Inflation is threatening to make print a luxury good

Life for everyone has gotten more expensive. Inflation was an unintended side effect of COVID. We all had to pay more to retain our staff, to pay more for raw materials. Have you seen the cost of eggs lately? Paper, which accounts for the vast majority of print cost, has doubled in the last four years. Our data projects the cost of paper could very well double again as paper mills shut down printing and writing paper production in favor of packaging and tissue papers. The rising input cost of printed materials means is that print is on its way from a commodity to a luxury good.

On top of this, print buyers are ordering ever-shorter runs, and in our day and age of next-day Amazon delivery commercial printer customers also expect much faster turnaround on print jobs. These trends are why Kodak has invested heavily in making faster, more productive and less-expensive-to-operate solutions than those of other manufacturers.

Kodak equipment is aimed at serving the most productive commercial printers, those who churn out the biggest volumes. Our SONORA Process Free Plates can reach target density faster than wet processed plates, saving labor time, and are more consistent and stable, reducing downtime and paper waste. Our CTP devices deliver bulletproof durability and multiple automation options, so you can set them and forget them. Our PROSPER 7000 Turbo, the fastest inkjet press in the world, can print up to 34,000 B-2 sheets per hour, which is more than twice the speed of most sheetfed offset presses. And of course, our PRINERGY workflow software manages all the complexity of moving these short-run jobs cost effectively through the printing plant.

Kodak has made the strategic decision to focus on the highest productivity printing systems for one simple reason: the number of commercial printers has been shrinking for years. The ones that are going to be left are the financially healthy ones, the ones consolidating print volumes. They'll be the ones still benefiting from economies of scale, and they need a partner they can count on to keep raising the bar on productivity.

Most people don't know this, but Kodak was the first company to provide variable data inkjet printing for direct mail starting in the 1970s. Our fifty-year history in enabling our customers to create highly relevant, valuable content is in our DNA, as much as our color science expertise allows the creation of the most beautiful prints out there. Kodak is ready to help commercial printers make that transition from providers of a commodity to providers of a luxury good.