Keys for success in going digital

Small print runs, personalisation, speed... We’ve all heard about the numerous advantages that digital graphics technology offers for small-format printing. Here Agustin Torres, executive manager of the Spanish/Portuguese publishing group Fopren, outlines the present state of affairs with the technology and the market. “The printer is in the best position to take that decision,” he stresses, “and remember the old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The current European-market situation in figures
Since the appearance of the first machine back in the mid 1980s, sales of digital printing equipment and orders for digital printing have grown exponentially. Moreover, 78% of four-colour print work is now done in print-runs of fewer than 5,000 pages, which offers a very clear indication of how far personalisation has progressed (accounting for 30% of all printing work).

In overall terms, the world print market now has an annual output of 3,800 billion pages. Of that total figure, digital printing accounts for 230 billion pages (200 billion for black-and-white printing and 30 billion for colour printing). So the growth potential for digital printing is huge. As for colour digital printing, it is set to grow more than ten-fold.

Robert Corbishley, European public relations manager for production systems at Xerox, describes the "tremendous potential for digital printing. In particular, we are finding the strongest points in the market in applications for book publishing, direct mail advertising, promotional/transactional printing and collateral printing on demand. The strong market for personalisation and general and instant printing is generating new applications and business opportunities for our clients, as is the market for packaging and photographic products.”

The most note-worthy trends forecasted for the next three years are:

• Print on demand: 12% annual growth (retail)

• Lead time: 33% of assignments will be ready within 24 hours

• Colour pages: 27% growth in colour-printing digital production

Brands: Choosing a digital solution
All the major brands naturally defend their own products, seeking to boost their sales just as you do with your clients. The current offerings of digital printing equipment, which was originally intended for producing short-run documents, has evolved to offer highly satisfactory solutions for special applications. Faster printing speeds and compatibility with a wide range of media have brought these technologies into the print-on-demand market, as can clearly be seen in the potential and capacity of present-day small-format digital printers. These established trends are expected to continue in the future. To better understand this, the best way is to visit our colleagues and learn first-hand about the different digital print solutions currently on the market. Trade fairs also offer invaluable opportunities for comparing notes and taking decisions.

Many advanced production printers are perfectly suited to the requirements of clients who switch between offset and digital environments, since they offer an open workflow, outstanding colour equivalence, and a wide range of compatible substrates to print on.

The key features that printers greatly value in small-format digital-printing systems are their resolution, the output in pages per minute, the paper-feeding capacity, a choice of printing options (ink or toner), and the capability to print on both sides of the paper at once (duplex technology). With those specifications in mind, some solutions currently available in market include:

• Océ, with 250 ppm, a resolution of 600 x 1200 dpi, duplex technology, and the capacity to handle 13,800 sheets of paper;

• Xeikon, with 160pmm, 600 dpi, and duplex technology;

• HP, with 68 ppm, 1200 dpi, autoduplex technology, and the capacity to handle 6,700 sheets;

• Xerox, with 100 ppm, 600 x 600 dpi, and the capacity to handle 30,000 sheets;

• Kodak, with 100 ppm, 600 dpi, duplex technology, and the capacity to handle 71,000 sheets.

• These figures relate to colour printing. All the printers from these brands use toner except HP, which uses liquid ink.

In short, the sector now offers print speeds ranging from 68 to 250 pages a minute, a paper-feed capacity of 6,700 to 71,000 sheets, resolutions of 600 to 600 x 1200 dpi, and a monthly output ranging from 200,000 to 8 million prints. Future trends will focus on in boosting production and spreading duplex technology.

Needless to say, the digital printers referenced above are not the only solutions currently available in the market. But they do represent cutting edge digital technology and stand out by offering image quality that is comparable to offset.

Pathway to profitable new opportunities
Digital technology’s strong point lies in commercial printing, although new business opportunities are opening up all the time and can strategically expand a company's core activity.

