This study examines digital transformation (DX) from the perspective of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the printing industry. Although DX is promoted as a national policy and addressed by the industry, its definition, essence, methods, and effects are not widely understood. For SMEs, it is important to understand and deal with DX strategically. Therefore, this study conducted analyses of: (1) policies on DX, (2) DX efforts by -Japanese companies, and (3) digitalization efforts by small- and medium-sized printing companies to explore the essence of DX and consider management strategies that should be adopted. Owing to the advancement in digital disruption, the DX policy specifically expects companies to build business models with a competitive advantage by leveraging digital technology and essentially calls for a transformation to the organizational culture leading to innovation. Although the percentage of Japanese companies engaged in DX is estimated to be between 8%-16%, these companies are introducing IT tools and improving their business performance through business model building combined with human resource utilization and data analysis. We found that the digitalization of the printing companies is progressing in the following order: (1) management-related, (2) process-related, (3) product-related, and (4) interaction-related. Management-related and process-related digitization has produced good results, but product-related digitization has difficulty in monetizing, and interaction related digitalization which results in creating new value through two-way communication between inside and outside of the company is at the initial phase. It is estimated that only a few percent of printing companies have achieved DX. One of the reasons for this is that, like many Japanese companies, too much emphasis has been placed on rationalization investments from a profit-and-loss statement perspective. As a whole management strategy, it is desirable to have a business evaluation criteria including a non-financial capital perspective, and shift to the stanceaiming for building new business models, which leads to create innovation in the future.

Currently, services that use digital signage, which has been used since 2006 in the advertising field, are being provided in four main fields: advertising, promotion, information provision, and entertainment. Recent advances in ICT have improved the functionality of digital signage. The development of ultra-large screens using LED technology and service cooperation using sensor technology has been realized through advances in the digital signage technology. Based on the current state of digital signage, this study considers the latest trends and beneficial utilization methods for demonstrating the future of digital signage by introducing specific applications. The study will achieve its objective if the readers consider adopting services using digital signage by referring to the case studies.

Owing to the advancement in digitization, combinatorial optimization technology that extracts the optimum solution from a large number of options, such as production planning, staffing, and logistic optimization, has garnered attention. In this study, we describe a software developed using an annealing method and present the results of performance evaluation. Furthermore, we introduce an example of its application to production scheduling in a printing factory.

Although numerous literature has been written on the so-called “Digital Transformation (DX),” its true meaning and implications are yet to be applied to ordinary workplaces or day-to-day operations in companies. The aim of this study is three-fold: first, it examines the context where the concept of DX can be evolved and how it matters to the printing/publishing industry; second, it investigates the reason why many DX professionals insist on the failure of most DX in the future; third, it dives deeper into the challenges and obstacles the industry faces when tackling DX projects. while concluding that DX is an ever-lasting process and not a predefined goal in the VUCA world.

In recent years, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and Structure from Motion (SfM) technologies for acquiring data, such as topography data, has increased the demand for full-color three-dimensional (3D) printing. Therefore, we created a 3D model of the terrain using paper lamination and a full-color 3D printer using satellite data from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) and data acquired by UAVs. Furthermore, we compared FDM printing and paper lamination printing. As a result, we observed that the paper 3D model was more suitable for terrain and building structures. In addition, we showed that 3D mapping of thermal images is possible for 3D modeling using thermal images captured by an infrared camera attached to a UAV. In summary, the rapid technological development of UAVs in recent years, including improvements in flight ability, camera capability, and satellite positioning (GNSS) technology, coupled with photogrammetry and SfM technologies that enable faithful 3D modeling of data acquired by UAVs, demonstrated the technological significance of full-color 3D modeling using paper lamination.