There are many benefits for printers and consumers which are driving the growth and interest in Production Inkjet Printing. Each market has specific benefits to utilize the technology but overall there are common advantages for this print technology.
Water based inks: Compared to many other printing technologies, inkjet inks are primarily made of water. Some production inkjet inks are comprised of over 90% water and use virtually no VOC’s or hydrocarbon based solvents. Waterbased printing is a preferred technology for companies and consumers who care about the environment and their impact on the planet.
Personalized Print: A common practice in direct mail marketing is to print a common advertisement and distribute within a geographic area. Response rates for this type of advertising are often significantly increased by further personalization of the content using digital printing, such as production inkjet printing.
Printing Weight: Putting ink on paper adds weight to the page. This extra weight can increase the cost of transport, mailing rates, and the cost to remove the ink for recycling. A four color offset printed A4 page with full coverage can add as much as 5 grams/m2 of ink to the page. Water-based inkjet inks can produce the same image quality with under 1 gram/m2 of ink after drying.
Structural Waste: Digital printing can eliminate many elements of waste in the typical printing process and supply chain. With digital printing, there are no printing plates and related chemistries. Digital printing can reduce set up and make-ready times and eliminate start up press waste. Typically analogue printing requires a minimum run length and this creates overprinting and inventory. Digital printing is a print on demand technology and printers can print just what is needed. Using digital printing systems, customers can eliminate freight costs by a distribute and print model replacing common analogue print and distribute models.
