Industry Issues

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.

With the complexity of Internet of Things (IoT) networks expanding and the cost and frequency of breaches climbing, printers must take advantage of every resource to protect their security and their reputations. We discuss 2018 trends in security and print environments including links to research from Ponemon, Aberdeen and Inkjet Insight.

Inkjet Insight considers developments in the production inkjet market for 2019. Part 1 covers topics including supply chain issues, page volume growth strategies, and new market opportunities. Part 2 of this series will cover product announcements that we anticipate throughout the year.

Another blow for the publishing marketannounced by Georgia Pacific. GP is closing the communications paper division of its Port Hudson facility, as well as the wood yard, pulp mill and energy complex that support it.

Andy Gordon discusses the strategic role of production inkjet and the importance of developing a technology stack to drive business transformation. He discusses an NPR Freakonomics interview with Ford Motor Company’s CEO, Jim Hackett and the lessons to be learned that can apply to the printing industry.

2019 Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion   US Postal service is encouraging mailers of color messaging to sign up for the discount mailing promotion.  They are offering an upfront postage discount to

“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

Most inkjet printer manufacturers are either private (Durst) or part of a larger public company for which inkjet is only an element of their portfolio (HP, Canon, Ricoh, etc), so

Mark Bale provides a deep dive into the differences in the approach to colorant carrier in the main categories of inkjet ink: aqueous, oil, hot-melt and UV curable. Ink chemistry matters and different approaches are better suited to specific applications.

Karen Weil, Director of Procurement for IWCO Direct, shares her impressions of Inkjet Insight’s market research on paper supply and her approach to securing paper for her client’s projects.

The 2nd Edition of The Designer’s Guide to Inkjet was released at thINKforum 2018 and the authors were there to talk about why educating designers is more important than ever and what is new in the updated guide.

Today’s unanimous ruling of no injury by the USITC follows the U.S. Department of Commerce’s determination on August 2, 2018, that imposed a combined countervailing and antidumping duty of 20.26 per cent on Catalyst.  Due to the negative injury determination, these duties no longer apply after the USITC publishes its final determination at the end of September, and the cash deposits collected to date will be refunded to the company. While the lone petitioner, NORPAC, can appeal today’s ruling, the company is optimistic they will accept the judgement of the USITC.    

The growth markets for production inkjet lie in the segments where creatives hold sway. If you want to grow pages in these markets, you will need to get designers on your side.

Marco Boer discusses the components of the “Other” category within I.T. Strategies’ research reports and why they are some of the most valuable pages for inkjet production.

Andy Gordon discusses ways that print providers and their print buying customers can work together to reduce the disruptive impact of paper scarcity. More planning, more testing and more emphasis on strategy can lead to shared success.

Print OEMs need to understand that, for the foreseeable future, they will be judged as much on their paper program as the print technology they offer to the market.

Chris Lynn explores the reasons why toner and inkjet account for under 10% of the volume of labels printed last year and why the label sector of the packaging market was the first to adopt digital technologies despite the uphill battle.

My last post, Paper Supply and Strategic Planning, continued our coverage of paper shortage in the U.S. market. This post offers suggestions to mills and paper merchants on how they can help print providers navigate this difficult time.

Inkjet Insight is closely watching the challenging paper shortage in the U.S. market. Our team  has covered different aspects of this topic from pulp trends to impacts to the supply chain. Most recently, we have been interviewing subject matter experts throughout the paper supply chain to gain a holistic view of the market. It’s clear that the tight paper market is driving frustration and change and it’s incumbent on participants throughout the supply chain to consider how to solve this challenge.

The demand for paper and pulp is growing and the supply chain is having a hard time keeping up. We lost a couple of other mills over the past year, West Lynn and Appleton, contributing to a 16% overall loss in inventory.