirement C2, the job instructions include a second set of lookup parameters that enable the production unit to process the relief printing plate precursor with setting 1'. For plate type B with customer requirement C1, the job instructions include a third set of lookup parameters that enable the production unit to process the relief printing plate precursor with setting 2.

[0075] According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 includes information about relief plates processed by at least one production unit 20. According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 includes aggregated information about relief plates based on data received from at least two production units 20. According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 includes aggregated information about relief plates based on data received from all production units 20 involved in relief plate manufacturing.

[0076] The relief report 40 may include one or more of the following: a plate identifier of the relief, dimensions of the relief (e.g., length, width, and thickness of the relief), an identifier of at least one production unit of the relief precursor that has been processed, settings used in at least one production unit, a percentage of waste indicating the area of ​​the relief that is not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief, a job identifier identifying a job performed on the relief precursor by at least one production unit, image data associated with processing by at least one production unit, measurement data measured during or after processing by at least one production unit (e.g., plate thickness), and a warning if an anomaly is detected in the analyzed data.

[0077] Image data associated with processing of at least one production unit is contained, for example, in a tiff file. Such image data can be sent separately to the production unit, and in particular to the imager. The image data included in the relief report can be a low-resolution version of the original image data used for imaging.

[0078] Some of the measurement parameters are, for example, measured by a production unit. Additionally or alternatively, some of the measurement parameters are measured by a machine different from any production unit 20 in the relief production system 10. According to some embodiments, the received data include measurement data based on measurements performed by at least one production unit 20 and / or measurement data based on measurements performed in a separate unit downstream of at least one production unit 20. The measurement data include, for example, data on measurements performed on the processed relief, such as plate thickness, and / or base thickness of the processed relief, and / or the lowest stable tonal value that can be produced on the relief, and / or dot gain. Additionally or alternatively, the measurement data include production unit-related data and / or data related to the environment surrounding the production unit 20, such as temperature data of the relief and / or the processed relief and / or at least one production unit 20. Additionally or alternatively, the measurement data include data based on results of printing with the processed plate.

[0079] When at least one production unit 20 includes an imager 21, the relief report 40 may include one or more parameters mentioned in the summary for the imager. When at least one production unit 20 includes an exposure unit 22, the relief report 40 may include one or more parameters mentioned in the description of the exposure unit. Similarly, when at least one production unit 20 includes a washer 23, the relief report 40 may include one or more parameters mentioned in the description of the washer. Similarly, when at least one production unit 20 includes a dryer 24, the relief report 40 may include one or more parameters mentioned in the description of the dryer. Similarly, when at least one production unit 20 includes a post-exposure unit, the relief report 40 may include one or more parameters mentioned in the description of the post-exposure unit.

[0080] According to some embodiments, the method further includes the step of analyzing the relief report 40 when parameters or process parameters of the processed relief plate do not fall within their expected ranges. Additionally or alternatively, the method further includes the step of analyzing the relief report 40 when the printed results of the processed relief plate do not fall within their expected print quality. In this case, the analysis results can distinguish between any problems with the processed relief plate itself before printing (i.e., before any ink is applied to the processed relief plate) and any problems resulting from the printing process using the processed relief plate (i.e., after ink is applied to the processed relief plate and the process by which the ink is transferred to the print medium). In this way, one can identify the source of the problem: the processed relief plate itself or the subsequent inking and printing steps.

[0081] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises the steps of reading or receiving, in the production unit, a plate identifier of the relief precursor to be processed, and sending the plate identifier to a computing device together with information related to the processing performed.

[0082] Optionally, the method further comprises the step of attaching or including a relief report 40 or an identifier of the relief report 40 to / with the obtained relief plate. For example, a code (e.g., a barcode or a QR code) may be integrated into the relief plate or attached to the relief plate. This code may be the same as the code used for the plate identifier or a different code. By scanning the code, the operator can obtain the relief report 40.

[0083] According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 contains information about the time evolution of the data.According to one embodiment, the relief report 40 is created after the relief production system 10 has processed a relief, ie after all production units 20 in the relief production system 10 have processed a relief.

