New PRIMIR Study Spotlights Inkjet Market Potential

Many companies, small and large, are investing in inkjet technology R&D to develop systems for graphic arts, packaging, and other markets. To gauge the upside potential of this technology, PRIMIR commissioned I.T. Strategies of Hanover, MA, to produce a study focusing on Trends in Inkjet Technologies 2006-2011.

The study, which has been released exclusively to the members of PRIMIR, targeted five key markets including Display Signage, Graphic Arts, Packaging, Decorative/Textiles, and Manufacturing/Deposition.

According to I.T. Strategies, there is no doubt that inkjet technology will play a major role in these markets, driven by the process advantages it will offer, and its ability to meet user performance requirements. Less certain is when the impact of inkjet technology will be felt.

Why inkjet? Inkjet is the only digital printing technology potentially able to match analog print throughput and quality, while providing all the process advantages of digital printing. In addition, inkjet provides a combination of linear speed and print widths far exceeding the capabilities of electrophotography. Inkjet prints on a wide range of substrates, making it the future technology choice for the markets covered in the PRIMIR report.

There are three primary types of inkjet technology: Thermal, Piezoelectric (piezo), and Continuous. While PRIMIR expects all three to play a role in future commercial and industrial markets, piezo inkjet technology may hold the most growth potential and ability to address new markets, due to its ability to jet a much broader range of ink chemistry than either thermal or continuous inkjet. Piezo inkjet technology generates minimal heat, consumes less power and has a longer life – of special importance for high-volume industrial-type applications.

Many NPES members are involved in the complicated process of developing an inkjet system for new markets and applications:

• Inkjet head manufac-turers build the print engine, which can be complete, stand-alone and self contained, or it may be a semi-manufactured non-standalone module or part for integration into a large system. There are two types of inkjet head manufacturers: primary market head manu-facturers, such as HP, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark that sell heads in large quantities primarily into home/consumer applications; and secondary market head manufacturers, such as Fujifilm Spectra/ Dimatix, Konica Minolta, Panasonic Communications Company and Toshiba TEC, that do not have large base markets and in almost every case sell their products into custom applications and to new customers.

• Integrators are compa-nies such as Dainippon Screen and Sun/Inca that have devel-oped but not yet commercially sold fixed array systems. Integrators are also required to integrate the parts such as the heads, chassis, media handling systems and software into a working system.

• Chemistry manufactur-ers (either captive or inde-pendent) work with head manufacturers to develop inks for new systems. Ideally an inkjet ink manufacturer will develop an ink hand-in-hand with the head manufacturer. This is a requirement for systems hoping to successfully address large-scale markets.

• Media handling suppliers may be called upon to develop pre- and post-processing handling equipment. They may work with the head developer or an integrator.

• Market Access Companies: A Market Access Company (MAC) is usually a company such as Heidelberg that is already supplying products into the target user industry and is known and trusted. In this case they would also integrate or distribute inkjet systems.

• Customer: In some cases, especially as inkjet attempts to enter new, unknown markets, a special user must be sought out to become an early, active party to the project with involvement in its development.

Currently there are large investments—nearly $2 billion in 2005 alone—in inkjet technology around the world.

Many of the consumer inkjet manufacturers see markets such as graphic arts, packaging and manufacturing/deposition as the next opportunities for growth. This belief is clearly supported by the forecast shown in the chart below.

NPES members should note that the inkjet integration path and its proper match to a particular application are lengthy. It is a longer time-to-money model than most expect. Inkjet is a very flexible technology and in the long-term (beyond five years) is the most likely digital technology to meet digital user needs in terms of form factor, throughput speeds, and print quality. Outside of the display signage market, there will be little immediate impact on current traditional print markets. However, the momentum is strong and PRIMIR expects that inkjet will change traditional print markets, one drop at a time