Widthwise Discussions
Web-to-print storefronts for many years now, to bring in that ecommerce offering for the user. There are companies that have invested heavily in ecommerce and others that are dipping their toe in the water because it is a heavy investment and you have to have the buy-in from the end user too. Webb: The landscape has become more competitive as businesses come under increasing financial pressure. We recognise that features like automation - particularly when it comes to things like feeding and stacking - increase efficiency across printing lines. That’s why we’re working to improve and add even more automated features to our machines.
Over 90% of polled PSPs put energy costs in their top three concerns for 2023 and beyond. What are you doing to reduce the energy consumption of your offerings? Rixon: Well we talk about elephants in the room, so let’s talk about Latex. HP brought out this water- based technology around 15 years ago with the environment in mind, but it needs heat to evaporate the water and cure the ink pigment, so it wasn’t that energy efficient. But HP has worked really hard on that front - we’re now on generation four and have reduced the energy consumption by 40% since the first Latex machines came onto the market. Also, we’ve done things like ensure that when our printers are not actually printing they can go into a low power mode, and that when there’s automatic maintenance to be done it can be scheduled for overnight for instance.
But the energy issue isn’t just about print equipment usage. I was at an industry event at 10 Downing Street a few months ago and got talking to a printer who is having to run a press on a diesel generator because there isn’t the energy infrastructure where they’re based to put enough power into the building to run it. The bigger question has to be how our government is addressing the whole energy crisis. Fitch: Energy cost increases are there and we’re doing as much as possible to mitigate that. We moved away from traditional bulb technology in our Anapurna and Tauro about six years ago and we’re doing as much as we can - to the point where we can take it no further with LED technology, which cuts energy consumption by a huge amount, before it starts impacting curing. So where do we go now with our high-volume machines - that’s something we’re constantly looking at. Webb: We design our printers to be affordable and sustainable to run. In fact, our Acuity Prime machines use an average of 1.9 kilowatts an hour over a working day, which is comparatively low compared with similar alternatives.
Looking ahead, the cost of supplies was flagged up by 60%+ as a concern. Can you offer any reassurance? Fitch: Increases are everywhere and as a business we try to hold back as long as possible on passing on those costs, but it gets to the point where we have to. I think things have stabilised though.
Rixon: As manufacturers we have to move equipment around the world and, as everyone knows, that’s increasingly expensive. On the large-format front, we’ve handled those increases ourselves and haven’t passed on the higher costs we’ve had on our mid-volume products, whether that be hardware or supplies. We do also work with some of the bigger companies with bigger volumes to try and keep their costs stable. And of course we offer a free recycling programme too. But who knows what the future holds? Where we can we’ll absorb rises but we can’t do that forever. Webb: It’s not just about the cost of supplies, it’s also about using less ink. Thanks to micro V dispersion and the combination of small drop printheads and drop placement accuracy, we can say with confidence that the ink usage with Fujifilm Acuity machines is reduced compared with many competitors’ printers. We do try to limit costs passed on customers too, and having ink manufacturing in Broadstairs - as opposed to outsourced plants - means that we can better control costs that may affect our customers.
The consensus among PSPs is that the major technological shifts in wide-format are behind us. Do you envisage any transformational technologies emerging in 2024 - and if so, where? Rixon: It’s difficult because so much is always under non-disclosure pre-launch, but I remember HP’s founders saying the best competitive advantage was to do the best thing at the worst time. In terms of transformational technology I think Latex did that and I can’t comment on what’s coming. More generally, across the industry, I do think there’s still scope for transformational change, but with the world as it is I think it’s currently about consolidation. We’re doing a lot with firmware for instance, so people can upgrade what they already have. Fitch: As with HP, there are things going on that we can’t talk about, but I agree that people are definitely trying to leverage a few more years out of their existing technology. There’s got to be a call from the market for development too and Agfa is constantly listening to what’s being said, but yes, there is still
room for development in the market. Webb: I’m sure there are still some very exciting technological advances in the pipeline. Our focus with the new range is and will continue to be finding ways to deliver maximum value and ROI. Working to add more automation features is a big part of this, and we’re also working to increase our print speeds even further. We’ll have lots more to say at, and in the lead-up to, Drupa 2024.
What would you like to say in summation? Rixon: I think the whole environmental/sustainability issue is something we need to continue to focus on. We do our own research into that and 81% of the PSPs we spoke to in our last survey in 2022, said this was key. One company said they do two quotes on jobs - one a standard quote and another that is a more environmentally-friendly option and they say it’s about 50:50 in terms of which way customers go. That’s got to be positive. But, I think there is a huge issue in this country when it comes to how we deal with waste. There are many schemes and everybody seems to be trying to do their bit, but we’re not joined-up. Print waste doesn’t even have its own classification and I think there’s a huge amount of work we need to do together - manufacturers, PSPs, trade bodies - to make government aware of the scale of this industry and its requirements. Fitch: Sustainability is definitely key moving forward. We have single-pass products with water-based technology that we’re going to release, and outside of actual hardware there’s a lot of focus on greener materials. Of course, it’s not just about what products we offer, but also how as a business we operate ourselves and sustainability is a crucial part of that.
Videos of the Widthwise Round Tables in full can be found at the Image Reports website.
In early 2024 we’ll be conducting the Widthwise survey all over again - but in the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, you can download the 2023 report from the Image Reports website at:
www.imagereportsmag.co.uk/widthwise
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