Newly published data from Printing Industries of America suggest that for printers of all sizes, having digital printing capability is excellent insurance in a business downturn. PIA’s July Economic & Print Market Flash Report states that although sales fell across the board in the first quarter, digital and inkjet print sales significantly outperformed both total sales and conventional sales for printers of all sizes. The June Flash Report put the quarterly decline in conventional ink-on-paper sales at 10.8%, in sharp contrast with increases of 8.8% for toner and 7.1% for inkjet. (The numbers come from surveys of PIA members.) The industry’s reliance on digital output continues to deepen. The July report says that more than one in every four dollars of digital sales growth comes from transferring work to digital from conventional ink-on-paper production. Jobs combining digital and offset printing now account for nearly 25% of all jobs produced by PIA’s top-performing “sales leaders.” What’s more, “hybrid” shops more than made up for their quarterly declines in conventional printing with sales increases on the digital side. The current issue of PIA’s member publication, The Magazine, contains an eight-page supplement on digital printing including a market forecast that predicts, among other things, even shares of print industry revenue (34% each) for digital and offset in 2018. The majority of digital color printing jobs will be static materials previously printed by offset, according to the forecast. The Flash Reports and The Magazine are available to members of PIA.