Duplo U.S. President Rick Salinas said print suppliers will continue to seek new and innovative products in 2024. "They will also continue to look for every opportunity to improve processes to maximise profits. Meeting both initiatives will be a challenge for the industry."
Production flexibility and versatility remain a focus in the New Year. "The solution must offer a good combination of high capacity on the one hand and the agility required to change the type of application product at will on the other. This is the only way to ensure that print providers can respond to changes in market demand in a timely manner." Lanta Digital Printing company marketing communications manager Lazari shared.
Digital transformation
When we talk about digital transformation, Andrew Gunn, director of production marketing at Xerox, points out that digital transformation today means something different than it did 20 years ago. "In the past it was more focused on changes in the way offset printing is done, but today it's hypothetical and now it's more personalized."
Modern printing providers are looking for tools that can help them make better use of their employees, increase automation, and leverage e-commerce to do more from the web to the finished product.
Ray Hillhouse, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Plockmatic Group's Offline Business Unit, is firmly committed to the automation trend that is moving the industry in the right direction. "For most of the markets we serve, the cost of a smart device is less than a human alternative and once purchased, it doesn't ask for raises, coffee breaks, compassionate leave, Monday morning/Friday afternoon problems or requests for frequent time off."
Mark Little, senior manager of Graphic Communications business development for Ricoh USA, and Kenneth Tucker, senior manager of in-plant business development, expect to see printers, whether commercial or factory printers, shift operations from offset to digital production. Technological trends in inkjet and toner digital printing are driving this trend.
Victor Gomez, director of Epson USA, said that as far as the label industry is concerned, the headlines are still focused on faster digital presses, which are challenging flexo's position as an expert at long-form printing. "The revival of hybrid presses also serves the high-volume sector. The part that may have been overlooked in recent years is light production, and digital presses, which can achieve higher margins for short printing and represent a reasonable capital investment, are likely to recover in a recession year."
Overall, Dario Urbinati, CEO of Geras Group, expects the world economy to have an impact on the trends and challenges that will continue from 2023 to 2024. "If we also see changes in SDGS, regulation and so on, then the commercial pressure on processors who have not yet adapted their business models to digitalization could be significant."
Automation and artificial intelligence
The continuous development and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) will play an increasingly important role in printing automation.
Ai will begin to bring viable value to the industry. As AI becomes more refined and easy to use, Dmitry Sevostianov, CEO of Aurigma Customers' Canvas, expects to see more printing presses integrate it into their operations to optimize efficiency and enhance functionality.
Ai promises to automate everything from capturing job information based on natural language processing to automating back-end processes and providing a real-time view of print. "We've seen some experimental proofs of concepts, but we may see the emergence of some initial products that actually put AI to use," Lecheser said.
John Henzer, vice president of sales and marketing at Fiery, said: "We will learn more about the use of AI and how to further streamline print workflows to address key challenges in staffing and productivity. Integrating AI and machine learning into workflow solutions will gain traction, resulting in increased automation and efficiency throughout the print production process."
As organizations look for ways to improve efficiency and save costs, the continued expansion of fast onboarding will accelerate the pace of change. "Ai initiatives continue to drive more personalization of communications to ensure people receive the right message at the right time on the channel of their choice, which is no longer a marketing dream." With technologies like preference management, responsive HTML, and real-time document conversion tools, it can become a reality. Low-code dashboard tools provide organizations with real-time visibility to manage print and mail operations, and we're seeing more customers than ever using them to track digital channels and review customer responses, "shared Ernie Crawford, President/CEO of Crawford Technologies.
Stan Carmichael, director of special projects at Significans Automation, expects the use of robotics to increase, especially in large printing and packaging. There are two types of AI - generative and predictive. Generative AI is capable of using models of learning patterns to generate text, images, or other media to create new data with similar characteristics, while predictive AI uses statistical analysis to identify patterns, predict behavior, and predict future events.
It is important to distinguish the types of AI and identify the pain points they address. For example, Tonia Powers, director of marketing for production printing solutions at Canon Solutions USA, noted that generative AI may differ from previous approaches because of how it is applied to the printing industry, while also being mindful of the associated business risks.
One of the areas where AI is predicted to come in handy is design. Gunn sees it playing an increasingly important role, allowing designers to grab files and change text by simply dragging and dropping them using the conversion tool.
Gelato Vice president Pal Naes agreed, noting that AI will revolutionize print on demand next year by streamlining the creation and design process for e-commerce companies. "We're going to see more design done through AI, and content in general is going to explode - creators who don't design using AI risk losing customers." By the end of 2024, creators will use AI assistants to handle sales channels, product descriptions, online sales, and other aspects of their business that machine learning can address."
The role of inkjet
The growth of digital printing, especially inkjet printing, is a trend that will continue through 2024. Jon Condon, manager of Skandacor Direct, expects more printers to adopt automation and print decoration as differentiators and profit centers.
Carmichael predicts that digital inkjet technology will continue to rise, new devices will continue to be launched, and hybrid printing will be more widely adopted.
Carlos Martins, Solutions manager Mike Mild, Solutions Manager, Book Technology and Digital Solutions, Martini, said digital inkjet will continue to grow and take more share in the print space. "Quality used to be a concern, but it's no longer a real issue. Speed will continue to increase, technology will continue to evolve, and the break-even point for offset or digital printing will continue to rise."
