The wide-format printing industry is poised to see significant growth in 2016 and beyond.Late last year,the International Sign Association's (ISA's) quarterly economic forecast report predicted most sectors of the industry will enjoy positive trending this year.Most of the good news is due to new developments in printing technology, which continue to drive innovation.At the same time, however, changes in customer demand have also‘pushed the envelope’with regard to the customization of print services,with new types of output hitting the market on a continuous basis.
Inkjet-intensive
The growth of inkjet printing has paralleled the earlier rise of offset technology in the production printing industry. And today,it is still one of the fastest-growing methods of printing. According to InfoTrends,a market research and strategic consulting firm for the digital imaging and documents industry,inkjet will account for more than 59 per cent of the total production volume of all digital colour printing by 2018.
Advances in inkjet printhead technology have moved the industry forward, in large part due to demand from manufacturers of wide-format printers. As new printheads are introduced, the industry continues to see increased nozzle density, higher print resolutions, more grey-scale capabilities and faster production times year after year.
Inkjet printheads have also become more versatile, supporting a full gamut of inks.Today,these may include ultraviolet-curable (UV-curable),solvent-based, durable aqueous‘latex’and dye sublimation inks.
A grand-format printer may take up less space within a production facility than two wide-format printers side-by-side.
Platforms for growth
Speaking of versatility, some manufacturers have specialized in building‘platform’printers. These are machines designed to grow along with the sign shops that use them. They are usually reasonably priced at the outset and then may be upgraded over time.
A shop might buy a wide-format press with one set of printheads at a low, entry-level price, for example, then grow its business and market share over the course of a year before ordering a second array of printheads and doubling the machine's speed.Another year later, the shop may even add a third array of printheads to further increase productivity.
This is an exciting new trend for the wide-format printing industry, as it offers high-quality results in a cost-effective fashion. It is otherwise very expensive to buy and continue to outgrow printers within a short period, not to mention the associated inconveniences of selling old equipment and the learning curve for each new model.
Providing more services
While many print service providers (PSPs) are enjoying the upswing in the wide-format graphics market, they also must formulate their own business strategies to gain a competitive edge while answering increasing customer demand for shorter runs, personalized designs and more vibrant colours.With continued improvements in digital technology allowing the industry to shift from mass production to customization, PSPs need to become more focused on individual clients’needs, if they are to deliver greater value than their competitors.
As a consequence, the industry is seeing more and more integration of other services like marketing, graphic design, branding, finishing and project management into existing print shops.
Framing systems have been specially designed for backlit fabric graphics.
Efficient finishing
Finishing equipment ranges from cutters, fabric steamers and heat presses to industrial sewing systems, sergers (i.e. overlock sewing machines that cut the edges of the fabrics fed through them), welders and seamers. In the long run, in-house finishing is more cost-effective than outsourcing the work.
It also serves as a value-added component of a print shop's graphic production workflow. Many of today's customers are looking for the convenience and expediency of‘everything under one roof’with one-stop shopping.
One of the more significant recent advances in finishing technology has been the automation of cutting. A single flatbed digital cutter can outpace—and achieve higher accuracy than—four employees using knives to cut graphics by hand. Given the running costs of cutting tables versus manual labour, a return on investment (ROI) may well be seen within the term of a five-year lease.
The soft touch
InfoTrends predicts inkjet technology will account for more than 59 percent of all digital colour printing by 2018.
Another area of rapid innovation has been fabric printing in general, where InfoTrends predicts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39 per cent for the next few years.
One of the primary factors influencing how textile graphics are used is the arrival of more European retailers in the North American market. Fabric point-of-purchase (POP) displays have increasingly become the industry standard in Europe over most of the last decade due to their beauty, elegance and sophistication and now there is a similar trend hitting Canada and the U.S. Large, backlit fabric displays have proven particularly impressive and eye-catching for merchandising purposes. Perhaps not surprisingly, fabric graphics have had a tremendous impact on the trade show exhibitry market. Other opportunities in growing markets include the digital printing of garments, interior décor and industrial textiles.
With the dramatic growth of digital textile printing in North America has come an increased demand for dye sublimation technology in the wide-format graphics industry, from apparel to soft signage. As more customers recognize the advantages of superior dye-sub output, more PSPs are adopting the print production equipment behind it.
One of the primary advantages of dye sub is how it allows fabric to maintain its feel or‘hand.’When the ink is sublimated onto the substrate, it is infused into the fibres—as opposed to pigmented inks, which are only deposited onto a fabric's surface—to achieve a deeper level of saturation and, thus,richer colours,adding to the‘high-end’look of the final product, which remains as soft as before printing.
Another important benefit of the ink being infused directly into the fabric is image permanence without needing any additional surface protection. The image cannot be washed away, rubbed off or otherwise removed from the fabric, in contrast to textile graphics printed using solvent-based, UV-curable or latex inks.
In Europe, given the high market demand for fabric-based retail graphics, it is not uncommon for sign shops to operate both dye-sub and UV printers, so they can choose the right technology for each application. In North America, approximately one in eight facilities use both of these technologies, but the number is rising as the printed textile market continues to become stronger.
Wide to grand
This raises another challenging question for today's PSPs to face: when is it best to operate (a) two wide-format printers side-by-side or (b) a single grand-format printer?
Arguments can certainly be made for both options and the ultimate choice will come down to the sign shop owner's preference, but there are significant advantages enjoyed today with grand-format printers, particularly in terms of streamlining a business.
For one thing, industrial grand-format printers—i.e. 2.5 m (100 in.) and wider—are faster. A single grand-format printer will generally produce output 30 to 50 per cent faster than the cumulative efforts of two standard wide-format printers that are running side-by-side instead.
For another, there is the question of footprint. A grand-format printer may actually take up less space in a production facility than two wide-format printers, given the need for adjacent allowances for loading and maintenance.
Finally, there are issues of productivity. Besides the speed and size differences, an industrial printer is built to run 24-7, whereas many commercial-grade wide-format printers are only intended to run six to eight hours a day. Some grand-format presses offer dual-roll printing,enabling two completely separate jobs to be printed on two different substrates at the same time,faster than could be achieved with two wide-format machines. And with a single printer comes more consistent ink placement from job to job, rather than worrying about ink batch differences between two side-by-side wide-format printers.
Of course, all of these factors must be weighed against each other on a shop-by-shop basis, taking into consideration the types of applications to be handled, the production workflow space and the electrical requirements of each machine, not to mention long-range budgeting and business goals.
Whatever stage of business a PSP is at, though, it will be important to keep abreast of ever-changing technologies and trends and be willing to make updates as new demands arise. Only companies taking this approach will reach and remain at the forefront of the industry, enjoying growth in their success and profitability. |
