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GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_27_2016

Wide Format: The Digital Revolution Continues Wide-format printing today of inventory. Excess inventory of graphics that end up getting chucked is a waste of time and money—and waste reduction is also one of today’s mantras as organizations need to be run with tight operational excellence and business management. With all of these things in mind, any wide-format technology needs to either, says Hanulec, “drive costs out of one’s business, or let people do things they couldn’t do before. It’s about cost reduction and business growth.” Or saving money and making money simultaneously. Hence the emergence of specialized equipment for, say, textile, ceramic, or corrugated printing alongside highly productive versatile models that are best thought of as the Swiss Army Knives of wide-format production. In addition to shorter runs and customization/ personalization, the demand for faster time to market is also a major trend. This is driving not only faster print speeds, but even technologies that overcome one serious impediment to fast production: ink drying time. “End user customers of large-format graphics want ever faster turn around times,” says Sal Sheikh, VP Marketing, Large Format Solutions, Canon Solutions America G R A P H E X P O 1 6 is moving away from dramatic, revolutionary technology introductions and moving along essentially two development tracks: highly versatile machines that can produce a wide variety of different print applications, and highly specialized machines that are targeted for individual applications, such as textile printing, ceramics, or corrugated packaging. Driving both of these developments is the continuing “digital revolution”—or “digital evolution,” if you prefer—caused by the market forces that are impacting virtually every corner of the printing industry: shorter and shorter runs, customization/ personalization, and faster time to market. It is somewhat of a fallacy that wide-format was always about short runs, or runs of one, but that is not actually the case. Take retail graphics. At one time— and to a large part still—POP and other retail display graphics were produced in long runs using analog technologies. If a brand has hundreds or thousands of retail stores across the country, the same graphics would be mass-produced, kitted, and mailed to each location. Today, however, brands prefer to customize the displays for specifi c geographical locations or even individual stores., since a store in Phoenix may have different items for sale than one in, say, Boston, particularly in February. It’s about keeping a brand’s message relevant to a particular consumer, a perennial driver of digital printing, be it wide- or small-format. So it’s not technically that runs are getting shorter; the same overall volume may be produced, but it’s not all the exact same image. “Part of the revolution and the drive toward relevancy is that there is a disproportionate number of unique jobs,” says Ken Hanulec, Vice President, Marketing, Inkjet Solutions, EFI (Booth 1349). “If I’m going to stay relevant with concise messaging and compete with Google Ad Words, my advertising had better be focused on what is relevant to a specifi c reader. This means a larger number of unique jobs.” This is synonymous with customization and personalization. The trick is how to effect customization and personalization productively and economically. “I should be able to print, one, 1,000, 10,000, or a million, and it should be Dr. Seuss-simple to do it,” says Hanulec. “And I shouldn’t pay a premium for a run of one.” Runs of one are also important for another major reason driving digital wide-format: reduction, if not total elimination, Got 99 problems? YOUR WEBSITE SHOULDN'T BE ONE OF THEM. Come see why PrinterPresence is the web-to-print choice in the industry. Plus, learn about our new integration technology! printerpresence.com 877.446.7158 • • • • • • BOOTH 3049 • • • • • • (Booth 1500). “The demand for higher service levels drives investment in faster printers with instant drying, which will lead to more and more demand for UV-capable large-format printers in both fl atbed and roll-to-roll segments.” You don’t get faster than instantaneous drying—at least right now; who knows what the future will bring—so UV inks and UV-curing machines have seen rapid development and interest in the market. Then there’s the versatility discussion, which involves a segment of the textile printing market: soft signage. “Soft signage fabric printing is a rapidly growing application segment due to its versatility of applications for both indoor and outdoor use, the look and feel of the print, and ease and low cost to ship,” says Sheikh. Take a look at the various booths at this year’s GRAPH EXPO and count how many of them use some kind of soft or fabric as opposed to rigid or vinyl signage. That right there should give some indication of the size and growth potential of the market. And the kinds of systems that are suitable for soft signage—like dye-sublimation or latex printing—are also suitable for other kinds of applications as well, allowing these systems to hit the sweet spots of versatility, speed, and quality. Offi cial Show Daily | PrintingNews.com GRAPH EXPO 16 | September 27, 2016 | 29


GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_27_2016
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