Andre Durbano, vice president of sales at RISO, believes that the growth of inkjet presses has come at the expense of black toner devices. "The day will soon come when monochrome digital printing presses will no longer be needed. The metrics we get from high-volume print shops clearly show how black and white jobs are migrating to color inkjet at a rate of 20-30% per year."
John Meiling, senior director of OEM inkjet Marketing for Specialty Printing and Technology Solutions at HP, emphasized the need to understand which specific type - continuous inkjet (CIJ), piezoelectric on-demand inkjet, or thermal inkjet (TIJ) - is important when considering inkjet. Each inkjet printer has different advantages and limitations, and it takes constant effort to make the market understand that not all inkjet printers are the same. "Our TIJ is well suited to the packaging sector, offering high speed, ease of use and high resolution."
Jeffrey Zelmer, vice president of Global sales and strategy at Eastman Kodak, noted that CIJ solutions, such as the technology that powers PROSPER's printing press, offer productivity, quality and cost advantages because it is able to operate at very high speeds. For medium to long plate printing, CIJ is able to deliver offset quality of 200 lines per inch at 152 meters per minute, even on glossy paper with high ink coverage. "This allows inkjet printing to print more and larger jobs than ever before at a lower cost than offset printing." As a result, we expect CIJ technology solutions to continue to replace offset presses."
Inkjet printing is expected to remain more profitable in the long run. For equipment suppliers, Mild Martins said binding equipment will be more integrated with digital printing equipment, including not only the physical connection to the binding, but also intelligent workflows that can handle the entire process from document to finished book.
Chris Van Pelt, president of Therm-O-Type, predicts that labor costs will continue to increase at an exceptional rate, personnel shortages will persist, and the loss of technical skills due to the aging of experienced employees will be a serious problem. "These factors will require printers to replace outdated, low-volume equipment with more advanced and productive models," he predicted.
Another emerging trend is how testing is done. "We optimized prepress quite a bit, but didn't leverage the same prepress technology to address print and post-press challenges. It would be great if post-press detection tools could benefit more from the way our prepress systems handle the job." Says Mike Agnes, executive vice president of Miahua Software Americas.
Software, workflow, IT
Little and Tucker said that in addition to imaging technology, in-plant and commercial presses will have a competitive advantage by leveraging suppliers' expertise to go beyond hardware speed and provide business optimization, data integration and workflow improvements.
Sevostianov predicts that collaborative personalization will gain momentum as buyers demand a more seamless approval workflow to speed up the ordering process. "This involves developing more advanced online tools to facilitate collaboration and streamline the approval process for customized products."
Marc Jeeves, director of sales and marketing at Color-Logic, said that with the increasing popularity of digital presses, it's becoming increasingly important for print providers to be more involved in graphic designers making printed documents and graphic designers learning how to make them. "We will continue to see brands and marketing executives need differentiated marketing materials to meet the next generation of customers with increased purchasing power."
Santosh Moulay, vice president of business development at InSoft Automation, sees a shift from traditional technology platforms to new ones. "IT plays an important role in decision-making, resulting in systems that are open, easy to integrate and flexible."
Ebb and flow
Popular applications such as direct mail have been affected by a cultural shift in favor of the options offered by digital printing technology and its driver software.
"Direct mail volumes continue to fluctuate and slowly decline. As of the second quarter of 2022, direct mail volumes were down 14.8% year-over-year, but direct mail is a resilient medium. The travel, credit card and retail/consumer industries are all seeing an increase in the use of direct mail." Kevin O 'Connor, vice president of channel marketing and planning at Quadient, attested.
Michele Bocchino, director of marketing at DirectMail2.0, predicts that direct mail will continue to advance through a variety of technologies that help make marketing campaigns more targeted and automated. "Direct mail is not going away, and the industry will continue to adapt and evolve in an ever-changing marketing environment."
Advances in printing technology and mail processing equipment have made printed mail more impactful and efficient. "Innovations in mail processing devices, such as folder inserters, will help businesses increase productivity by reducing manual processes and enabling employees to get their work done faster," commented O 'Connor.
Ryan Semanczyk, President of Transformations, concluded, "The pace of progress in artificial intelligence is very rapid, and we expect this trend to continue through 2024. Businesses need to adopt this new technology or risk being seriously left behind."
Sustainable development
Digitalisation will continue to play an important role in the printing industry through 2024, and Bowers believes that using more environmentally friendly materials can reduce customer costs, a commitment to sustainability is important from the perspective of the company's mission, and as a means to make brands more attractive to customers.
The medium is moving towards sustainable development. "One of the trends I see is functional fiber packaging replacing plastic," explains Julie Brannan, Vice president of global Sales for Labels and Packaging at S-One.
Julie Brannan, regional Sales and sustainable Solutions Director at Monadnock Paper Mills, anticipates continued demand for sustainable products. "Environmental concerns, consumer preferences and a changing regulatory environment will dominate procurement practices. The evolution of personalization, rapid market access and digital solutions will continue."
Carmichael also found that consumers and corporate buyers increasingly value the sustainability of printed products.
As we begin the New Year, some noteworthy predictions come into focus. With advances in the productivity of digital printing and post-press equipment, integration and automation through software tools, and a new era of digital transformation, AI stands out.