[0084] According to some embodiments, the method includes creating at least two relief reports 40 based on the same received data. These relief reports 40 include an extended relief report and a limited relief report. The extended relief report contains more information than the limited relief report. The extended relief report is intended, for example, for relief manufacturers. The limited relief report is intended, for example, for customers of the relief manufacturer. The extended relief report may contain information that the relief manufacturer considers confidential (e.g., information from other customers) and does not want to be shown to a particular customer. This confidential information is not included in the limited relief report.

[0085] According to some embodiments, Toppan report 40 contains Toppan's certificate of quality.

[0086] According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 includes a timestamp indicating when the relief report 40 was generated. According to some embodiments, the relief report 40 includes timestamps, each of which indicates when the production unit 20 completed processing the relief. For example, the relief report 40 includes a first timestamp indicating when the imager 21 completed imaging the relief and a second timestamp indicating when the exposure unit 22 completed exposing the relief.

[0087] According to some embodiments, the method includes providing a status report for the relief printing production system. The status report provides an overview of the production status of the relief printing production system and is generated by a computing device based on data received and analyzed over a period of time. For example, the status report may be provided periodically, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, the status report may be sent to an operator periodically, such as via email. In this way, the operator can automatically receive an overview of the status of the relief printing production system, as opposed to providing this information on a display of the relief printing production system.

[0088] According to some embodiments, the relief production system 10 is capable of communicating with another system, for example an enterprise resource planning system. The enterprise resource planning system can thus have an overview of the relief production system.

[0089] Figure 2 An embodiment according to a further aspect of the present disclosure is shown. According to a further aspect, a method for analyzing data from one or more relief printing production systems 10, 10' is provided. Each relief printing production system 10, 10' comprises at least one, preferably at least two, production units 20, 20' for processing relief printing plates. The relief printing production system(s) 10, 10' further comprises a computing device 30. According to a preferred embodiment, some or all relief printing production systems 10, 10' share the computing device 30.

[0090] The method comprises the step of receiving, at the computing device 30, data from each production unit 20, 20' of one or more relief printing production systems 10, 10' relating to a process performed by the respective production unit. The method further comprises analyzing the received data and displaying the data for the respective relief printing production system 10, 10' in a graphical user interface 60 based on the analyzed data, wherein the graphical user interface 60 displays at least one of the following:

[0091] o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the respective relief production system 10, 10' over time;

[0092] o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the respective printing plate production system 10, 10' as a function of the resolution of the imaging file used by the plate production system;

[0093] o a graphical representation indicating, for each of the at least one production unit 20 , 20 ′, at least one parameter of the respective relief production system 10 , 10 ′;

[0094] o information allowing comparison of the respective relief production system 10 with other relief production systems 10 ′ of the one or more relief production systems;

[0095] o A geographical map indicating one or more relief production systems and one or more parameters associated with the one or more relief production systems.

[0096] A separate graphical user interface 60 may be provided for each relief production system 10 , 10 ′, or a common user interface 60 showing data for a plurality of relief production systems 10 may be provided.

[0097] According to some embodiments, graphical user interface 60 is configured to display a graphical representation of changes over time in the corresponding relief printing plate production system 10, 10', for example, any of the parameters mentioned in the summary. This allows the operator to visualize any changes over time during the production of multiple relief printing plates. The operator can then observe any trends in these changes. For example, the operator can distinguish between a situation where the base of a relief printing plate has thickened and deviated from an acceptable range (which suggests a problem to be investigated) and a simple fluctuation in the base thickness within the acceptable range (which is permissible).

[0098] Additionally or alternatively, the graphical user interface 60 may be configured to display a graphical representation of the respective relief production system 10, 10' as a function of resolution. The resolution may be the resolution of the image file or the resolution of the printed features of the relief. Additionally or alternatively, the graphical user interface 60 may be configured to display a map indicating at least one production unit 20, 20' associated with the information regarding the respective relief production system 10, 10'. Additionally or alternatively, the graphical user interface 60 may be configured to display information regarding the respective relief production system 10, 10' and information allowing comparison of the respective relief production system 10 with other relief production systems 10' in the one or more relief production systems.

