Production inkjet solutions are proliferating at an ever-increasing rate. The quality of many of the solutions has finally reached that of offset, and productivity has significantly surpassed that of toner. We now have a fairly extensive range of web and sheetfed presses and technologies, and drupa 2020 is right around the corner with the promise of even more. Inkjet press placement growth is continuing at a steady rate according to IDC, with Continuous Feed (CF) at a CAGR of 17.2% and Cut Sheet (CS) at a CAGR of 25.1% projected through 2023 as seen in the chart below.

While production inkjet is not a new technology, there have been a lot of developments in core technologies as well as market application development. I believe that as an industry we may have become a bit numb toward production inkjet news of late. It’s probably understandable, since equipment manufacturers and the media (myself included) have been flooding the airwaves with lots of information—some of it of regarding incremental improvements, it may seem, so that after a while you just become numb to the continued stream of information. However, there have been many significant developments that as a print or packaging service provider you need to be aware of. Those include the growth and segmentation of both inkjet products and market applications, which adds new opportunities but also some confusion to the process.

As with any new or disruptive technology, some people are waiting on the sidelines for that one unique solution to come to light. Although, if you step back and take a hard look, the production inkjet market is maturing, and it seems as if market opportunities in print and options in inkjet press equipment seem to be coming into alignment.