Wide-format printing is maturing

With the advent of the Ipex 2002 exhibition, wide-format printing has also entered a mature stage. From the perspective of recent sales, the interest in wide-format printing and the purchase of equipment have increased significantly.
Shortly after the closing of the Print 01 exhibition, Océ NV in Venlo, the Netherlands, announced the acquisition of Gretag’s Professional Imaging Division (Costa Mesa, Canada), whose main business is the development, production and sale of large format displays. Picture market products. Acquisitions include Raster Graphics (San Jose, Canada), onyx Graphics (Salt Lake City, USA), Cymbolic Sciences (Vancouver, BC), and ANAgraph (Costa Mesa, Canada). The products include color inkjet and photographic lasers. Printers and RIP devices for indoor and outdoor products.
Then, Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester, New York, USA) also announced the acquisition of another large-format inkjet printer manufacturer ENCAD (in San Diego). The acquisition made Kodak one of the three largest vendors of large-format inkjet products, reported to have a market of approximately US$2.4 billion, and will grow at a rate of 15% annually.
Output improvements There are now many introductions to large-format technology. The main focus is on integrating the drying and on-line coating systems. These systems can not only shorten the printing cycle, but also increase the profitability. Advanced systems not only improve quality, increase productivity and reliability, but also enhance color stability due to new color correction and matching techniques.
Several new and improved products worth noting are from Roland DGA, NUR Macroprinters, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard.
The narrowly-labeled label makers were impressed by Roland DGA's CX PRO cutter in Irvine, Canada, which can supply materials from the front as well as from behind. It can also feed material backwards to obtain the specified page distance, then cut it and forward the paper forward. The existing CX PRO has three modes: the 30-inch CX-300, the 40-inch CX-400, and the 48-inch CX-500. A digitally controlled servo motor, surface smoothing, and a 32-bit RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) CPU can provide high-speed cutting with a maximum cutting speed of 33 inches per second. Three standard cutting modes - standard, heavy and high - provide optimal versatility. The CX PRO cuts downforce from 20g to 30g, offering high flexibility and precision.
The new NUR Fresco HiQ series from NUR Macroprinters (Lod, Israel) includes 3200 (3.2m) and 1800 (1.8m) digital webless lithographic printing presses. The device provides production-oriented solutions for short- and medium-format large-format printing jobs, including vehicle and boat pictures, 30 poster posters, bus stops and self-adhesive vehicles. The entire print head of the press is guaranteed to help eliminate the variable cost of semi-consumer goods. There are also features such as dual density printing for back-through output, PrinTop 1.3 printer control software, an improved ink supply system, electronic instruments, and NUR's Flash 1.0 RIP.
The HiQ 3200 and 1800 replaced the original version of NUR Fresco. The company also developed a regional installable upgrade software toolkit for upgrading original machine versions.
In addition, NUR also developed the Salsa Ultima series of large-format digital printers, which it claims is the fastest photo-quality printer on the market. Print speeds of up to 60 square meters per hour, eight-color printing and 600 dpi resolution make the Salsa Ultima ideal for point-of-purchase displays, posters, banners, banners and event graphics.
Other Equipment The Stylus Pro 10000 from Epson (Long Beach, Canada) has created a one-by-one imaging method that can produce images up to 44 inches wide on a wide variety of substrates with an output resolution of 1440 x 720-dpi. The device's driver features a micro-piezo DX3 printhead that can produce as small as 5 picolitres of variable droplets, producing text and fine lines comparable to the final press print.
The device is said to be six times faster than the Stylus Pro 9000 and 9500. Using the printer's fastest settings can print 231 square feet of imagery per hour, and can reach approximately 72 square feet per hour when printing photo prints. The user can choose between two different ink types: pigment for the document or dye for the image.
Pigment-based document inks prevent discoloration and damage due to sunlight or wear. The dye-based inks used for imaging can be used for proofing and indoor identification, with a lower cost per unit area.
Hewlett-Packard’s large-format printing system portfolio includes three HP DesignJet printer families: the 500, 800, and 5000 series; three substrates: HP photo imaging cellophane, glossy poster paper, and photo imaging satin; some ink products , including UV products for the 5000 series printers.