[0099] According to some embodiments, one relief printing production system 10 belongs to one customer, while another relief printing production system 10' belongs to another customer. Thus, data from one customer can be compared with data from another customer.

[0100] According to some embodiments, a map indicating at least one production unit 20, 20' associated with information about the respective relief printing plate production systems 10, 10' can also be used to compare relief printing plate production systems 10, 10' located in two different locations. For example, any discrepancies due to locational differences can be identified. For example, if a North American-based relief printing plate production system has a 20% waste rate, while relief printing plate production systems in other parts of the world average only 15%, a relief printing plate manufacturer can inform North American customers that there is room for improvement. According to some embodiments, the map illustrates the production volume of different types of printing plates through the relative sizes of circles on the graphical user interface 60.

[0101] All diagrams and information shown on the graphical user interface 60 may be stored or printed for documentation reasons.

[0102] According to some embodiments, each relief production system 10, 10' comprises a first type of production unit. The first type of production unit is, for example, an imager 21, 21', or an exposure unit 22, 22', or a washer 23', 23', or a dryer 24, 24'. Under these embodiments, the method further comprises determining, based on the received data, which features of the first type of production unit are used for each relief production system 10, 10'. For example, when the first type of production unit is an imager, the feature may be a sampling pattern applied to an image file that controls ablation of the mask layer. For example, when the first type of production unit is an exposure unit 22, 22', the feature may be a level of illumination intensity used to expose the photopolymer layer. Preferably, the method further comprises sorting the used features based on the number of times the feature has been used.

[0103] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 includes at least one of the following: the total number of reliefs processed by the production unit, the change in the number of reliefs processed by the production unit over time, the percentage of waste indicating the area of ​​the relief not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief over time, and the change in process parameters of the production unit over time. Additionally or alternatively, the graphical user interface 60 includes at least one of the following: the total surface area of ​​the relief processed by the production unit, the average time it takes for the production unit to process a relief, the operating time of the production unit, the integrity of the production unit (e.g., whether the hardware (e.g., the lighting source) is still functioning as it should; as another example, the time when the last hardware check was performed), and the status of the production unit (e.g., the status of the production unit indicates whether the machine is in at least one of the following states: idle, in production, initializing, shut down, error state, integrity check, in the process of moving a plate from one production unit to another). According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 includes at least one of the following: the motor speed of a production unit (e.g., the motor of a pump of a cleaning machine, the motor of a threaded screw, the motor of a roller of an imager), tolerance parameters, the liquid level in the cleaning machine, the viscosity of the solvent in the cleaning machine, the lighting intensity of the exposure unit, the error condition of the production unit, the warning level of the production unit, and the power usage of a production unit.

[0104] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates the type of relief plates processed by the at least one production unit 20. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 includes a ratio of the time that each relief plate spent in the production unit 20 relative to the total time that the relief plate spent in the relief plate production system 10, 10'. For example, the graphical user interface 60 may show that the relief plate spent 20% of its time in the imager 21, 21' in the relief plate production system 10, 10', 30% of its time in the exposure unit in the relief plate production system 10, 10', 20% of its time in the washer 23, 23' in the relief plate production system 10, 10', and 30% of its time in the dryer 24, 24' in the relief plate production system 10, 10'.

[0105] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates how the surface area of ​​relief plates processed by one production unit 20, 20' or by the relief production system 10, 10' changes over time, for example, over the number of days. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates how the number of relief plates processed by one production unit 20, 20' or by the relief production system 10, 10' changes over time, for example, over the number of days. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates how the thickness of the relief plates changes over time. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates how at least one parameter mentioned herein regarding the relief production system 10, 10' or regarding at least one production unit 20, 20' changes over time.

