Revolution Print director Leon Wilson has seen enough change in 17 years to know that doing more of the same was not an option. “I needed to think about how we future-proof Revolution Print – not just compete for the same work as everybody else,” he told me on The Print Files podcast in October. The answer became StickySheets.com.au – a tightly integrated e-commerce brand for custom sticker sheets – built on the company’s existing Konica Minolta production platform and a stack of smart software.
Konica Minolta Australia’s James Rolland, who joined us on the podcast, calls it a textbook example of thinking beyond the press. “The hardware is the core, but it’s the way Leon has connected hardware, workflows and data that makes the transformation possible,” he says. “Automation isn’t about removing people – it frees them to focus on quality, creativity and continuous improvement.”
Data first, then design the workflow
Wilson’s starting point wasn’t machinery, it was data. Years of commercial work in labels and stickers revealed a gap: customers wanted short-run, custom shapes and materials without the compromises of pre-cut label stock – and without waiting for outsourced components. “Data told us what clients actually valued – shape freedom, material choice, fast turnarounds and no minimums – and what they didn’t,” Wilson says.
From there, the team engineered a flow that removes friction from click to courier:
Front end: Infigo powers the online design and ordering experience with more than 300 shapes and four size options per shape. Customers can order as little as one A4 sheet.
Production brain: Orders drop automatically into PrintIQ as tickets – no printed job bags. Enfocus Switch duplicates files to match quantity, runs the first imposition to A4, then batches all overnight. A second, cut-and-stack imposition adds barcodes and tabs.
Press & cut: Odd pages route to the Konica Minolta toner engine; even pages route to a sheet-fed laser cutter. Operators load stock and press go – device hot folders carry all print parameters, so there are no on-the-fly adjustments.
Machine-to-machine: The laser scans barcodes to select cutting depth per substrate and page. It kiss-cuts shapes and trims to A4 while the sheet moves continuously, dropping scrap automatically and stacking finished sheets.
Dispatch: A barcode tab on the first sheet triggers PrintIQ to talk to TIG Freight/Australia Post, auto-generating a label, marking the job complete and emailing tracking to the customer.
Across the entire job, Wilson counts three human touchpoints: load stock and print, load the laser and start, scan and pack. “The most amazing factor is that there is zero wastage,” he adds. “If someone orders one A4 sheet, we print on a larger SRA3 parent sheet, so the unused half is filled with another customer’s job – delivering zero wastage.”
Materials and logistics at e-commerce speed
Through Ball & Doggett’s i-Consignment program, Revolution carries the right substrates without tying up cash or attention. “We tested broadly and landed on 15 substrates, 14 of them from Ball & Doggett,” Wilson says. “We set shelf levels; when we use a box, the system calls replenishment. It’s another layer of automation we don’t have to think about.”
Logistics is similarly hands-free. Because dispatch is triggered by the barcode scan, the label prints, the job status flips, and the client receives tracking – all without operator data entry. That’s the mechanism that lets a regional plant scale to Australia-wide demand using Australia Post and StarTrack.
Culture: humans and machines
Wilson is quick to point out that none of this runs without the right people. “I’m the one out front, but there’s a team behind it,” he says. Recruitment at Revolution Print starts with personality and passion, not pre-existing print skills. Candidates tour the whole operation, then take 48 hours to decide if they can see themselves thriving there. “That hands ownership to them from day one,” Wilson says.
Internally, the ethos blends lean manufacturing, vulnerability and self-ownership. Staff have authority to try low-risk improvements – from layout tweaks to simple fixtures – and see their ideas implemented fast. “The more we automate, the more we unlock creativity,” Wilson says. “The team has moved from being wary of change to driving it.”
Partnership as a force multiplier
Rolland says the Konica–Revolution relationship has been built on feedback and flexibility rather than a supplier checklist. “We align our service to what Revolution Print needs, even down to how and when technicians travel. And Leon takes on adjustments he’s comfortable owning. It’s a loop that speeds up learning on both sides.”
That collaboration has spanned toner and inkjet platforms, digital embellishment and narrow-web label capability. Although the current laser-cutting system came from outside the Konica Minolta stable, Rolland was “in the conversations” as Wilson explored options – a sign of how the dialogue in this partnership has matured.
Beyond the press
Rolland’s thesis – published previously in Print21 – is that the future belongs to printers who treat technology as a launchpad. In practice, that means e-commerce models, high-automation workflows, and breadth of service so you can pivot as the market shifts. “Get your equipment online – IoT is step one – integrate data, then let AI find the trends,” he says. “We’re already seeing AI in preflighting, imposition and scheduling, and in our world, inline scanners feed cloud data that will soon flag image-quality issues before the operator even sees them.”
StickySheets reflects that arc. The system is built for fast turnarounds, variable complexity and scale, with an ambition to handle up to 1000 orders a day as demand grows.
Re-valuing print
Wilson is bullish on where this leads the craft. “Traditional print, as we knew it, is over,” he says bluntly. “People are printing less, but they’re willing to spend more when the result is beautiful and useful. You only reach that bar with modern digital workflows that minimise make-ready and waste and can price short-runs realistically.”
Rolland agrees. “We’ve pushed digital embellishment for years because it raises the value of print. Leon’s model shows how you combine that mindset with automation to improve both the product and the bottom line.”
As for what’s next, Wilson is tight-lipped, other than to say the roadmap is long and the capacity is there. “We’re working with international partners on some incredible pieces of print. I’ll never be satisfied – and we’ve only just started on the automation we can add.”
This article was first published in the November-December 2025 edition of Print21, page 42.
