Wide Format Imaging

New environmentally-friendly legislation is continuing to change the way most wide-format print providers run their businesses. Since solvent-based ink is volatile and releases chemicals into the air, health concerns are coming to the forefront. New laws mandating the reduction of VOCs are leading many printer manufacturers to develop less volatile inks and as well as a plethora of new eco and mild solvent printers to go along with them.

It's evident that this product sector is continuing to see more growth with a host of 'green-friendly' products being introduced in 2007. According to IT Strategies, the installed base of eco-solvent printers grew from just over 60,000 printers in 2006 and is predicted to increase to almost 110,000 in 2011, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13 percent. Revenues from the sale of printers, ink and media for eco-solvent printers will grow from $2.2 billion in 2006 to $2.9 billion in 2011, a CAGR of six percent.

"Eco-solvent printers have provided an economical way to enter the market for many first time purchasers, such as sign shops, that needed to print outdoor applications," said Patti Williams at I.T. Strategies. "Our research shows that these eco-solvent printers are used for both outdoor as well as indoor applications, making them very versatile printers which have, for the most part, halted the growth of high-end aqueous printers in pay for print (PFP) signage applications. They have also impacted aggressive solvent printers to some extent as small sign shops bring in-house work that in the past was outsourced to a PFP shop with a high-end solvent printer."

Replacing Older Models

"The biggest trend we are seeing right now is the replacement of older aqueous based printers with new eco-solvent printers," said Brian Phipps, Mutoh America's eastern regional sales manager. "This is because the quality of solvent printing has increased tremendously due to the Epson piezo head technology, plus the cost of the ink, supplies, and hardware has come way down. The return on investment for an end user is very fast with eco-solvent printers these days.

End users have been known to pay off their new eco-solvent or mild-solvent printers in the first few jobs because of the increased profit margins they are enjoying. We've also noticed a large trend in the request for 'greener' inks. Eco-solvent and the new 'Mubio' corn based inks have had the most demand in recent months because of their much reduced VOCs. As environmental issues continue to be a hot button in the media and elsewhere, we don't see this trend slowing down anytime soon."

To answer this trend, Mutoh recently added some new environmentally-friendly models to its line-up. The new Mutoh Value Jet 1608 Hybrid prints on either rigid substrates or roll to roll. The Value Jet 1618 offers faster printing using two sets of offset print heads. "Both of these new printers use new environmentally-friendly corn based Bio Ink that is recognized by the EPA for its 'Design for the Environment Program'. These inks are 100 percent biodegradable," pointed out Gary Rudnick, product marketing manager at Mutoh America Inc.

Rudnick continued, "the mild/eco-solvent market continues to grow at the expense of the aqueous inkjet market. Mutoh's new Blizzard high performance 65- and 90-inch printers come in at an affordable price point and are fully configurable for either eco- or mild-solvent ink. These printers use two sets of four staggered print heads to achieve faster printing speeds."