Feature
Inkjet processing: Taming the tiger
Caterina Valentino
The future of inkjet processing is sustainable. And, that’s extremely important
in a mature business where market segments (newspapers and magazines) are
declining and product quality and service differentiation (not price) are key
success factors. For the past three years, a number of industry whitepapers
published from competing manufacturers and graphic arts ‘think tanks’ confirmed
the sustainability of inkjet printing by identifying it as a primary driver of new
growth in the commercial print industry for the foreseeable future.
Canon’s August 2018 Inkjet Printing
Tipping Point White Paper concluded
that inkjet printing has matured and is a
viable, cost-effective print alternative to
offset printing. Running costs are lower
at varying run lengths. Turnaround times
are shorter, making it easier to meet
tight deadlines. Plus, the image quality
is indistinguishable from other print
options. Inkjet’s siren call of a sustainable
and upwardly spiralling growth curve
continues to entice committed offset
and toner printers to show a keen interest
in investing in inkjet processing.
Investing in inkjet printing is like having
a tiger in your tank. There’s lots of potential
for enormous profit, but this tiger’s
energy needs to be tamed and its habitat
made ready before its potential can be
harnessed.
New and sustainable growth
NAPCO Research’s 2017 report, Production
Inkjet Printing: Considerations, Deploy-
ment and End Results, indicated that of
the 709 respondents surveyed, 43%
owned at least one inkjet printer, and
40% said they were likely or somewhat
likely to acquire an inkjet printer in the
following year. Mark Michelson (2019),
Editor-in-Chief of Printing Impressions,
noted that, at the time of the survey, the
dominant inkjet press was continuous-
feed. Michelson hypothesized that, if the
survey was re-done today, there would be
a higher percentage of cut-sheet presses.
In February 2019, Tony Curcio, Editor of
Graphic Arts Magazine, reported digital
inkjet printing on textiles as being one
of the fastest growing industry segments.
The global market for printed signage
26 | November 2019 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
will rise to $46.7 billion by 2022. The
worldwide label printing market will be
worth $45.22 billion by then, and printed
packaging will grow to $22.4 billion in
that same year. Furthermore, as inkjet
technology becomes standardized and
with equipment manufacturers selling
similar, if not the same, installations to
multiple print shops, machine up-time
and manufacturer service/maintenance
response times are metrics investors
need to scrutinize. one print process for another. The optimal
solution is the convergence of different
print processes to produce the best
quality product at the best price, in the
least amount of time. Printers who con-
tinue to play the ‘short game’ of being
a ‘low-cost producer,’ are normally late
adopters of innovation and miss out on
obvious early-adopter advantages.
Print cannibalization Printex Times (2019) reported that manu-
facturers’ investments in inkjet R&D are
huge. Contrasting 2017 articles on the
state of inkjet production to Curcio’s
reported 2019 overview of printing
trends, one quickly sees just how much
inkjet printing has matured over a mere
two years. In 2017, the buzz was about
cut-feed inkjets. Cut-feed allowed for
smaller runs to be cost effective compared
to roll-to-roll feed machines that required
large runs to achieve economies of scale.
It’s become apparent that printers need
to see themselves beyond putting ink
on paper. For tomorrow’s print shop to
be productive, owners need to be able
to acquire the equipment and the staff
that can handle different types of data
In 2017, Alec Couckuyt (then Senior Director
of the Professional Printing Solutions
Group at Canon Canada and now a
regular Graphic Arts Magazine contribu-
tor) pointed out that there has been
tremendous evolution in technology
because of inkjet. He added that the
commercial printer is really looking at
how he or she can better serve customers
by utilizing inkjet technology in combination
with offset, wide-format and digital.
“These are all services that are being
offered,” he said. “It really has gone from
just putting ink on paper to ‘how can I
better serve my customer in a total
cycle.’ ” No printer wants to ‘cannibalize’
Inkjet technology innovations
continue
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