The rush into wide format shows no sign of abating but printers need to be aware of the structural changes reshaping the marketplace and adapt in order to survive.
“It’s so busy we can hardly keep up,” said Ben Eaton, GM of Starleaton Digital Solutions, the Sydney-based, family-owned supplier of wide format consumables and hardware. “We’re having a wonderful year with our entire wide format range, including printers, inks, printable media, laminates, adhesives and mounting, boards and substrates, and finishing equipment.
“We’re installing machines every month and we’re seeing hot spots on different products in different states, with some really good traction on new products launched over the past couple of years,” Eaton told Print21. "We’ve doubled our sales in Roland DG printers and products this year and another big success has been Neschan’s Easy Dot Print’N’Walk, a slip resistant film for floor advertising. But it's been across-the-board on all wide format products. We've had the best year for some time and we go into the Christmas break feeling confident about next year.”
Installations of wide format presses are now set to continue to rise, according to the latest data. Sales have risen from an average of 18 a year just four years ago to an estimated 54 machines last year. But industry analyst Richard Rasmussen thinks that figure is grossly under-reported and suggests the figure is closer to 100 machines, or two a week. Ben Eaton believes “it’s more than that” and others in the industry go further.
However, one man's boom is another's bust. “We now have an oversupply of flatbed machines,” according to Tim Straford, owner/director of Melbourne-based trade printer Q Print Finishing Services, which last month collapsed into voluntary administration.
“The work is not increasing but there are more machines in the market so it’s a situation where the industry is eating itself,” he said. “It’s at a point where if you’re not increasing your prices by 15 or 20 per cent every year, then you’re going backwards."
This suggestion was downplayed by Mark Tailby, owner of leading supplier Graphic Art Mart, who reckons there are good opportunities "right across the sector but owners and managers need to be able to adapt to the changing needs in the marketplace.
"Wide format is not the problem. I wouldn’t call it a boom but it is an evolving space. Wide format offers the ability to customise in an infinite variety of ways, whether it’s printing on fabrics or wallpaper or anything else.
“Running a long-term sustainable business is really about managing technological needs. The business we bought 37 years ago was a paint and brush business, so we’ve had to adapt and change along the way. The printing industry is going through structural change and business owners need to recognise that the market is evolving and recognise the changes within their own technological space.”