The HP DesignJet 5000 is available in 60-inch and 42-inch models, including a 5000 printer with an existing RIP solution and a DesignJet 5000 PS printer with Adobe's Postscript 3 RIP. The 5000 Series printing system produces 569 square feet per hour and has a maximum print resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi.
The HP DesignJet 500/800 series includes four printing systems: the HP DesignJet 800, 500, 800 PS and 500 PS. Each DesignJet printer comes in either a 42-inch or 24-inch size model.
The choice of printing materials In addition to the choice of output devices, the choice of substrates has also increased. The new inverted backlit film (6 mil thick) from Kodak, Inc. (Rochester, NY, USA) is the second reverse-printing back-lit film produced by the company's substrate, which consists of a translucent poly. Ester material composition, with good durability and quick-drying. This substrate is primarily developed for piezo printers. It is also suitable for thermal inkjet printers and can accept dye or pigment based inks. The introduction of this product has further broadened the already broad range of Kodak inkjet printing family of products, can be applied to a variety of large format printers including Kodak Professional's latest 5260 inkjet printers.
Scitex, based in Herzlia, Israel, has been maintaining a foothold in the large format digital printing market with Scitex Vision Limited. The company's consumables business unit, Scitex Printers World, launched a new material, Scitex Vision Yupo, for the company's multi-array system (Scitex Pressjet and Idanit Novo). Scitex Vision Yupo has good UV resistance and water resistance, and is fully recoverable. According to reports, the use of this printing material in conjunction with Scitex Vision inks results in very perfect image quality while maintaining vivid colors.
Then, Roland DGA launched Photobase glossy and semi-glossy paper. Both are high-performance materials based on the photo principle and have been identified for Roland Hi-Fi JET and JET PRO series printers, and CAMMJET series printers and cutters. They are ideal for photo imaging reproductions, industry exhibition images and POP displays.
Advances in digital color output devices and materials have increased the quality, texture, durability, and longevity of large format applications. Material innovations bring large-format printing technology to a new level of performance—whether the final product is used for fleet signage, outdoor advertising boards, or for indoor POP displays.
Demand for billions of dollars According to the “Large-scale picture forecast 2001” of IT Strategies (Hanover, Morocco), the total demand for large-scale print output by 2005 will reach US$22.5 billion. According to this report, inkjet technology will dominate the market and will account for approximately 22 billion U.S. dollars. The development trend is mainly concentrated on the improvement of printing quality and speed and the cost reduction of these large format products.
Ink is the main profit product of the seller. Large-format printing companies consume 38 liters of ink per year on average, and it is reported that the unit’s hardware price consumption is about seven times more than that of a narrow-format printer. In general, printer vendors will successfully lock users into the company's patented inks. On the other hand, more than 70% of the printed materials are provided by third-party suppliers.
What is the front line for large format printing?
Mark Hanley, a consultant at IT Strategies, said: "Large-scale end-user demand has been growing for 10 years, and continues to grow in a healthy manner." Hanley attributed this growth to the advertising capabilities of large-format products. . “Large-format presses allow users to display pictures with the support of sales and product distribution, and the number is small. This is a breakthrough point – there was no way to achieve this before.”
The consultant further pointed out that the market has surpassed the development speed of channels for companies and suppliers specialized in large format printing operations. "So far, this technology has mostly been applied to small local printing sites," Hanley said. "The growth is decentralized, but the distribution range is very wide. These small channels have reached a mature stage, so suppliers must be faster. Growth is now an important turning point, and a lot of money must be invested in adopting new technologies to expand the market. At present, larger companies such as Kodak and Océ have larger capital resources."
The consultant also predicted that the opportunity for large-format printing is likely to be a great temptation for commercial printers who used to believe that large-scale operations were only a hassle and that they were subletting to a service department. Small work environments cannot handle large print jobs. "If local companies like Coca-Cola or Gap want hundreds of products, not just 10, it cannot be obtained through this channel."