The Emergence and Growth of Digital Printing

Digital printing has changes the whole outlook of the whole printing industry, though it has not been a overnight success. It kicked off with the Xerox Docutech and black toner to compete and sustain on the very low end of the printing industry. It is only because of this that most high-end printers did not treat it as a threat, not even as an after-thought.

Hence, a whole new industry with a strong model base was set up to take on small jobs at low margins. Things started to change quickly and quick printers and franchise printers saw dramatic growth at an early stage. With the emergence of new technology and high-end digital printers that had a prolific turn-around-time assisted the printers and digital printing as an industry to prosper and grow at a rapid pace.

After being financially stable, most successful digital printing companies either purchased a Docutech or moved a step further towards color printing which the Docutech did not do. This whole concept of color printing drove the whole digital printing industry into a retail quick printing solution provider or a manufacturing custom job shop for further complex jobs. Established printers were taken by surprise as many of their established customers started to opt for digital printing, essentially for the quick turnaround time.

With time came the color copiers, direct imaging presses and the digital presses. Not only were they cost effective but they also did away with the expensive plates and makeready time and waste. Though the qualities of the jobs were questionable and the machines were not that dependable, but many companies opted to take that risk in order to cut printing costs.

The quality of Digital printing continued to improve with time and the machines also started to show more reliability. The market also witnessed a large increase in retail or franchise digital printers and the other side of spectrum saw dramatic decrease in the independent quick printers and commercial printers.

Printing as an industry is ever-growing and ever-changing.  And successful digital printers those who strike the right balance between customers needs along with making enough return to sustain a very capital intensive commerce.