[0106] According to some embodiments, at least one of the production units 20, 20' comprises an imager 21, 21', and the graphical user interface 60 displays one or more of the following: parameters of the imager, the state of the imager, at least a portion of the input from the operator, the number of laser beams, the size of the laser beams, the ablation power of the imager, the ratio of the ablation power actually used by the imager to image the relief to the maximum ablation power available on the imager, the measured rotational speed of the cylinder in the imager with the relief fixed on the cylinder, the quality of the connection of the imager, the temperature of the imager and / or the relief, the ablation resolution, the power consumption for processing the relief precursor, the duration of imaging, the start time of imaging, and the end time of imaging. Optionally, the imager can include means for studying the quality of the obtained mask, for example by determining the optical density or other optical methods, such as those described in DE202022002301U1 and US2022 / 0349796A1. In addition, the operating times of the different components of the imager can also be displayed.

[0107] According to some embodiments, at least one production unit 20, 20' includes an exposure unit 22, 22', and the graphical user interface 60 includes one or more of the following: main exposure and / or back exposure time, main exposure and / or back exposure power, number of exposure cycles, parameters of the exposure unit, at least some input from an operator, connection quality of the exposure unit, parameters of a cooler of the exposure unit, power usage of the exposure unit, and temperature of at least a portion of the exposure unit. Furthermore, operating times of different components of the exposure unit may be displayed.

[0108] According to some embodiments, at least one of the production units 20, 20' includes a cleaning machine 23, 23', and the graphical user interface 60 displays one or more of the following, for example, as a function of time: characteristics of the cleaning medium (e.g., solvent or water), the cleaning speed, the temperature of the solvent in the cleaning machine and / or the temperature of the relief being cleaned, the maximum cleaning temperature during the relief cleaning, the minimum cleaning temperature during the relief cleaning, the duration of the cleaning, viscosity data of the solvent in the cleaning machine, the minimum viscosity during the relief cleaning, the maximum viscosity during the relief cleaning process, the viscosity at the beginning of the cleaning, the viscosity at the end of the cleaning, parameters of the cleaning machine, the solids content of the liquid (e.g., the maximum or minimum solids content during the relief cleaning), the liquid levels in the different compartments of the cleaning machine, the consumption of the liquid, the time when the liquid is added or removed, and at least some input from the operator. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 may indicate the volume of solvent or water in the cleaning machine. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 may include the length of the cleaning machine shutdown period (e.g., 30 minutes). According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates the duration of the cleaning machine malfunction.

[0109] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates the change in the surface area of ​​the relief plate processed by the cleaning machine over time. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 displays information about the pre-cleaner before the relief plate is processed by the cleaning machine. The information about the pre-cleaner includes, for example, the amount of solvent in the pre-cleaner and / or the temperature of the solvent in the pre-cleaner.

[0110] According to some embodiments, at least one production unit 20, 20' includes a dryer 24, 24', and the graphical user interface 60 indicates one or more of the following: drying duration, relief plate drying temperature, minimum relief plate drying temperature, maximum relief plate drying temperature, drying start temperature, drying end temperature, drying medium (e.g., air) consumption, dryer parameters, and at least a portion of operator input. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 displays aggregated information for at least two dryers. This allows for comparison of different dryers.

[0111] According to some embodiments, at least one production unit 20, 20' includes a post-exposure unit downstream of the dryer 24, 24', and the graphical user interface 60 displays one or more of the following: the type of light source (e.g., UVA, UVC), the exposure duration, the exposure power, the post-exposure duration, the delay time between different steps performed by the post-exposure unit (e.g., a delay applied before starting the first type of illumination in the exposure unit), the minimum temperature during the post-exposure, the maximum temperature during the post-exposure, the temperature at the start of the post-exposure, and the temperature at the end of the post-exposure. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 displays the temperature of the post-exposure unit over time. Furthermore, the operating times of the different components of the post-exposure unit may also be displayed.

[0112] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 shows a distribution of relief plate processing status over a period of time. For example, the production graphical user interface 60 shows that during a single day, 90% of relief plate processing by the production unit 20, 20' or relief plate production system 10 has been completed, while 10% of relief plate processing by the production unit 20, 20' or relief plate production system 10 has been canceled. The operator can select a time period, such as today, last week, last year, last February, or from 10:00 a.m. on June 6 to 2:00 p.m. on June 10.

[0113] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 indicates the health status of at least one production unit 20, 20'. The production unit health status, for example, indicates the hardware health status, such as the hardware health status of the exposure unit. In this example, the hardware health status may indicate, for example, whether the lighting source is still working and / or whether the output lighting intensity is sufficiently high.

