In the "and"era of print, it is essential to take a holistic view

drupa 2024 confirmed that digital printing, especially inkjet production printing, is on the verge of tremendous growth. However, offset technology still dominates the global print market in terms of number of jobs produced and total volume.

As a result, printers must develop strategies that integrate the two technology platforms to capitalize on new business opportunities and grow in today's “and” era of print. A customer roundtable discussion held by Kodak at its drupa booth on day 1 of the show was dedicated to this exciting topic. On the panel, Mark Buckingham, Integrations / Executive Director at Paragon Customer Communications, UK, represented a company that has brought the “and” concept to life for many years.

Paragon specializes in offset and digital print and POS. Sending out over 4 million communications every day, Paragon is the UK’s largest direct mail producer and an established expert in transactional and regulatory communication. In the digital sector, Paragon operates numerous inkjet production presses, including KODAK PROSPER 5000 and 6000 Presses, as well as toner-based printing systems. About the role of the inkjet presses, Mark Buckingham said: “We use them mainly for our transactional and statement business where we replaced what used to be the offset-based stationery. We now print everything on the fly together on our inkjet presses.”

The question of which factors influence printers’ decisions to invest in new printing technology was discussed intensively. "In the market we operate in everything comes down to price, mainly when we're looking to pitch to clients," Buckingham commented. "Therefore, the cost per page is really important. Certainly in the transactional statement market the quicker you can run the press the cheaper the cost per page; the cheaper the cost per page the more competitive you can be in the marketplace."

Buckingham left no doubt that offset will continue at Paragon, but "I think as consumers want things that are more relevant to them as individuals, the runs will become smaller and that leads its way into more of a digital world. I believe that process will continue into the future."

The customer roundtable discussion hosted by Kodak revealed further insights and prospects for future industry developments. You can watch the whole debate here.