In photography, the market for film processing has plummeted over recent years as a result of the invasion of digital cameras, and so the processing sector has needed to launch a new product to retain its processing business. This has given rise to an innovative range of personalised articles such as photobooks, calendars, T-shirts etc. Because these items require personalisation and high-quality finishing, they are ideally suited for production with digital offset equipment. The potential for this new market is vast: HP Indigo has printed over 7 million personalised products worldwide, and projects a 94% increase for the period up to 2010, attaining a value of 3,000 million euros.

“The number of photos taken by cameras and phone cameras in Western Europe is expected to grow by 17.8% from 2003 to 2010 – we now have more photos than ever,” says Jakob Bovin, manager at Indigo Digital Press, HP EMEA. “In 2006, 63 billion pictures were stored and shared, and a total of 14 billion were printed, while estimates suggest that those figures will reach 110 and 24 billion respectively by 2011. More and more European on-line and retail photo services are promoting personalised photographic products, making consumers more aware of the possibilities and thus boosting demand.”

According to Océ’s senior communications spokesman Freek Jochems, for small and medium outputs the demand for colour documents is running high. "We expect the volume of colour documents produced in continuous-feed systems to double every year. The bulk of continuous-feed transactional printing is in black-and-white – hundreds of billions of pages each year," he says. "Only 2 to 3 billion pages are printed in full colour, while assignments featuring colour in parts account for just 20% of the market. The offset printing market is currently worth 400 billion euros." He notes that book printing is the biggest segment in offset printing, and the biggest growth opportunity right now. Jochems estimates that "if just 1% of offset printing migrated to digital, the digital printing market would grow by 13%,.”

Will Mansfield, Kodak's marketing director for digital printing solutions EAMER, offers some market predictions for 2008, He identifies five different business trends that are clearly emerging and warrant close attention from printers:

1. "The market for consumer-oriented photographic products will significantly expand (photo albums, calendars, mugs, T-shirts...).

2. Transpromo: a rapidly growing application used by companies to convey messages, often marketing messages. Adding promotional content to transactional materials is a very important trend that is generating the production of a large volume of printed documents. Europe is leading this field, with an annual growth rate of 13%.

3. New web technologies, aimed at bringing significant improvements to printing work; the result will be a rise in web-based proofing, as well as order handling and monitoring done the same way. This trend is in its infancy now, but shows tremendous future potential.

4. Environmental trends: ever-greater efforts are being made to reduce energy consumption and waste generation, and digital printing is very environmentally friendly. For example, Kodak is doing a lot of work in this field and all the materials used in its systems are recyclable. Eco-friendly production is a growing trend.

5. Business development for printing firms: Kodak is working at improving the way printing service providers operate, so that they reach their clients and promote photographic printing more effectively.”

Why digital is such a success
Printers who decide to go digital are quick to praise the advantages and cost savings. A broad range of printed products can be supplied, along with numerous variable options. From a production standpoint, the jobs can be done in small quantities, in a fast turnaround time, and at competitive prices when compared with conventional printing methods. In terms of economic benefits, it's not necessary to buy or maintain a large inventory of supplies and distribution costs can be reduced.

Digital production provides the liberty to print only what is needed, when it is needed, since editing and updating the content can be done without entailing extra costs or time. Thus significantly higher margins can be achieved than are possible with traditional printing methods. These are the most significant advantages of digital printing.

Drupa 2008 will no doubt elaborate on these ideas. It is rumoured that the forthcoming edition of this event will not only be a digital-printing Drupa, but be oriented as an inkjet-printing fair. In short: opening the door to new opportunities for printing service providers.

Agustin Torres is executive manager of the publishing group Fopren, and oversees the organisation of the company's graphics digital printing fairs for both the Portuguese and Spanish markets.

Torres was also elected to the post of president of the European Digital Press Association (EDP), which brings together Europe’s chief digital-printing magazines and arranges annual awards for the year’s best products. Image Reports is a member of the EDP.

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