A look at the latest production and industrial print initiatives that will shape and reshape the industry in the coming year.
Sometime in the first quarter of 2020, we may have a basic sense of what is in store for the world of print for the rest of the year. Why the wait? Mostly because 2020 is a “drupa year,” which means equipment and software makers will be mum about anything new until the quadrennial circus of all things print. Held in Dusseldorf, Germany, this well-disguised scheme to sell beer and sausages has a way of seizing the attention of print industry mavens around the planet.
The thing is, drupa is a showcase for what is, what will be, and what might be. For proof, look no further than Landa, which rolled out its presses as a technology demo in 2012 and which have only begun use in real-world production during the past year. Now with 15 to 20 presses installed worldwide, Landa needs proof of commercialization—that its machines work. We will hopefully see that proof before the gates open in Dusseldorf.
drupa aside, what will we see in 2020? Some educated guesses, insights from colleagues, and a few comments from vendors provide some idea of what we’ll be seeing over the next twelve months. There’s just one thing: Expect 2020 to be a little confusing on the production and industrial sides of print. Whether you go to a show or just read the news streaming in from your choice of media outlet, you are destined to be overwhelmed with a tsunami of ideas and concepts, visions, and promises. And if you happen to hit the aisles of a trade show, the old rule still applies: Believe about 10% of what you see and maybe a third of what you hear. Let’s take a look.
Still More Inkjet
One thing we can expect is more inkjet presses reaching the market. There will be a lot of noise about the big, high-end roll-fed machines attaining some truly amazing speeds as inkjet tries to catch up to offset, but the really important news will be cut-sheet inkjet.
There are already relatively high-volume, high-speed cut-sheet devices on the market from Canon and Xerox, with more to follow from other companies, but look for mid-range inkjet printers from a host of companies. The main player to date is RISO, but don’t expect that company to be alone much longer. This class of box (about 150 pages per minute [ppm]) can fit very nicely into the copier/printer dealer space, so be sure you’re ready for this shift in the market. RISO also has a model that does full-color printing at 320 ppm, which is a good fit for smaller commercial print operations.
One more thing you can expect from inkjet is greater options in wide-format machines. Speeds will go up, as will the range of substrates and the width of some presses. Whether UV, latex, or aqueous inks are used, wide-format has become a mainstream choice and is a sure-fire money-maker for many print providers. From signage to packaging to vehicle wraps and more, vendors are making sure they have wide-format products that fit the needs of the market.
But why inkjet? Some of it is the need for speed, but like everything else, it’s about money. Inkjet head prices are coming down and that makes new machines less expensive on a cost/performance basis. Inkjet boxes also need less support than their toner-based counterparts so that trims service costs. But ink is still the consumable, and on a cost-per-weight basis, the ink used in any inkjet system is surpassed only by things like platinum, gold, and plutonium. Although the actual formulas are highly proprietary, many inks are still basically colored water, making the margins more than a little attractive for equipment makers and dealers. And whenever an OEM spots another high-margin consumable, they find a way to build a machine that will use it. This means copier/printer dealers should pay attention to their markets and OEMs because you will be selling low and mid-range inkjet printers and MFPs within the next 12 months.
Got Toner?
Until recently, it was assumed that toner boxes would dominate the under 100 to 120 ppm segment. That may not be the case anymore, so look for a host of small cut-sheet inkjet printers to intrude into this space in the next 12 months.
Yet, as invasive as inkjet may be, toner is not about to go away. One reason for this is digital print enhancement. Production inkjet is primarily limited to CMYK, while toner is expanding its color gamut. HP has long done this on its Indigo presses, but some of the color and texture options available from Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and Xerox are clear differentiators, even on lower- to mid-range presses, some of which can run sheets as long as 49 inches. Options include metallic and fluorescent inks, specialty substrates, and finishing systems that can help create printed pieces that people want to touch, hold and read. Talk with your OEMs to see what they offer and think about how you can sell it.
The expansion of inkjet means the game is changing, so buckle up. And while you’re strapping in, remember that toner versus inkjet is not an either-or issue. Vendors will offer both technologies (at least for a few more years), and customers can pick which best suits their needs. Both types of machines will wind up in corporate printing centers and office hallways. Don’t believe me? Wait.
Paper Problems
The challenge with inkjet, though, is and has been paper. Aqueous (water-based) inks must be dried, partly to limit dot gain, and the paper should not absorb too much of the ink. Paper vendors know how to engineer paper so this is not an issue, but because the volume of inkjet pages is still relatively low, paper companies can’t justify producing sufficient volumes of inkjet papers to drive the price to where it competes economically with offset papers. However, that day will come, maybe even in 2020 or 2021, although it won’t be soon enough to satisfy owners of high-speed inkjet presses.
But Wait. There’s More!
Next up is AR (augmented reality). You’ve probably heard about and even experienced AR, which creates branding and even interactions between brands and consumers via a smartphone. Virtually any document can contain AR-enabled graphics or pages linked to a video or animation when viewed with a smartphone app. The present barrier is that an app is usually required but look for smartphone vendors to include AR-viewing apps in their operating systems, as has been done with QR codes. This will lead to a wave of AR graphics on packaging and signage, and in magazines and newspapers. And there is no reason why a graphic in a report or presentation printed on a hallway or departmental MFP can’t use AR. Because this is new territory for most companies, dealers are positioned to help customers leverage AR in their documents. This adds value to what they offer and helps position dealerships as a technological resource.
Still more things to look for:
- Increased automation, mostly via software, that ties to reporting and dashboards.
- Automation will continue to simplify things like color management and overall press operations.
- Print supply chains are going to change. Look for more intrusion from players like Staples, UPS, and more.
- The cloud—however you define it—will become an increasingly important part of how all types of companies do business.
- Expect increased adoption of web-to-print technology and remote job submission.
This is only a slice of what we’ll be seeing in 2020. Anyway you look at it, this is a time of great opportunity in all aspects of printing because printing is not what it used to be, and the opportunities are limited only by your imagination.
Author’s note: A big “thank you” goes to Lois Ritarossi of High Rock Strategies, Marco Boer of I.T. Strategies, Pat McGrew and Ron Gilboa of Keypoint Intelligence, and Roger Gimbel of Roger Gimbel & Associates, all of whom provided their perspectives for this story.
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