Production inkjet can provide many new on-demand and variable-data opportunities. However, the long-term goal of all production inkjet press manufacturers is to displace and capture existing printed pages. While production inkjet can displace toner-printed pages, and has been doing so for over a decade, the lion’s share of the opportunity is still existing offset pages and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. In order to capture offset page volume, you need to address offset quality, productivity, and cost factors. The more competitive you are in all three of those areas, the bigger the opportunity. According to the Smithers Pira, inkjet growth is projected to enjoy a CAGR of 9.4% for the period of 2020–2025 to reach an expected volume of $108 billion across all segments. That translates into a lot of growth opportunity.

In production inkjet, Canon retains the leading position. Since 2010, Canon has been developing and expanding their production inkjet portfolio to capture both toner and offset produced pages. Their four product lines include the industry leading VarioPRINT cut-sheet and ProStream webfed, both of which support coated, uncoated, and inkjet optimized paper, along with the ColorStream and JetStream series which provide a wide range of options in the webfed uncoated and inkjet optimized category. With more than 1,500 installations worldwide, ColorStream enjoys a 30% market share and the leading position in webfed inkjet for over 11 consecutive years. This is all in addition to their entry into packaging with the LabelStream 4000. 

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. As has been the case with each of the introductions, this new press Canon has included some very interesting new technologies and features.