The growth of the large format market is showing no signs of slowing down.
WhatTheyThink! reported the global market for large format printers is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.0% from 2024 to 2030. Image Report’s latest Widthwise survey of printers in Great Britain and Ireland found that 41% of large format print operations had increased profits since the start of 2023. Only 6% expected the digital large format print market to shrink.
FESPA’s 2023 Print Census, conducted in partnership with InfoTrends, a division of Keypoint Intelligence, reported a 7% average revenue increase for participants since the 2018 Census. It went on to highlight that respondents were most interested in investing in large format systems that can streamline production and provide greater application flexibility. The top three were UV-curable inkjet (27%), eco-solvent inkjet (18%), and CNC finishing (17%).
Driving these investment plans were the desire to enter new markets and expand service and application offerings (55%), enhancing print quality (53%), and reducing the unit cost (52%).
Shaping these business needs are the ability to flexibly respond to key market demands that include:
- Customisation: the ability to differentiate products with a system that can handle various substrates and create custom designs, one-off designs, or limited editions, helps meet demand for customisation and personalisation.
- Sustainability: eco-friendly printing supported with recyclable UV inks that also require less energy for drying.
- Shorter run lengths: high quality short run digital printing enables the fast and responsive production of only what is required reducing waste.
- Automation and efficiency: As companies look to streamline their operations, digital processes can help reduce labour costs and improve efficiencies.
- Online and offline integration: Operations want to integrate their online presence with physical products. Digital printing supports e-commerce while maintaining retail quality.
- New market opportunities: The ability to print on a wide range of materials opens new prospects in sectors such as interior decor, signage, packaging, and promotional products, enabling businesses to expand their offerings. This is particularly so for traditional analogue screen printers adopting digital with the fast, responsive, production agility and the reduction in lead times that comes with it.
- Adaptability: Digital technologies, especially hybrid systems, enable businesses to quickly pivot to address new market trends, whether that’s expanding product lines or adapting to client needs.
- Enhanced client experience: Being able to quickly prototype or produce high quality samples can improve client interactions and speed up the decision making process.
Helping address all these market trends and futureproofing potential opportunities is Ricoh’s hybrid proposition – the Flora X20 powered by Ricoh. It supports flexible, productive, and sustainable printing while meeting different business needs for personalisation, on demand printing, and digital transformation. It can enable clients toreduce costs associated with short runs and custom orders, as well as eliminate waste.
The all in one system combines the benefits of both flatbed and roll to roll printing, ensuring versatility for various applications. Incorporating Ricoh printhead technology, ColorGATE RIP software and ICC profiles, it can run rigid and flexible media up to two metres wide and 5.1cm thick. It can handle a wide range of materials including wood, glass, metal, and PVC banners. Its ability to print UV reduces waste and energy consumption. Automated setups and quick changeovers drive overall productivity and support is provided by Ricoh’s professional EMEA sales and service network.
It is one of the newestadditions to Ricoh’sbroad portfolio of large format, flatbed, sheetfed, high speed inkjet, and software solutions.
