Last month, Canon sponsored a Book Business webinar entitled Inkjet: The Implications for Book Printing Manufacturers and Publishers. InfoTrends’ Barb Pellow and Jim Hamilton, who were guest speakers, discussed how high-speed inkjet technology for book printers has already had a profound business impact for adopters. Throughout the webinar, the audience was encouraged to submit questions to the InfoTrends panelists. Although many of these questions were answered during the hour-long session, more kept piling in as the webinar was wrapping up. The questions ranged from the cost of inkjet vs. offset to the quality of the newest inkjet technology. Here’s a sampling of the questions and answers that Jim published in his recent InfoBlog post.

Q: Can inkjet handle content with math, tables, and illustrations?
JH: There is no reason why math, tables, and illustrations cannot be reproduced well by inkjet systems. They all support 600 dpi resolution or higher. Plenty of math textbooks have been printed using high-speed inkjet.

Q: In terms of formatting requirements, will the growth of inkjet printing make things easier for small publishers who handle e-books and print?
JH: While I don’t think that the growth of inkjet will impact the formatting requirements significantly, I do believe that the expansion of output options (e-books, apps, print on demand, large print titles, etc.) creates the need for a publishing workflow that makes it easier for content to be repurposed. We are certainly headed in that direction, but I don’t think inkjet is the prime driving force.

Q: What about publishing newsletters?
JH: Newsletters could be a good inkjet application for service providers that are aggregating volume. The drawback is that these are generally low page count documents, and therefore the volume may be better suited to cut-sheet, toner-based digital printing systems rather than inkjet ones.

Q: My experience is that the unit cost of ultra-short run digital (100 to 250) jacketed hardcover books remains quite high. The technology allows you to order what you can sell, but it comes at a high unit cost relative to the book list price.
JH: You are right, but I think a narrow focus on unit cost overlooks other risks and costs faced by publishers. For example, ultra-short runs and on-demand fulfillment can be accomplished without warehousing. In addition, the risk of having unsold books is lessened when you order in smaller quantities.

Q: Can you discuss the differences between toner-based digital web presses and inkjet? Obviously speed and cost are huge difference, but what else? Toner-based digital web competes with offset up to 1,500 quantity. Up to what quantity does inkjet compete with offset?
JH: Another important difference is the ability to print on coated substrates. Toner-based digital web presses do a much better job of this, though inkjet is making important strides forward. As for inkjet versus offset, I think 3,000 or higher is a reasonable crossover point for a color book, though of course it depends on a lot of factors.

Q: How well does inkjet product hold up in the long-term? Is there any fading or loss of quality?
JH: I believe that the quality levels in most cases are comparable to offset and I have not heard of issues with fading or loss of quality.

Q: Are you suggesting that publishers bring the inkjet printers in-house, or find/use a service?
JH: I do not think it makes sense for American publishers to bring inkjet printing in-house. In other parts of the world where publishers maintain their own printing plants, though, it might certainly be something to consider.

Q: Quality of product: Inkjet vs. Offset. Can the consumer tell the difference?
JH: When the substrates are the same (or very similar), it would be hard for a consumer to tell the difference.

Q: Could you talk a little bit more about the adoption of inkjet printing in educational publishing? Besides the color options, what’s the appeal for educational pubs?
JH: The educational market fits into a nice sweet spot for inkjet. Coverage levels are not extremely high and many books are produced on lightly coated (and sometimes uncoated) stocks. All of this puts inkjet printers in a good position to act as a virtual document repository for educational publishers, enabling them to fill their channels in a more flexible fashion. Another key aspect of the education market is custom texts and course packs. These applications tend to be shorter run and personalized, so they are very well-suited to digital print. This kind of work can also be produced on cut-sheet or roll-fed toner devices, but the speed and productivity of inkjet put it in a strong competitive position.

Q: What percentage of inkjet installs do you project being for book publishing applications?
JH: About 25% are placed in book printers. Today, more high-speed inkjet systems tend to be placed in transaction (40%) and direct mail (29%) environments.

Q: What is the lifespan for the current inkjet print devices in the marketplace, particularly for book printing?
JH: This is a new product category, so it is hard to tell how long they will last, but devices placed in the field six years ago are still active. Additionally, many devices are upgradeable so that they can be comparable to new devices shipped today. Print shop owners will typically amortize these products over a five-year period, but these products may end up having useful lives for a long time beyond that. These trends are no different for book printing (as compared to transaction, direct mail, or other environments).

I encourage you to check out Jim’s full blog posting, listen to the replay of the free webinar, and comment below with your questions and insights about inkjet for book printing. Let the discussion continue!

Tonya Powers is the Graphic Arts Segment Marketing Manager for Canon, with a focus on marketing strategies across North America in the Commercial and Book print production markets. She brings with her a wealth of industry knowledge that enables her to lead field relevant go-to-market production print strategies and programs for Canon that bring value-add to the production print customer and print industry.

Previous to Canon, Tonya spent several years at Hewlett Packard on the marketing team developing go-to-market strategies within the Graphics Solutions Business for their Wide Format and Digital Press & Inkjet divisions.

Tonya has been in marketing roles identifying and implementing B2B marketing strategies since 1999.