For printers entering the production inkjet digital printing market.

By Erik Cagle

Is Now the Time to invest?

It’s a simple question that lacks an easy answer. For a printer that has the volumes to justify laying out $2 million to $3 million for a production inkjet workflow, the process to move forward can be slow and methodical.

“All inkjet is not the same; there are significant differences in many of the technologies,” notes Charlie Pesko, founder of InfoTrends. “Talk to other printers—folks who have had various products installed and have been successful with them—and find out when, where, why and how they’ve been successful.

“I don’t think the decision-making process is an easy one. But remember: the sales cycle here is much longer than some of the traditional lower speed, toner- based products, because of the cost and commitment you’re making to this new technology. It’s a different type of sales process. It’s a major, strategic move for many companies.”

Marco Boer, vice president of I.T. Strategies, believes the decision to buy now or wait for some of the pending technologies bound for the market is best viewed from the standpoint of tackling the learning curve involved with production inkjet.

“Sure, in two or three years, there will be better devices that are less expensive and more productive,” he says. “But, unless you buy now and come up to that learning curve—figure out how to sell the output and build the volumes—all your competitors who started earlier will have a huge competitive advantage. If you’re interested in this space and you have enough volume, you’re better off investing today because of the learning curve than you would be by waiting for the next, cheaper generation product.”

Waiting around to see what’s behind ‘door number two’ is not the best approach to take, agrees Noel Ward, managing director of Brimstone Hill Associates. Trying to get in on the ground floor of another technology, while it could be lucrative down the road, does little to help print service providers avail themselves of today’s opportunities.

“We’ve seen over and over how companies that adopted earlier digital printing technologies have found success and positioned themselves to better compete in their markets,” he says, “Printing has become very much technology-based and adopting a new technology such as high-speed inkjet printing—assuming you have the volume to justify it—can be a strategic decision for business success.

“By waiting, a printer will just be further behind the curve, and competitors can gain a real advantage. Still, these machines have a very definite learning curve and they are not for the timid. But that’s true for any new technology. Factor that into your purchase decision.”

Meanwhile, other technologies are in the wings. “One question we’re hearing from printers is whether Landa’s ‘nanographic’ technology or Xeikon’s Trillium are going to be better? Both of these use liquid toner rather than inkjet. They may well be, but neither is ready for prime time, and if you’re hesitating to take the plunge on inkjet, you’ll be waiting another three to five years to pull the trigger on one of those while you wait for the bugs to be worked out. Can your business run that long without some high-speed digital technology on hand?”

The current prevailing theory is that direct mail, books and transactional work are the holy trinity of the production inkjet digital printing church, and you won't get any arguments. Those three sectors have been transformed by production inkjet technology. But there are murmurs, rumblings of a fertile ground beyond the big three that will open the door for commercial printing, package printing and beyond.

Some observers believe that time is near, others are a bit more conservative in waving the production inkjet flag for commercial and packaging applications. But, unlike the onset of the digital printing revolution of the mid-1990s, when the market for such machines was undeveloped, this current trend toward continuous-feed and cutsheet inkjet press adoption is unmistakable. And, depending on your vantage point, production inkjet has yet to peak; were it a winter nor'easter, many would say the eye of the storm has not yet arrived.

The production inkjet movement in commercial printing may be closer than you think, notes InfoTrends Founder Charlie Pesko. He has heard from general commercial printers who have found applications outside of the book/direct mail/transactional range of items, while other areas such as newspapers and packaging have also reported some success.

The beauty of production inkjet in comparison to its toner-based digital printing cousin is that it operates at much higher speeds, notes Pesko. The upshot of this, though, is the resulting printed output in need of finishing. Setting up in-line or near-line tools—cutters, folders, stitchers, etc.—in a configuration that keeps operator intervention to a minimum, can enhance productivity and, thus, shorten turnaround time and yield the lowest operating costs, especially when compared to traditional offset printing.

"The feeding and finishing aspects cannot be overlooked," Pesko stresses.

The greatest change has come with the expansion of inkjet paper weights and sizes, according to Pesko, which has really enhanced the number of products and applications available in the production inkjet environment. This, coupled with more automated online or near-line output, is going to tremendously improve the print provider's return on investment.

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Production Inkjet Printing: Ready for Prime-Time for Commercial, Package Printers?