Digital Printing-Production Inkjet - Continuous Feed (Color)

Though direct mail, books and transactional work seem to be the holy trinity of the production inkjet digital printing church, there are murmurs of a fertile ground beyond the big three that will open the door for commercial printing, package printing and beyond.

Is it time to invest in inkjet? It's a simple question that lacks an easy answer. For a printer that has the volumes to justify laying out $2 million to $3 million for a production inkjet workflow, the process of moving forward can be slow and methodical.

When will an inkjet production press make its way into your in-plant? The technology is advancing steadily, and a handful of in-plants have already invested in it, but for most managers, inkjet means wide-format, not high volumes and high speeds.

The Inkjet Summit 2014, organized by nGage Events and Printing Impressions magazine and held April 7-9, at the exclusive Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, is an invitation-only event for senior managers and business executives who want to understand how inkjet technology trends, software, consumables and finishing solutions will impact their businesses.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank has a robust print and mail operation. "We're a 24/7 shop, and we produce approximately 170 million impressions a year, which equates to 70 million pieces of mail," reports Mark Kearns, vice president, Print & Mail Services. "We produce all of our customer correspondence, from customers' account statements to bank card statements to mortgage notices—all of our products across the enterprise."

Continuous-feed inkjet offers advantages over both offset and electrophotography. As the technology evolves, it is gaining share from both. The presses are good. The substrates are good. The software is good. And, as Cathy Cartolano, vice president of sales and technical services at Mitsubishi Imaging (MPM), points out, image quality is "scary close" to offset.

The second annual Inkjet Summit, hosted by Printing Impressions and nGage Events, will be held at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, April 7-9, 2014. The invitation-only event will feature expanded coverage of market segments and an increased number of qualified attendees.

International Paper has signed on as a keynote speaker at the 2014 Inkjet Summit, being held April 7-9 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Now in its second year, the summit will provide business executives from various print providers and corporate enterprises with cutting-edge information about inkjet print technology.

With traditional offset exhibitors like Heidelberg giving the Chicago trade show a pass, the digital print vendors were the new kings. Xerox, Canon, Konica Minolta and Fujifilm led the pack in booth size, and each of them had new inkjet production presses to proclaim.

Epson's Stylus Pro inkjet printer has been selected by the panel of 32 Must See 'Ems judges to receive the 2013 Legacy Award. The honor was announced at the end of the Executive Outlook Conference on the eve of PRINT 13.