Inkjet – threat or opportunity?

Through no fault of its own, the printing industry has in recent years lost work to the web, CD publishing, in-house digital copiers and desktop inkjet printers.

In order to counter losses to these new media I have for some time believed that printing and copy businesses should provide new and additional services to their customers. Simply going after more of the same means we are taking work away from other printers which drives down prices. Offering new services means we are growing our businesses as well as the industry. Inkjet printing is one of the technologies that offer new opportunities, but which we often see as a threat.

Low cost inkjet printers are now found on the desktops of nearly all of our customers. The main reason is they are cheap to buy and quality has improved dramatically. Their major downfall is that they are expensive to operate and produce mediocre results on plain paper. Even so, vast numbers of pages are being printed on these devices creating a massive demand for supplies. The provision of inkjet ink cartridges and special paper has become a multibillion dollar business and in effect is a direct competitor to the shopfront or short-run sector of the printing industry. Anything that takes away our market share is a threat, but I believe many of us are missing opportunities, and that inkjet print production will increasingly become a part of the print for pay industry, especially quick print style operations.

The latest offerings to the mass market are full-colour ‘multifunction’ devices which combine a full-colour copier, printer and scanner in one for $200 or less from Harvey Norman, Officeworks and many other stores. These devices are making an impact, but once the first set of inks requires replacing the owners stop pressing the print button quite as frequently. This is to our advantage as the user has come to expect colour output, but has discovered it is less costly to have their local print shop produce the longer-runs.

Keeping pace with change.
I am forever trying to keep up with new technologies and developing trends. I do this through magazines, tradeshows and the internet. Even living on the Gold Coast has its advantages. Numerous industry conferences and tradeshows are held here every year. Two of these are the sign industry and the toner and inkjet recharging conferences.
I recently attended the leading sign industry expo where the single most displayed piece of equipment was the large format inkjet printer. Most of the exhibitors also offered vinyl cutting solutions either integrated or as separate units. There were also exhibits of some very interesting smaller inkjet printers and cutters that could have a place in our industry.

The toner and inkjet recharger industry held its expo the previous year and while most of us have had less than favourable experiences with recharged toner cartridges, this conference was a hive of activity with much the same atmosphere as a quick print conference of a decade or more ago. Numerous franchises were offering their business systems and the crowd of attendees was enthusiastically talking about profits. Recharging is obviously a growing industry and profiting from images that were previously produced by the quick print and copy shop sector.

I must add that their tradeshow was closed to the public with only fully fledged members allowed in. I found this unusual but the recharger industry is subject to a fair amount of litigation from printer manufacturers. A major lawsuit was recently brought by Lexmark in the US against one of the biggest third party toner and recharger component manufacturers, Static Control Components. It was over them making copies of a computer chip used in refilled toner cartridges to indicate ‘full again’. These are measures used to slow the growth in non genuine supplies and help protect the manufacturers’ profits. There are also constant claims by printer manufacturers that only genuine supplies should be used while the recharger industry claims that using third party products does not void your warranty.
These are hallmarks of a turbulent and growing industry and we have to wonder what effect lower cost supplies that allow the customer to produce their own printing will have on our industry?

Looking back, when the original black and white photocopier became sufficiently cost-effective to go into every office, there was serious concern that the new technology spelled the end of the quick printer. Quick printing, however, continued to thrive for those who adapted and new markets opened up for what became known as high speed copying.

A few steps ahead of their customer.
The quick printer at that time did have to be aware of the changes happening and go after the opportunities presented. They did this by installing machines a few steps beyond the capabilities of their customers. Most customers soon learned that it was more cost-effective for the quick printer to produce their longer-runs on their heavy duty machines than to produce them themselves on their own smaller machines.

Is the same thing happening with inkjet printers? The technology is fast coming of age. Through the advent of direct to plate technologies the inkjet printer has risen to meet the need for colour proofing devices proving the superior image quality that can be achieved. The same large format devices used for proofing are also producing posters for customers' point-of-sale or promotions. Large format printing is proving viable for many printers and especially prepress bureaus.

But will inkjet ever be used for high volume print production? We probably asked the same question when full-colour copiers first arrived on the scene. The first colour copiers were viable up to around 100 copies against offset printing. Now new models are viable up to thousands of prints depending on the customer's need for speed.

When desktop publishing first arrived on the scene it was not commercially viable but it revolutionised our industry. I doubt inkjet will have the same effect but it is steadily creeping into the print for pay arena. In the case of inkjet, the hardware is relatively low in cost with consumables the major barrier to commercial viability. This will change and, as it does, it will provide increasing opportunities.

