Continuous-feed Inkjet: The Web Paper Challenge

IT Strategies estimates that in 2012, 108 billion pages will be printed by production inkjet systems. IT Strategies also projects that this will quadruple by 2015 (see Figure 2 ). Market-Intell estimates that for coated papers this represents something less than 50,000 tons in 2012, and less than 1 percent of the market. For uncoated paper, however, which represents the vast majority of the volume, mainly in transactional print, the volume is in excess of 500,000 tons. This is 6 percent of the uncoated freesheet market, and a much higher share of the transactional print market.

InfoTrends estimates that 57 percent of all inkjet printing is either transactional or transpromo (see Figure 3). Variable data is fundamental to this market and, while quality graphics are important, the print is less demanding than high-quality, four-color offset printing. Ink coverage may be well below 30 percent. The vast majority of all transactional printing is done on uncoated paper, often ordinary offset grades. According to an estimate from one OEM, more than 90 percent of all inkjet is on uncoated paper.

Inkjet inks can be dye-based or pigment-based. In general, pigment inks are more expensive and higher quality, while dye-based inks still produce good color, but colors may be slightly less brilliant and less permanent. Dye-based inks are good for transactional and some direct mail applications, while pigment inks are better for some book applications and general commercial printing where ink coverage is high with four colors.