High-speed inkjet printing will revolutionise the printing industry with its impressive speed, and more and more printing machines and applications are in the starting blocks or are already being used in the first branches of industry. Compared to traditional printing processes such as offset, high-speed inkjet printers can complete small-volume print jobs in particular much faster. This higher production speed enables print shops to significantly reduce their throughput times and thus increase their productivity. Especially in areas such as direct mailing and transaction printing, where fast turnaround times are crucial, this technology offers enormous advantages.
Personalisation and Variable Data Printing (VDP)
An outstanding feature of high-speed inkjet printing is its ability to personalise. Variable Data Printing (VDP) allows print shops to customise every single printed piece. This ability to insert variable data such as names, addresses or individual messages makes personalised marketing campaigns cost-effective and efficient. Companies can thus create targeted and customised advertising materials that strengthen customer loyalty and increase the effectiveness of their marketing measures. In newspaper printing, it is certain that in a few years’ time not all readers will receive the same newspaper, but the newspaper will be individually adapted and personalised for each reader.
Cost structure and profitability
Another advantage of high-speed inkjet printing is the changed cost structure. While offset printing remains more economical for large print runs, high-speed inkjet printing offers significant cost benefits, particularly for small to medium print runs. The high set-up costs associated with offset printing are largely eliminated, allowing print shops to react more flexibly to smaller and varying orders. This reduces production costs and enables greater economic flexibility.
Material diversity and flexibility
High-speed inkjet printing systems are extremely versatile and can print on a wide range of substrates, including paper, cardboard, plastics and textiles. This variety of materials opens up new business opportunities for printers and allows them to expand their product portfolio. From books and magazines to packaging and labels, high-speed inkjet printing can produce a wide variety of products efficiently and in high quality.
Quality and colour rendering
The quality of high-speed inkjet printing has improved considerably in recent years. Advances in print head and ink technology have led to significantly better colour reproduction and resolution. High-speed inkjet printers now offer a print quality that comes very close to that of offset printing. These improvements make high-speed inkjet printing an attractive alternative for high-quality print products.
Sustainability
High-speed inkjet printing systems are often more environmentally friendly than traditional printing processes. They consume fewer resources, produce less waste and require less chemical processing. This ecological efficiency meets the growing demand for sustainable production methods and helps print shops to reduce their ecological footprint. This is particularly important given the increasing demand for environmentally conscious printing solutions.
Market changes and business models
The introduction of high-speed inkjet printing is leading to noticeable changes in the business models of the printing industry. Print service providers can focus more on specialised, personalised and short-term print jobs. On-demand printing services that can respond more quickly to customer requirements are becoming increasingly attractive. This flexibility enables print shops to tap into new markets and better adapt to the changing needs of their customers.
Integration with digital workflows
High-speed inkjet printing can be seamlessly integrated into digital workflows and management information systems (MIS). This enables more efficient production control, better data analysis and optimised operating processes. By digitising the entire production process, print shops can further increase their efficiency, minimise errors and improve their overall performance.
Outlook
Overall, high-speed inkjet printing will profoundly change the traditional printing industry thanks to its speed, flexibility, cost efficiency, variety of materials and sustainability. Print service providers who successfully integrate this technology will be able to secure competitive advantages, respond better to changing market requirements and tap into new business opportunities.
More articles related to this topic:
“Digital First” often means “Colour Problems Second!”
Whether it’s a large global corporation or a small company, the following often applies to designs or redesigns today: we develop everything for digital first.
PANTONE surveys users online about product and service direction
Today I received an email in which PANTONE asked how it should orientate its products and services in the future. The users were asked which countries, industries and company sizes they come from, but also what PANTONE products should look like in the future and what customers would be prepared to pay for PANTONE services in the future. Question: How much can PANTONE services cost? PANTONE appears to be orientating itself on the PANTONE Connect prices: All price queries have the lowest price category < $ 7,- / month, i.e. … read more
New edition of ISOCoatedV2 in M1 in sight?
Even almost 9 years after the introduction of the successor colour space PSOCoatedV3, ISOCoatedV2 / FOGRA39 is still the most widespread colour space in Europe. We at Proof GmbH count around 200 jobs from time to time for the German Printing and Media Industries Federation, among others. In the last count, proofs in ISOCoatedV2 accounted for around 68% of all proof jobs at our company. This is a clear sign of the continued widespread use of the colour space. ISOCoatedV2: From the classic colour space to the beacon of the … read more
Fogra60 proofs for metal decor printing available
From now on you can order proofs for metal decor printing on white sheet metal at proof.de: The ICC profile for Fogra60 is Metal-Printing_MPC1_FOGRA60.icc
Colour deviations in 2023 PANTONE Color Bridge Guides
After Eddy Hagen pointed out in this posts, that there were some major colour deviations between the brand new PANTONE Solid Coated Guide 2023 and the previous version especially for the PANTONE 2635 C, I was curious to lookup the same colours in the new PANTONE Color Bridge Coated Guide of 2023 and compare the colours with the previous version. I measured a dE00 of 8,15 between the two colours that Eddy mentioned, which is really far apart from how accurate PANTONE colours should match between the different PANTONE guides. … read more
New certified proof papers at proof.de
In recent years, various problems have arisen with our previous proof paper supplier. On the one hand, we sometimes had to wait more than three months for paper deliveries; on the other hand, we sometimes had significant problems with batch-to-batch discrepancies, surface defects and much more. After lengthy deliberations, we decided in December to replace all the paper. We therefore received pallets of new paper at the turn of the year, which we are now gradually incorporating into our production. There will be no hard cut, but the new papers … read more
Proof GmbH 2025 once again Fogra and Fogra “Spot Cert” certified
This year we once again created proofs for Fogra certification and sent them to Munich-Aschheim for testing. With these proof prints, which we print according to three different proof standards and on three different papers, we point out that we not only deliver excellent proof quality through internal quality controls and checks, but that the quality of our proofs is also measured and confirmed by external experts. We have now had test prints certified by Fogra for the 12th time. We have also been “Spot-cert” certified for the display of … read more
New iPhone colour measuring devices: xade nano+ in test
A new generation of colour measuring devices is entering the market: in contrast to the classic measuring devices, which are available as a fully encapsulated system either as a colourimeter or as a spectrophotometer, and then supply the data to a computer via an interface or app or display it directly, the new generation of colour measuring devices consist only of lighting and software, with the optics of a modern iPhone from Apple being used as the sensor. Until now, there have been two categories of measuring devices on the … read more
Precise proofing of tonal values of spot colours
In recent weeks, there have been lengthy discussions on the Fogra digital printing mailing list as to whether a research project should be launched to define standardised tonal value gradations for spot colours. What is this all about? In the field of CMYK and seven-colour printing, the definition of clear, printable and proofable standards is well established and has been tried and tested in practice. If the paper or paper class is known and defined, a measuring standard such as M0/M1/M2 has been established and the content of optical brighteners … read more
Proof.de is featured twice in the “Fogra Aktuell” magazine
In the current issue of Fogra News “Fogra Aktuell” Proof GmbH is involved in two places. Firstly, a summary of the Fogra report on our first FOGRA55 certification for seven-colour printing with extended colour space in CMYKOGV appeared. You can also find more information on our FOGRA55 certification on the Fogra website: https://fogra.org/en/press-releases/fogracert-erste-cpc-zertifizierung-fuer-fogra55-cmykogv-330 and on proofing.de: And secondly, there was a report on the completion of the research project for textile digital printing, FOGRA58, in which we were allowed to investigate and test the proof capability of the new textile … read more