A new desktop breakthrough.
One of the breakthroughs in inkjet printing that I learned about at a recent tradeshow is that at the desktop end of the market there is a recently introduced inkjet printer suitable for producing short-run stationery. This printer is the Epson C70/80 series with the latest model being the C83. It is rated at 22 black prints per minute and you can buy one for around $280 from your local computer superstore.

So what makes this printer so different from any other inkjet? As far as I can establish it is the only desktop inkjet printer that uses pigment ink. Every other desktop device uses water soluble dye ink which quickly fades and smudges when subjected to moisture unless printed on expensive inkjet papers. Pigment ink is more suitable for printing on conventional stocks; it is waterfast and behaves much the same as ink laid down by an offset press. Importantly, the image quality is close to offset on most of the same smooth matt stocks as used in colour photocopiers.

But a little desktop printer is way too slow, you may say? In reality it will only output around two full-colour letterheads per minute, but my question is, what is the turnaround time for 500 full-colour letterheads from a four-colour press? This printer will take about four hours almost unattended to print 500 full-colour letterheads. Painfully slow perhaps but it could be a useful addition to the small shop that wants to offer short-run full-colour letterheads, with comp slips and envelopes. I am told it will even run 300gsm matt card stock and conventional NCR paper.

In fact the production potential of this printer has been recognised by a Brisbane company that has just developed a bulk inking system, which would dramatically reduce ink costs.
Its limitations are it is an A4 printer, it will not print full bleed and the standard inks are expensive at around $120 per set of CMYK cartridges. But $25 worth of ink should produce around 500 letterheads which could sell for $150 to $200. It is not a Postscript printer but will print pdf files (and most others) with few problems, which means it can print from an old computer with a USB port not requiring any software other than Acrobat Reader, which is free. It will not print on gloss stocks other than special inkjet materials.

The greater the ink coverage on the page the more it costs so without the bulk ink unit it is only suitable for low coverage documents such as stationery. It may still be a bit of a toy at this stage, but I remember when the Macintosh computer was regarded as a toy.
So what are the major inkjet opportunities available for production printing?

Wide format poster printing.
An entry level poster printer to consider is the 1100-millimetre (44-inch) Epson 9600 which produces quality, arguably as good as the faster more expensive machines. It uses pigment ink and prints at around 17 square metres an hour. The salesperson told me that it does not require an RIP if printing from Photoshop or a pdf file.

Canon is a newer player in this market with the W8500 which I would regard as a mid range unit at around $15,000. The W8500 prints up to 1100 millimetres in width and outputs around 45 square metres an hour using pigment inks.

Hewlett Packard's 5500PS is probably regarded as the print for pay industry standard at this time and is priced in the $20,000 plus range. It prints up to 1500 millimetres (66 inches) wide at around 90 square metres an hour. It can use both dye and pigment inks but my understanding is there are additional costs involved. There are also other suppliers with excellent products in this area such as Agfa, Océ, Encad and Roland.

Roland has an interesting unit that is fitted with a cutter for vinyl signage production but which is also effective on label paper. I believe it could provide short-run label opportunities such as personalised wine labels and more.

There are three ink types available: dye, pigment and solvent. Dye inks were used by the original wide format devices while pigment inks offer greater durability and resistance to sunlight. Solvent inks are primarily used by the signage or outdoor banner industry. Also be aware that you will require a fair amount of space to handle large format production. A fair percentage of the output is laminated or mounted onto board. Whilst you can have the laminating done by a specialist, you will require a large trimmer.

Short-run stationery.
If your customers have a need for short-run fast turnaround stationery then you can have a play with an Epson C83 desktop printer. It could keep you in touch with advances in inkjet technology and make you a few dollars in the process.

Offer inkjet supplies.
If most of your customers walk into your shop then you can consider offering inkjet supplies. Sales might not be huge but these customers then know where they can get their longer-runs printed. Kinko's, the largest storefront printing operation in the US, offers inkjet supplies, as does Australia Post.

Get into recharging.
I recently received an email from an American printer who was about to open an inkjet and toner recharging franchise alongside his print shop. He wanted confirmation that the Australian franchise that he was considering was successful in Australia. There is one near me, Cartridge World, which I have watched grow, so was able to advise him that he appeared to be buying into a good Australian franchise. Perhaps we are leading the field once again.

So, even though we may not always have the highest regard for inkjet printers, they can be very profitable because they offer entry into niche markets that are not yet oversupplied. l

Harry Brelsford is Founder of the QPA and recipient of the Honorary Lifetime Membership award from PrintImage International in the US. Email Harry@iBallMedia.com.au