Our final issue of the year takes a look at the status of the major production print technologies. How have equipment manufacturers been responding to changes and trends in the industry to help customers address top-of-mind issues like staffing challenges and sustainability? How are equipment portfolios expanding to help different print businesses adopt the latest printing technologies?
We kick the week off with Elizabeth Gooding’s look at the current state of production inkjet, perhaps the most dynamic of the printing technologies, focusing on the latest production inkjet models including new press introductions from 2023 and products announced previously that became commercially available or had their first installations this year.
Our Executive Q&A with issue sponsor Canon looks at how they are addressing the changing needs of today’s print businesses.
Inkjet seems to be where the action is, but don’t count toner out. On Tuesday, Ralf Schlözer points out that electrophotography (EP) “still shines brightly,” especially in the light and mid-production markets where EP technology still offers the by far biggest choice and has the biggest appeal—and EP has an edge in specialty colors and other such applications.
And let’s not forget about offset which, despite all the interest in digital, is not going anywhere. Patrick Henry rounds up offset press installations in North America in 2023, gaining insight into what printers are looking for in terms of format size, press configuration, UV curing, and press automation.
Contributor Terry Clayton takes a deep dive into current trends in inks and coatings, highlighting some exciting new products hitting the market.
On Wednesday, Heidi Tolliver-Walker takes a close look at sustainability in the printing industry—specifically, how much impact do printing businesses and the process of printing itself impact the planet? What’s our carbon footprint, and what are some simple things we can do to reduce it?
Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee explain why there is no single “workflow” any longer, but rather an integrated “web” of workflows that need to play nice with each other.
Cary Sherburne tells some inspiring stories from the world of on-demand textiles and how a changing business and production model can help address the textile and apparel industry’s poor track record on sustainability.
On Thursday, a look at “automation,” which has become the industry watchword. While automation can mean many things to different people, in this case we look at the hardware side of automation—namely, robotics. Long established in wide format and even packaging, do robots have a place in commercial print workflows? (Spoiler alert: yes.)
Cary Sherburne also talks to Brian Techter, Senior Vice President of RR Donnelly’s Packaging and Labeling Solutions Group, which recently added an EFI Nozomi single-pass digital direct-to-corrugated press in the company’s Milwaukee plant
On Friday, our regular “Tales from the Database” feature looks at what 10 years’ worth of survey data can tell us about press technology investment trends.
Rounding out the week, several digital natives find themselves in Johnson’s World playing a game of Clue.
Join us this week for the Production Print Issue.
