The Sky is the Limit:
The Future of Digital
Color Production Presses
From direct mail to
publishing, home décor
and packaging, digital color
production presses are
transforming commercial
print.
By Laurie Weller
Color production printing is
migrating to digital platforms.
And this trend is expected to
accelerate. In fact, researchers
at Smithers Pira predict that digital
printing will continue to grow in most
print sectors across the world.
Th e fi rm’s report, “Th e Future of
Digital vs. Off set Printing to 2022,”
estimates that in 2017, digital print
accounts for 16.4% of global print and
printed packaging in value terms,
and will reach 19.1% by 2022 as new
high-performance equipment fuels the
analog-to-digital transition at printers
and packaging converters worldwide.
“Digital production presses can take
many forms,” said Erik Holdo, vice
president, graphic communications/
industrial prints line of business for
Konica Minolta. “Everything from higher
speed, full-color, toner-based devices,
to inkjet products, and both cut-sheet
and continuous-feed devices.”
He adds that, until recently, the
digital inkjet market was focused on
transactional, low-value prints—but the
industry is changing.
“We have found a particular area of
disruption around the high-quality,
large-sheet marketplace,” he said. “Th e
Xante’s iQueue prepress workfl ow system
simplifi es prepress processes, such as job cost
estimating, full imposition/tiling, CMYK density
adjustment, and color matching.
competition is heating up in that part of
the market as aqueous inkjet providers
are yielding better quality results.”
Len Christopher, worldwide NexPress
product manager for Kodak, says broader
media compatibility is also driving
the adoption of digital platforms. “Support
for thicker substrates, for example,
allows print providers to run plant tags
and POP for smaller chain stores,” he
said. “If you have 100 stores in a chain,
the job does not lend itself to an off set
litho process.”
Konica Minolta’s AccurioPress full-color
production printing system is engineered
for productivity and versatility.
John Fulena, vice president of commercial
and industrial printing for
Ricoh USA, Inc., notes that advances
in digital wide-format platforms are
further expanding media options. “We
are able to print on things like glass
today,” he said. “Th e workfl ows are
almost identical to a commercial print
workfl ow, and it doesn’t take a lot of
money to get into these businesses.”
Xante’s president and CEO, Robert
Ross, advises shops to leverage digital
for deluxe items, such as wedding invitations,
holiday cards, and graduation
announcements. “Th ere is a growing
market for specialty prints,” he said.
“Th ese applications deliver an 80% margin
on average, while bulk printing generates
around 3%—and bulk printing is
typically bid out to multiple shops.
Making it personal
Ross emphasizes that, while advances
in digital hardware platforms continue
14 Printing News October 2017 PrintingNewscom