Adopting Inkjet for High-Production Printing

By Bob Neubauer

Nathan Safran

Inkjet production printing is no longer the new kid on the block.
“Inkjet is past the early adoption stage,” asserted Nathan Safran, Director of Research at Napco Media, in a session yesterday, “Exploring Inkjet Adoption for High-Production Printing.” “We’re past the major growing pains of the initial deployment.”
In fact, he said, 86 percent of inkjet users are satisfied with their purchases. This was just one of the statistics Safran cited during his session, taken from a joint SGIA/NAPCO research study highlighting the current state of adoption of production inkjet. That study, “Production Inkjet Printing: Consideration, Deployment and End Results,” surveyed more than 700 U.S. printers.
“Forty-nine percent have been able to generate new business from production inkjet,” he said. Top new applications added were direct mail, marketing collateral, transactional materials, catalogs and books.
Inkjet installations have not been without their challenges, however, Safran said. Paper compatibility was the chief concern, followed by insufficient job volume and determining pricing strategy for inkjet work.
Safran listed some of the other key takeaways from the study:
• 43 percent of printers own at least one production inkjet press, and 40 percent plan to research inkjet in the next year
• 86 percent of printers are satisfied with their production inkjet purchase
• 81 percent of printers state the production inkjet deployment process went as expected or was easier
Peer interaction was the most impactful factor in helping inkjet users make a purchase decision.
The full inkjet study can be downloaded at
bit.ly/2IO2iy7.

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Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.