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Topic: DRUPA Hyped Digital Color
But the Real Opportunity Is Still Black and White Ink Jet Grows Up a
Bit; Looks Promising
Date: June 5, 2000
Hanover, MA June 2, 2000 Although "color electrophotography" was the
buzz word at Drupa this May, the true battle for digital printing market
penetration is in monochrome electrophotography printing. No one is
denying that color is coming, but the consensus is that even in a market
that is well educated-both at the printer and end-user level-there just
aren't many people asking for color digital print for some good reasons.
Document Printing
Xerox stated this point well. In their impressive booth at Drupa,
Xerox stated their commitment to the graphic arts industry-which they
say is worth $3 billion in revenue; $2 billion in revenue related to
direct print and reprographics in monochrome. Xerox claimed with that
they are only taking 5% of the electrophotographic monochrome market,
implying that they can at least double their page penetration of monochrome
printing in the next 5 years. This is business that Xerox has taken
away from the traditional print industry, which explains Heidelberg's
entry into the ranks of electrphotographic monochrome technology manufacturers.
"Xerox is fighting, but because the margins are not high in monochrome,
they must emphasize services," said Mark Hanley, president of I.T. Strategies.
"The monochrome market will grow but will remain intensely competitive.
This competition puts pressure on Xerox to create a broader identity
in the graphic arts market and provide a wider range of services such
as software, non hard-copy alternatives, and vertical industry solutions."
IBM and Oce are also key monochrome competitors who were present at
Drupa. Both have continuous web printing machines adding competitive
pressure with faster printing.
If it's still too early for color, when will color represent a big
opportunity? According to Mark Hanley, "Color isn't coming in a hurry-monochrome
is the mid-term opportunity. The page penetration of color is insignificant
now relative to traditional printing and looks to remain so. This is
because the infrastructure outside of the print industry does not yet
allow for the exploitation of digital printing. For example, with digital
printing a retailer could run a different sales campaign each month,
but what retailer and set of suppliers can handle this? The printing
technology is there but no one is asking for it." Digital printing is
good when it can serve a changed business process, but factors external
to the print process must be in place first.
Industrial Printing
The attitudes of the industrial printing market towards digital printing
are the opposite of those from the document printing market. Everyone
in the document printing market believes in electrophotography (although
not yet), but people say there is currently no business. Conversely,
in the industrial printing market no one believes in electrophotography,
but they want digital printing systems now. The industrial printing
market reflects the evident economic need to supplement the traditional
print process with a viable digital printing solution.
Ink Jet Printing
Ink jet's presence was also felt at Drupa. Arpion, along with Digital
Printing Systems, and Barco showed ink jet products. Barco in particular
made a strong attempt to show a true industrial press with volume and
modular capabilities. Aprion showed a product with volume capabilities.
There was also a remarkable presence of wide format ink jet printers
showing a large penetration of screen print markets by specialized wide
format systems into graphic arts for proofing.
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