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(Weymouth, MA) October 11, 2000… During the next 15 months, screen printers and digital color production companies in both Europe and North America will begin to see a raft of new, large format, piezo inkjet flatbed printers land in their shops. According to CAP Ventures Inc., these digital flatbeds constitute a new breed of inkjets and are included in the CAP Ventures 1999-2004 Forecast as a separate category of large format technology that is expected to show exceptional growth, to more than 2,000 units installed by 2004. CAP Ventures believes that the flatbed inkjets, which range in price from about $200,000 to $400,000, will help to accelerate the ongoing market segmentation within the inkjet printing market. Together, the digital flatbeds, digital screen presses and other specialized inkjets are taking inkjet printing far beyond more conventional applications such as desktop printing, on-demand poster-making and computer-aided design output (CAD). The new machines -- all of which are currently manufactured in Europe -- are the first inkjets that can print directly on a wide range of rigid substrates such as plastic, wood, glass and sheet metal. Until recently, digital printing on rigid substrates via inkjet was a two-step process. In this process, digital machines first printed onto a transfer medium; then, the image printed on the transfer medium was transferred onto the rigid material with heat and/or pressure. Visually, new flatbed inkjets look very much like flatbed CAD plotters or flatbed analog screen printing machines. Like the flatbed CAD plotters, the substrate lays flat on the bed of the machine (hence, the name "flatbed"). Color images are printed on the rigid substrates from above, as an array of inkjet printheads moves horizontally across the substrate, printing downward onto the substrate. "The new digital flatbed inkjets which are marketed by companies like Durst, PerfectaPrint, Sericol, Inca and Siasprint will allow screen printers to produce economical short runs when printing on metal, plastic, glass and wood," said David Williamson, director of CAP Ventures’ Visual Communications Technologies Consulting Service (VCT). "Because these machines also print on soft materials such as carpets, floor mats. curtain side, vinyl and banner fabric, they offer screen printers a high degree of versatility and flexibility. This flexibility will allow these companies to sell smaller quantities of graphic output to small businesses that previously could seldom afford to buy the large quantities that were required to be produced with their analog, flatbed screen printing machines," Williamson added. Most of the flatbed machines feature piezo inkjet printhead technology that is sold to its OEM customers by Xaar plc [http://www.xaar.co.uk/], a publicly held company based in Cambridge, England. Graham Wylie, Xaar CEO, notes, "Breakthrough printhead technology is the focus of our development efforts. This new class of large format flatbeds certainly fits within our mission of enabling cutting-edge digital applications and the economies of scale that ride with them." According to CAP Ventures, these digital flatbed machines first began to appear prominently in Europe this past May at the Drupa printing industry exhibition in Dusseldorf. Although distribution arrangements with U.S. distributors are pending in many cases, the digital flatbeds should start to become more visible at trade exhibitions in North America later this year and into the first quarter of 2001. Distribution and shipping to screen printers in the Europe and the U.S. should start in earnest during 2001. The Visual Communications Technologies Consulting Service is one of eight service areas now offered by CAP Ventures Inc. VCT currently provides annual retainer packages to clients in two areas: large format digital printing (LFDP) and large format electronic displays (LFED.) For more information on VCT and its market research and consulting services, please contact Scott Phinney at . |
