As suppliers to the industry continue to refine their digital printing technologies, capabilities that once were only available in high-end digital production presses are now making their way into lower end offerings. This opens up new opportunities for the dealer community to broaden its product portfolio and move upmarket within their accounts. Whether you are focused on office printing, wide format capabilities or both, there are plenty of new capabilities to introduce to your base of customers and prospects.
Light Production Digital Printing
Digital printing continues to be a growth area as more work migrates from offset to digital due to the shorter run lengths and faster turn times required by buyers of print. In addition, digital print offers the ability to produce applications that cannot be produced using conventional technologies such as variable data print, individualized photo products and more.
Digital printer manufacturers continue to improve both quality and capabilities in the light production segment to address this growing market. New developments in toner enable a smaller particle size for better reproduction of fine lines, small text and graphics. Special toner colors are also making their way into this segment. For example, the Ricoh Pro C7100X series offers a fifth color station that can use either white or clear toner and run metallic and other unusual substrates. White toner in particular is unique in this class of printer and opens up the opportunity to print on clear and dark substrates. You will likely see Ricoh add additional colors over time that will enable new applications and expand the color gamut. You can also expect to see other players follow suit, bringing more special toners 
down to the light production level as market demand for more specialized digital print applications continues to grow.
As you move into these larger digital printers, workflow also becomes more important. All of the manufacturers of these printers offer some level of internally developed workflow offerings and most have a variety of partners as well. So they are able to put together end-to-end solutions that meet just about any production need.
A key success factor for you and for your customers with light production is getting adequate volume to the printer. One way of doing that is to establish job submission web portals, often called web-to-print solutions, that allow users to build catalogs of items, pre-printed, printed and non-printed, that can be seamlessly ordered. Over the last decade, these solutions have become more affordable and easier to use than ever before. And there are lots of them in the marketplace, most of whom are open to building reseller relationships, or at least referral programs. An excellent resource for learning more about web-to-print, and print-related software decisions in general, is a book written by print software expert Jennifer Matt and her team at Web2Print Experts. Titled Make Great Software Decisions, it is available for purchase at www.edsf.org. Make a donation to EDSF that goes toward its scholarship programs and you can download the PDF of the book.
Bundling a light production printer with web-to-print software is a great way to get a customer started with workflow. And it also gives you an opportunity to sell professional services in the case the customer doesn’t have the internal skill set to set up and/or maintain the systems. Beyond web-to-print, you can also offer a Print MIS to help them better manage the operation. There are also cloud-based solutions available that blend a web portal with an MIS. Depending on the complexity of the customer’s requirements, these can be very affordable. Web2Print Experts offers an easy-to-use online W2P Finder tool that can help sort out the options. Another workflow consideration for light production printers is the digital front end. Some manufacturers have multiple options, their proprietary front end, and possible options that might include EFI Fiery, Kodak CREO or others. A full analysis of the functionality of all available digital front ends as they relate to the customer’s requirements is an essential part of the sales process.
Adding light production printing to the mix can add a variety of new revenue streams to your business and help build tighter, less commodity-based customer relationships. Expect to see more entrants to this field from companies like Canon, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Xerox and others, with more new announcements likely in conjunction with drupa 2016, scheduled for May 31 through June 10 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the world’s largest printing trade show.
Developments in Wide Format
Wide format printing is also an area of dynamic growth. As with light production digital printing, there is an increasing number of affordable printers with more capabilities than ever before. These are available from vendors such as EFI, Canon, Epson, HP, Mimaki, Mutoh, and more. There are two distinct segments in this market: architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and signs & display graphics.
After a difficult housing market through the recession, the AEC market appears to be recovering, and there is good opportunity to sell wide format into that market. While historically this has been a black & white market, there is growing demand for color and thus an opportunity to replace older black & white units with modern full-color units. These are typically roll-fed machines that can handle a wide array of materials and come in various printing widths. It is important to talk to potential customers about their specific requirements in order to help them make the right equipment decision. They will typically have some type of CAD software and document databases, so it is important to understand what type of connectivity and/or integration might be required. Workflow here is not as complex as a commercial print workflow, but all aspects of their work process should be examined to make sure you are addressing as broad a spectrum of their needs as possible.