[0114] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface is configured to apply filters to the graphics shown in graphical user interface 60. For example, a filter may be applied to show in graphical user interface 60 only relief plates from one relief plate manufacturer.

[0115] According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 is configured to zoom in on the graphical representation to more closely examine the results shown, for example, to more closely examine the evolution of the graph over a shorter period of time. According to some embodiments, the graphical user interface 60 is configured to adjust the scale of one graphic based on the scale used for the other graphics. For example, if a user zooms in on the temperature of a cleaning machine, the graph of solvent viscosity may also be zoomed in accordingly, because an increase in temperature also affects the viscosity of the solvent in the cleaning machine.

[0116] According to some embodiments, the relief production system 10 is configured to allow a user to enter information via an input interface, such as free-form commands. The relief production system 10, and in particular the computing device 30, can be configured to receive the user-entered information and consider it for presentation in a relief report 40 and / or a graphical user interface 60 and / or a status report of the relief production system. In one example, the information is entered via the graphical user interface 60 or via another user interface (e.g., a user interface of a user's mobile device). For example, the information can be sent by the user to the computing device 30. Additionally or alternatively, the information can be entered into the relief production system 10 via a file (e.g., a .txt file). The input information can include any information that could affect the quality of the produced relief plate and / or information worthy of inclusion in the relief report 40 and / or the graphical user interface 60 and / or the status report of the relief production system. This information can include, for example, information related to printing results obtained using the produced relief plate, information related to environmental conditions during production (e.g., ambient temperature), information related to malfunctioning components of the production unit, and measurements taken by the user on the plate using a measurement tool.

[0117] Figure 4 An embodiment according to a further aspect of the present disclosure is shown. According to this aspect, a method of operating a relief printing plate production system 10 is provided, the system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units 20 for processing relief printing plates, and a computing device 30. The method comprises the step of receiving, at the computing device, data related to the operation of the respective production unit 20, 20' from at least one production unit 20. The method further comprises the step of analyzing, at the computing device 30, the received data. The method further comprises the step of notifying / alerting a user and / or performing predictive maintenance based on the analyzed data at the computing device 30.

[0118] For example, an alarm is sent when an anomaly is detected. The alarm may include one or more of the following: a cooler failure; at least one lighting source (such as a light emitting diode) is not working properly; the temperature of the relief printing plate is higher than a predetermined threshold.

[0119] For example, the alert may be sent to the user via email. Additionally or alternatively, the alert may be sent to the user's smartphone.

[0120] Predictive maintenance herein can be implemented on a relief printing production system 10 that sends data to a computing device 30 for analysis. Additionally or alternatively, predictive maintenance can be implemented on a relief printing production system that does not send data to a computing device 30 for analysis. In the latter case, when a problem occurs in one production unit 20, other production units of the same or similar specifications in another relief printing production system 10 may also be experiencing problems, or may soon experience problems. By implementing predictive maintenance, failures in other similar production units can be prevented. According to some embodiments, receiving includes receiving parameter data that changes over time. Analyzing includes predicting, based on the received data, when components of the production unit 20 will need to be replaced or repaired.

[0121] Any feature of any aspect of the disclosure may be combined with any feature of any other aspect(s) of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing data from a relief printing production system (10), said system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units (20) for processing relief printing precursors to obtain relief printing plates, and a computing device (30), said method comprising the following steps at said computing device (30): - receiving data from said at least one production unit (20), said data comprising a plate identifier of said relief plate and information relating to the processing of said relief plate precursor by the corresponding production unit (20); - Analyzing the received data and creating a relief report (40) based on the analyzed data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The relief report (40) includes summary information about the processed relief precursor based on information received from the at least one production unit (20).

3. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The relief report (40) includes one or more of the following: the plate identifier of the relief, the dimensions of the relief (e.g., the length, width, and thickness of the relief), the identifier of the at least one production unit (20) that has processed the relief precursor, the settings used in the at least one production unit (20), a percentage of waste indicating the area of ​​the relief not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief, a job identifier identifying the job performed by the at least one production unit (20) on the relief precursor, image data associated with the processing of the at least one production unit (20), measurement data (e.g., base plate thickness) measured during or after processing by the at least one production unit, and a warning if an anomaly is detected in the analyzed data.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The received data comprises measurement data based on measurements performed by the at least one production unit (20) and / or the method further comprises receiving measurement data from a separate unit downstream of the at least one production unit (20).

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: The measurement data comprises data on physical properties of the processed relief plate (e.g. plate thickness), and / or base plate thickness of the processed relief plate precursor, and / or measurement data based on measured printing results (e.g. minimum stable tonal value produced on the relief plate, and / or dot gain).

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein The measurement data include production unit related data and / or data related to the environment surrounding the production unit (20) (e.g. the temperature of the relief precursor before and / or during and / or after treatment and / or the temperature inside at least one of the at least one production unit (20)).

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein The measurement data include data based on the results of printing with the processed plate, and optionally also print-related data (eg type of ink, type of print medium).

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The at least one production unit (20) comprises an imager (21, 21') with an imaging device (e.g. a laser), and the relief report (40) comprises one or more of the following: imaging duration, imaging power, imaging speed, position of the imaging device, measured parameters of an actuator (e.g. a motor) for moving the imaging device relative to the relief precursor (e.g. motor current, motor speed), time intervals for generating imaging features corresponding to imaging pixels (e.g. timing values ​​for controlling a light beam of the imaging device), beam diameter values ​​and / or beam shape values ​​for controlling a light beam of the imaging device, a number of iterations performed by the imaging device, an indication that one or more imaging heads of the imaging device have been used, and a temperature inside the imager.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The at least one production unit (20) comprises an exposure unit (22) having a main exposure device and / or a back exposure device for exposing the convex side and the back side of the relief precursor, and the relief report (40) comprises one or more of the following: main exposure time and / or back exposure time, main exposure and / or back exposure power and / or dose, number of exposure cycles performed by the main exposure device and / or back exposure device, movement speed of the main exposure device and / or back exposure device relative to the relief precursor, temperature of the relief precursor and / or temperature in the exposure unit, data related to cooling of the exposure unit, power consumption of the exposure unit.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The at least one production unit (20) comprises a washing machine (23), and the relief report (40) comprises one or more of the following: washing speed, washing temperature, washing duration, viscosity data of the liquid in the washing machine, power consumption of the washing machine.

11. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The at least one production unit (20) comprises a dryer (24), and the relief report (40) comprises one or more of the following: drying temperature, drying duration, consumption of drying medium, power consumption of the dryer.

12. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of analyzing the relief report (40) and determining the cause when parameters of the relief or printing results of the relief do not fall within their expected ranges or print quality.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of reading or receiving, in the production unit, a plate identifier of the relief precursor to be processed and sending said plate identifier to said computing device together with information related to the processing performed.

14. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of attaching or including the relief report (40) or an identifier of the relief report (40) to / with the processed relief.

15. A method for analyzing data from one or more relief production systems (10, 10'), each comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units (20, 20') for processing relief precursors and obtaining reliefs, and a computing device (30), the method comprising the following steps at the computing device (30): - receiving from each production unit (20, 20') of said one or more relief printing production systems data relating to the processes performed by the respective production unit; - analyzing the received data and displaying the data in a graphical user interface (60) of the corresponding relief printing production system (10, 10') based on the analyzed data, wherein the graphical user interface (60) is configured to display at least one of the following: o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the respective relief printing production system (10, 10') over time; o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with the respective relief production system (10, 10') as a function of the resolution of an imaging file used by the relief production system; o for each of the at least one production unit (20, 20'), a graphical representation indicating at least one parameter of the respective relief production system (10, 10'); o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with power consumption of at least one production unit; o a graphical representation of at least one parameter associated with solvent consumption of at least one production unit; o information allowing a comparison of the respective relief production system (10) with other relief production systems (10') of the one or more relief production systems; o A geographical map indicating the one or more relief production systems and one or more parameters associated with the one or more relief production systems.

16. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein Each relief printing production system (10, 10') comprises a first type (21, 21'; 22, 22'; 23、23’； 24, 24'), and wherein the method further comprises: determining which features of the first type of production unit are used for each relief production system (10, 10') based on the received data, and optionally sorting the used features based on the number of times the features have been used.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein The at least one parameter comprises at least one of the following: the number of relief plates processed by the production unit, the surface area processed by the production unit, a waste percentage indicating the area of ​​the relief plates not occupied by the image file compared to the total area of ​​the relief plates, a process parameter of the production unit, an integrity parameter of the production unit, the power consumption of the production unit, and the status of the production unit.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein The at least one production unit (20, 20') comprises an imager (21, 21'), and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: the state of the imager, the power consumption of the imager, the maximum ablation power of the imager, the ratio of the ablation power actually used by the imager to image the relief to the maximum ablation power available on the imager, the measured rotation speed of the drum in the imager when the relief precursor is fixed on the drum, the connection quality of the imager, the temperature of the imager and / or the relief precursor, the imaging resolution, the imaging duration, the imaging start time, the imaging end time, the power consumption of the imager.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein The at least one production unit (20, 20') comprises an exposure unit (22, 22'), and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: main exposure and / or back exposure time, main exposure and / or back exposure power or intensity, number of exposure cycles of main exposure and / or back exposure, connection quality of the exposure unit, parameters of a cooler of the exposure unit, power usage of the exposure unit, temperature of a part of the exposure unit, power consumption of the exposure unit.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein The at least one production unit (20, 20') comprises a cleaning machine (23, 23'), and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: cleaning speed, temperature of liquid in the cleaning machine and / or temperature of the cleaned relief plate, maximum cleaning temperature during the relief plate cleaning, minimum cleaning temperature during the relief plate cleaning, cleaning duration, viscosity data of the liquid in the cleaning machine, minimum viscosity during the relief plate cleaning, maximum viscosity during the relief plate cleaning, viscosity at the start of the cleaning, viscosity at the end of the cleaning, and power consumption of the cleaning machine.

21. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 20, wherein The at least one production unit (20, 20') comprises a dryer (24, 24'), and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: drying duration, drying temperature at which the relief is dried, minimum temperature during relief drying, maximum temperature during relief drying, temperature at the start of drying, temperature at the end of drying, power consumption of the dryer.

22. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 21, wherein The at least one production unit (20, 20') comprises a post-exposure unit downstream of a dryer (24, 24'), and the at least one parameter comprises one or more of the following: duration of post-exposure, delay time between different steps performed by the post-exposure unit, minimum temperature during post-exposure of the relief, maximum temperature during post-exposure of the relief, temperature at the start of post-exposure of the relief, temperature at the end of post-exposure of the relief, power consumption of the post-exposure unit.

23. A method of operating a relief printing production system (10), said system comprising at least one, preferably at least two, production units (20) for processing relief printing precursors to obtain relief printing plates, and a computing device (30), said method comprising the following steps at said computing device (30): - receiving from said at least one production unit (20) information relating to the processing of said relief precursor by the respective production unit; - Analyze the received data to detect faults and / or detect whether the relief printing production system can be improved; as well as - If a fault or possible improvement is detected, notify its user and / or perform predictive maintenance.

24. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein The receiving includes receiving parameter data of a production unit over time, and the analyzing includes predicting when a component of the production unit needs to be replaced or repaired based on the received data.

25. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The computing device (30) is part of a computing cloud.

26. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein The at least one production unit (20) includes at least two of the following units: a conveying unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit (such as a washing machine or a thermal developing unit), a post-processing unit (such as a drying machine), a post-exposure unit (such as a cutting unit configured to cut the plate), a mounting unit (such as a sleeve) configured to mount the relief precursor on a substrate, and a storage unit.

27. A computing device (30) comprising computer-executable instructions configured to implement the steps of the method of any preceding claim.

28. A computer program product comprising: Computer executable instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 26 when the program is run on a computer.

29. A relief production system comprising at least one production unit (20) for processing a relief precursor to obtain a relief, and a calculation device (30) according to claim 27.

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