Category Archive

Thomas Printworks is a different kind of printing company that takes an unusual perspective on print markets. While many companies categorize themselves as a particular type of printer, direct mail, commercial books, etc., Thomas Printworks looks at the customers they want to capture and how to do the most for those customers. In terms of printing applications and technology, they simply look at large format and “small format.” This article discusses the digital print portfolio the company uses to deliver solutions of all sizes to a wide range of customers and what they have learned from investing in inkjet.

Mary Schilling and Elizabeth Gooding will be talking about all the weird and wonderful things that are possible with inkjet. Expect lots of examples of cool applications and things you will want to know if you are thinking about branching out.

In previous editions of this series I wrote about the main applications production inkjet is being used for, focusing mostly on roll-fed inkjet – the dominant production method so far. This is different for cutsheet inkjet, which is far more versatile and is used across a number of applications.

Our most recent white paper, sponsored by RICOH, examines the many factors that combine to create a quality inkjet solution for a particular market need. The production workflow and quality sensitivity varies significantly from one application segment to another. While some companies may be replacing one technology platform with another, others are challenged to maintain compatibility between inkjet and toner or offset platforms.

Most inkjet applications require paper. For many reasons, compatible inkjet paper is in short supply. If you are involved in the inkjet print supply chain, or a buyer of the finished product, it is in your best interest to help clear hurdles to identify and qualify compatible papers and to communicate availability as efficiently as possible.

Inkjet Insight maps out I.T. Strategies North American print volume data to explore opportunities for production inkjet technologies. The map looks packaging, publishing, and document application categories. Production inkjet has been successful with applications that have light ink coverage printed on uncoated stocks … namely, transactional, direct mail, and some book applications. Many of these applications were converted from high-speed roll-fed toner devices and inkjet provided economic and process benefits and by adding color. Inkjet also provided the ability to add value to printed pages. It’s useful to look at the entire market to help put this area of success in perspective and to think about the requirements for expanding adoption.

Printing from the first tower allows ink twice as long to dry helping reduce roller build up and print defects in finishing.

If you are using inkjet coated or primed offset coated paper, different papers will have different porosity levels on each side of the sheet.

“To the inkjet world changing their name to Pixelle is quite fitting as it is Glatfelter’s performance inkjet brand compatible on high speed inkjet devices.” -Mary Schilling Find Pixelle Performance

Highlights from the latest Smithers Pira report: The Future of Inkjet Printing to 2023 project that the value of the global inkjet market will rise at 9.4% over the next five years. As the global print market transforms, shifts in buyer demands—short runs, versioned and personalized products—and higher quality are aligning with the capabilities of inkjet. This is making it a key focus for technology developers. This analysis shows that inkjet will grow by deepening its penetration into existing markets and exploiting new emergent market opportunities through 2023.

This week, Steve Welkley, Vice President Production Inkjet Sales with Xerox, shares his perspective on some niche areas of the book publishing sector that he feels are a great fit

One challenge that companies new to inkjet face is to move customers from a model where they control paper buying to one where they are expected to choose from a list of approved papers. Another challenge is to get customers to send files that are designed appropriately for the paper selected and the device it will be produced on. One tool that can help with both of these challenges is what is known as a fingerprint file.