Ebbenhorst: Innovation makes inkjet the future of digital print

Marcel Ebbenhorst is our Hardware Expert at Kyocera Document Solutions Europe, so who better to quiz about the transformation our industry is experiencing? Thanks to developments in inkjet technology, it is now suitable for production printing, which could lead businesses to rethink the way they achieve high-volume output.

1. How would you define Production Print?

There is more than one way to define this important printing method. From a business and an opportunity perspective, production print can be seen as one of the most important growth areas for any major printer vendor in today’s modern business world.

Production print allows these printing companies to increase engagement with their end customers’ product and end business models, which is essentially what differentiates production print from other methods. By better understanding your end customers processes, you can provide more adequate printing solutions for them.

2. Which business industries do you think can benefit the most from Production Printing?

Any industry which uses print can benefit. In general, we have seen tremendous market pressure for the last twenty years in terms of volume and demand of varied products. The financial crisis impacted this industry quite heavily, forcing it to drop businesses’ printing capacity. This situation has now stabilised, and production printing can really bump up business numbers and bring innovation into the market.

Production print provides a platform for firms to continue to produce printed content at lower prices, but now in an even more cost-efficient way, enabling them to make further profit. These businesses have been known to lower their prices to remain attractive for consumers, and now with production print they can continue to maintain lower rates in a sustainable way.

However, controlling your production costs cannot be the only objective for companies creating printed content nowadays. Companies are starting to understand the need to add value for their end customer, and the only businesses that are guaranteed a successful future are those who shift their targets away from only cutting costs towards how they make their documents more appealing and valuable. This is something that many companies are struggling with currently and that can be resolved by digital devices which offer new innovative ways to offer value.

3. How exactly will production print drive business success?

Business principally stands to gain from production print through two motives. One is offering more cost-efficient printing techniques and secondly, through opening up a world of opportunities in content customisation and personalisation, which adds value to the final product.

Production print is more of an opportunity for companies that strive for innovation within the sector and focus on becoming more customer-centric, and refuse to look beyond cost management. The data intelligence part of the print business is vital for businesses nowadays, especially in this kind of sector. The companies getting the most profitability in the market are those who are integrating data intelligence into their strategies, seeing as the innovative features that production printing offers, like variable data, will make these companies stand out from the competition. It just goes to prove why companies have to think about the medium and long-term, rather than purely focusing on short-term cost cutting measures.

This represents one of the biggest challenges for business. Acquiring knowledge and driving integration of data intelligence will be key in the next years. These companies can no longer expect to continue to produce content the same way they have been doing for years when there is innovation in technology that is providing new opportunities. Instead they need to harness the power of innovation that digital technology in production print has to offer.

Companies looking to do this can do so by engaging with more expert vendors like Kyocera Document Solutions, for example. By entering into partnerships with companies like us, they can receive adequate knowledge and training on new software and business models. Kyocera’s expertise in data management gives us the possibility to consult and guide companies towards translating their data into more valuable print.

4. Are there any other sectors that could also gain from a transition to production print?

Of course. Some great examples are finance, insurance and education. These sectors have massive printed volume requirements, which are easily and efficiently handled by a modern production printer. Through this type of printing, these sectors can also gain complete control over their exact print output, being careful not to overstock. More importantly, schools, colleges as well as insurance and finance companies all need to send out huge quantities of personalised documents for their pupils and patients. The variable data input options that digital production printers offer today are a perfect solution for this.

We can already begin to see the production print trend take off in these sectors, as institutions are realising the potential advantages that it will bring. They are now engaging with production print devices, especially in monochrome to begin with.

5. What has driven the shift from analogue towards digital print in the production print arena?

Everyone is becoming more creative with their content. There’s an increasing need to produce more creative content. When the financial crisis hit companies, one of the first things to disappear was the marketing budget. Companies began reducing the funds they had previously allocated to marketing tactics and took their content into their own hands and demanded more value from it. Now, consumers are demanding better eye-catching and detailed content than ever and companies can turn to variable data input to easily carry out these needs and provide that highly sought after benefit.

Another solution that production printing brings forward is waste reduction. Over-stock can be easily dealt with and eradicated with the technology that production print includes. No longer do firms have to overprint in order to achieve economies of scale. This also helps cut costs, seeing as companies can study workflow and utilise digital technology to manage their required volumes easily and without waste.

6. How important a role has inkjet played in the rise of digital printing?

Inkjet is the future of digital printing, because it still has room to grow and innovate and adapt to new market demands. Although inkjet currently has the same capabilities as laser in terms of document management, laser has peaked technically. Laser technology cannot get any cheaper or innovate any further, which makes way for inkjet to become the next big trend in digital print.

Whilst they are at very similar levels now, inkjet has potential to go far further. Inkjet has the potential to jump into enormous print volumes and will offer more productivity in one single device.

7. Why is inkjet more cost-friendly?

Producing printed content on an inkjet device is essentially a cheaper process than using other types of digital printers, like laser. Ink is always cheaper to use than toner, and inkjet machines have less components such as drums and fusers to utilise which results in lower energy usage and fewer maintenance requirements.

Inkjet has always been the more cost-efficient option, but until recently the quality difference has been so substantial that it was not worth contemplating. Now, this technology is able to create much more vibrant colours than before, as technological advancements have allowed inkjet to improve technically and eliminate problems such as ink bleeding. In short, inkjet technology is edging evermore closer to the high quality that can equal laser’s output and at a lower cost.