As far as signs & display graphics, there are two target markets for these devices in the printing community. Obviously, companies dedicated to the signage business are potential buyers. But as commercial printing has continued to contract, many of these businesses look to signage as a new revenue stream that can help offset the decline in commercial printing volumes. In fact, according to the 2015 State of the Industry report from Epicomm, 41.8% of respondents are offering signage services. A key value proposition for these companies is the ability to offer a wider range of services under one roof, reducing the overall number of suppliers that buyers have to deal with.
Printer manufacturers in this space are paying a great deal of attention to inks and substrates. There is a growing move toward more environmentally friendly UV-curable inks using LED curing which reduces the amount of heat required to cure the inks (and the amount of energy used). This technique also broadens the range of substrates that can be used, enabling printing on lighter weight and heat sensitive materials. This reduces costs in both materials and shipping. Latex inks are also making their way into the market from vendors such as HP and Mimaki. On the dye sublimation front, there are more inks available for both direct printing to textiles and printing to transfer paper. Some printers can do both which gives them greater flexibility. Manufacturers are also expanding the range of colors and specialty inks available to serve niche needs as well as to help migrate even more work from conventional processes to digital and expand the versatility of these printers.
One speciality area that is quite interesting is thermoforming. This is where images are printed on a plastic substrate which is later formed into shapes using heat and a mold. You see these products in kiosks, gaming, packaging and more. Brand owners and retailers find it attractive for creating 3D point of purchase materials. Digitally printing these materials is dramatically faster and more cost effective for short runs. It requires inks that can withstand elongation and have good adhesion properties. EFI is one of the companies that has made good progress in this area, introducing an entry-level thermoforming printer this year that could be an attractive way to enter the business.
Packaging prototyping is also gaining popularity as a wide format application. By combining digital wide format printing with digital cutting – often incorporated into an integrated solution such as those offered by Mimaki – production of samples and small lots can be fast and cost effective. An added advantage is that many different options can be economically explored in order to ascertain which might be the best go-to-market solution in a very timely cycle that does not inhibit creativity and meets with marketer time-to-market requirements.
There are also a growing number of affordable hybrid printers available – that is, printers that can accommodate both roll and rigid media. Printing directly to rigid media saves time and money, eliminating much of the post-processing requirements of mounting and laminating materials. Most of these printers can print on materials up to two inches thick, although there are a number of options becoming available that can print on cylindrical objects to create customized promotional materials and more. Wide format printing is an exciting growth area with endless opportunities for innovation.
Many of the same workflow and software issues discussed above will also increasingly apply to the wide format market and many of these solutions can handle both commercial printing and wide format applications. Service providers will be looking for increased automation – from material handling to machine setup to overall workflow—in order to increase both throughput and profit.
If you are interested in learning more about opportunities in wide format, joining an industry association such as SGIA or ISA is a good way to get started.
Things to Consider
Here are some things to consider when talking to a customer about a light production solution or wide format and/or seeking the best manufacturer partner. As you dig more into this area, you will come up with more questions, but this will get you started.
• What types of print volumes does the customer expect to have?
• What are the primary applications they will be producing, including substrate and finishing requirements?
• Will the printer be located in a staffed print center or in a workgroup or shared environment?
• How will work be coming to the printer? How much of it will be coming in electronic form and how often will these jobs be reprinted?
• Is there a need to customize or version materials for salespeople, agents, franchisees, different retail locations, etc., while still protecting brand integrity? This is an area where web-to-print can be extremely valuable.
• What are the skill levels in your operation and that of your customer? What is required to bring skill levels up to par and which partner can provide the best support?
