In general, commercial print volumes were affected more than packaging by the pandemic. However, for commercial print applications, production inkjet volumes held their own, and some applications saw modest growth. While production inkjet can displace toner printed pages, and has been for well over a decade, the lion’s share of the growth opportunity is offset pages, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. These recent press introductions are targeted at that volume.

In 2021, there were not a lot of “new” rollfed presses, although many of the older inkjet presses are being replaced or upgraded. All of the press manufacturers offer some kind of an upgrade path, like new print heads, updated dryers or sometimes even a forklift upgrade. However, this year there were two new notable introductions, the Canon ColorStream 8000 and the Kodak PROSPER ULTRA 520. A few of the other presses identified here were introduced for drupa 2020 and then 2021, both of which never happened, so they weren’t necessarily highlighted for the market to see this year.

The ColorStream 8000 is the latest release in a long line of ColorStream production inkjet presses dating back to the first generation ColorStream 3000 introduced in 2010. Like the other ColorStream models, the presses have a modular engine design with a footprint comparable to the ColorStream 6900. This year, two models were introduced: the ColorStream 8133 and the ColorStream 8160, operating at speeds up to 525 ft./min. With these introductions, they developed a new water-based high-pigment ink formula, which produces a wide gamut on uncoated papers along with a high optical density black for high contrast. Other new developments include a low-maintenance integrated web cleaner, a unique new automatic print head cleaner, an energy efficient three-zone drying system, and a camera system for web inspection and content control.