The Automated Document Factory (ADF) concept was first published by Gartner Inc. in 1996. Developed and refined by Jay Ingalls and others within Gartner, ADF is a strategy for creating and delivering any company's mission-critical, high-volume printed documents. The ADF concept provided a strategy to efficiently and cost-effectively produce internal and external printed transaction documents. Gartner encouraged the use of factory production techniques to ensure lower costs, higher quality, document integrity and process controls. In time, equipment and software suppliers developed the tools to facilitate the ADF's integrated production workflow.