COMMERCIAL PRINTING OUTLOOK — PRINTING WORK TO RUN SHORT

After a decade of being the “next big thing” in the industry, digital printing is now achieving the status that had been predicted. It is the bright spot as far as growth opportunities go, but still represents a minor portion of total printing industry sales.

Digital Progressions

The digital printing sector will pass a milestone at the close of 2006, with color digital printing sales surpassing monochrome for the first time, reports George Alexander, senior analyst with Caslon & Co., a research and consulting firm based in Rochester, NY, that specializes in digital printing. Color sales are projected to total $10.6 billion, while monochrome should come in under $9 billion, Alexander says. In terms of pages, though, color represents only about 6 percent of the volume, he adds.