Print IT Reseller - issue 52

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK INKJET 31 cent CAGR 2016-2021. Vendors and channel partners must carefully position their laser and inkjet offerings so as not to cannibalise their business. Some customers and applications will always demand laser print, but some will benefit from inkjet and the latter represents a significant opportunity to generate revenue. Channel partners who are not already selling inkjet products must now re-evaluate their position. In the very long run, inkjet will eventually win over laser but will still be vulnerable to the digitisation of the page and the downturn in page volumes. Office meets production Perhaps the most interesting area for inkjet technology is in the intersection where office meets production and speciality printing on substrates other than paper. At Drupa 2004, RISO launched its first single pass colour inkjet printer the RISO HC5000. At 110 ppm, it was the fastest cut-sheet single pass inkjet printer at a time when faster, larger more expensive continuous feed printers were beginning to make their mark in the production print space. This launch signaled the direction in which high speed inkjet was going and how inkjet would end-up competing with laser/xerographic products in the light production print space. RISO followed up in subsequent years with its ComColor product range and in March this year launched the Compact T2 which incorporates tandem RISO GD ComColor engines and prints at speeds of up to 320 ppm/circa 20k pages an hour in full colour. Full and final hardware pricing has not yet been communicated but it is expected to be lower than the £150,000 price point when the product arrives in the market later in 2018. Similarly, cost per page pricing has not yet been laid out but it is anticipated to be in line with RISO's low cost per page strategy. The product is firmly aimed at transactional and direct marketing providers, mail houses, and mailrooms. In April 2018, long-time industrial inkjet head manufacturer Kyocera unveiled its TASKalfa Pro 15000c. The high speed inkjet device prints A4 at 150 ppm (circa 9,000 pages an hour) and is expected to launch in 2019. Kyocera is planning to introduce a whole range of similar such inkjet products in this vein going forward. Target markets are variable data applications in CRDs, in- plants, non-profits, service bureaus and print service providers. Memjet, the provider of aqueous dye-based, single pass digital print systems for on-demand printing in the desktop labeling, mailing and addressing, wide format and commercial press markets announced in April 2018 that it had entered into a long-term, global agreement with Canon to cross-license their patents around key segments and applications. The same month, Memjet also announced that it had entered into a three-way marketing, distribution and servicing partnership with Super Web and Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. The WEBjet 200D and WEBjet100D continuous feed inkjet presses will complement Konica Minolta’s existing cut-sheet toner and inkjet products and help target the transaction, direct mail, publishing and in-plant business sectors in the US. Konica Minolta in other regions are thought to be monitoring progress. Continued growth At the very high end of the market, inkjet will continue to grow. IDC forecasts that the Western European market for colour continuous feed (26.6 per cent) and label and packaging printers (17.3 per cent) will both experience high double-digital growth throughout the forecast period (2017-2022). The migration from analogue to digital printed pages is accelerating. IDC believes that Western European digital printed page volumes are expected to grow five per cent (2016-2021). Inkjet innovation and applications will be the main growth engine, yielding an increment of around 14 per cent over the period. Printing on substrates other than paper – labels, packaging, textiles, objects and décor will drive new business opportunities. FESPA 2018, could herald a new era in textile, direct-to garment and bespoke décor printing. One thing is very clear, the future Inkjet’s flexibility, particularly around the multiple substrates upon which it can print, make it a key area for manufacturing investment and R&D p28...continued for high speed production cut-sheet and continuous feed inkjet is rosy. Inkjet's flexibility, particularly around the multiple substrates upon which it can print, make it a key area for manufacturing investment and R&D. Printing on myriad media will be around a long time after printing on plain office paper has succumbed to the digitisation of the page. Exciting business opportunities Channel partners must prepare for selling inkjet if they are to remain relevant and competitive. High speed inkjet offers higher priced, higher margin sales opportunities in a segment where print volumes are increasing, and new markets, customers and business opportunities are opening. If some of the high speed inkjet market incumbents and entrants have a weakness, it is that they don’t have the channel to sell such products. This represents a huge opportunity for channel partners to rise to the challenge and carve out some new and exciting business opportunities. www.idc.com Sharon McNee has 27 years’ IT Industry experience focusing primarily on the imaging and print hardware, software, solutions and services markets. Prior to joining IDC, she spent more than 18 years at Gartner. Her current research areas include office and production print with specific focus on the growing industrial print space. As well as continually researching these markets, she also works on custom research projects to support vendors and channel partners in their product and marketing strategies, business plans and in research and development. McNee has an MA (Honors) in French Language and Literature from Glasgow University and a Post Graduate Diploma in European Marketing and Languages from Napier University in Edinburgh. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a qualified PRINCE2 Practitioner.