IPEX 2010 affirmed that inkjet is here to stay. The show is over but the memory lingers on. There are almost 300 roll-fed production inkjet printers sold or installed in the world. And Xerox validated inkjet by showing an inkjet technology. But we could see inkjet die very quickly if suppliers and users do not re-invent the way they do business. Here's how they might fail:

Inkjet paper could be 30 to 40 percent more expensive than offset litho paper, which is sort of the standard at present. Most paper manufacturers are formulating new papers for new kinds of printers, but they involve processes that add more cost to manufacturing. Some inkjet printers pre-coat the substrate before printing (and this additional consumable must be taken into account).

Pre-coating also provides benefits in terms of color reproduction, and very importantly, de-inking. Only a few inkjet printers use what would be called "plain" paper or paper originally made for offset litho. Depending on how you measure it, paper is 30 percent to 50 percent of a printing job. Make the paper more expensive and you not only make inkjet printing less economical, you make print in general less economical.