Technology changes and grows more each day, and as such, businesses and organizations are able to benefit from the evolution by having certain processes simplified, giving employees the ability to balance multiple tasks. The printing industry is no different, and has come a long way from Gutenberg’s printing press and is now able to print 3-D images.

As described by Jeremy Rifkin, author and lecturer on economic changes, in a Huffington Post contribution piece, 3-D printing is no longer science fiction. Instead of sending a digital file to an inkjet printer, the machine runs off of a three dimensional product.

“Using computer aided design, software directs the 3-D printer to build successive layers of the product using powder, molten plastic, or metals to create the material scaffolding,” Rifkin wrote. “The 3-D printer can produce multiple copies just like a photocopy machine.”

Three dimensional printing is not the only contributing factor for a possible third Industrial Revolution. Al Boese, executive director of Bindrite Dealers Association described in a recent blog post what he called “Green Button Revolution.”

Essentially, Green Button is the next wave of automation in digital printing as it means that worker intervention is minimized. Ideally, Boese said, an operator needs to merely load the machine and then press a button, which is most often green. An earlier example of Green Button was when printers first evolved the touch pad screen, allowing individuals to have more simplicity in choosing printing options.

Now, according to Boese, the next wave of Green Button Revolution lies in finished printing. While competent laminator operators used to be difficult to find, due to tricky requirements of setting up and running a job, the creation of the ALM 3220, a fully automatic laminator, changed everything. Job setup is simple and the ease of operation will give owners and users more opportunities to include other tasks in their daily regime.

Green Button technology will only continue to evolve and give individuals with printing and laminating needs more options to complete their tasks.