Wide-Format: A Bright Spot in Print
By Lynn Nannariello, assistant managing editor, and
Joe Tischner, wide format test specialist, May 1, 2012
When BLI recently spoke to representatives from two
major wide-format manufacturers—HP and Océ—about the state of the wide-format
market, we found that, contrary to recent reports, not all news in the print
industry is bad.
According to Sal Sheikh, vice president of marketing
for Océ North America’s wide-format printing systems division, Océ’s
wide-format devices cover two applications environments—technical documents and
display graphics—both of which have seen significant growth. He attributed the
company’s growth in the technical document sector to Xerox’s exit from the
wide-format technical document market. After Xerox left the market in 2011, Océ
expanded its distribution by establishing relationships with resellers who
previously sold Xerox products and with Xerox customers. In the display
graphics market, growth came from sales of the Océ Arizona product line, a
portfolio that continued to expand in 2011.
“We have grown significantly within the UV-curable
flatbed arena with our Arizona line,” said Sheikh, who noted that from 2010 to
2011 Océ far exceeded the 20 percent market growth projected for the industry
by market research analysts. “We are acknowledged now to be the market leader
in volume in the UV-curable flatbed space for products in the $100,000 to
$300,000 range,” he said, adding that about 3,000 Océ Arizona products have
been shipped worldwide since the platform was launched in 2007.
HP’s Designjet wide-format devices are sold in three
markets—signage, technical and photographic. According to Tomas Martin,
worldwide strategic product marketing manager for HP’s large-format sign and
display printing business, which includes HP Designjet and Scitex devices, the
signage market is growing moderately, with digital pages increasing 11 percent
year over year, while sales of analog devices, as would be expected, are in
decline. Most notably, HP has seen growth for its sign and display devices for
print applications as diverse as wall coverings for residential and commercial decoration,
and personalization in packaging and promotional materials. Said Martin, “As
advertisers look to maximize return-on-marketing-investment, the quick response
of print promotion is something that brand owners appreciate more and more
every day. HP sees this as a significant area of growth for digital providers
who can offer faster turnaround times and variable data, increasing the
effectiveness of marketing collateral.” Martin also identified HP’s
sustainability practices—offering water-based latex inks and a number of
recyclable large-format media, as well as the company’s recycling and
educational programs, as differentiating factors engendering growth by
appealing to green-minded print providers.
Because world-wide construction has been in a slump
since the start of the recession, HP technical printer sales are growing at a
slower pace, said Carlos Magrinya, worldwide strategic product marketing
manager for HP’s large-format technical printing business. He expects that as
the economy rebounds, so will the need for HP Designjet technical printers.
Magrinya cited several HP innovations contributing to significant interest in
the company’s technical printer line. For example, Magrinya believes that HP
ePrint&Share, a free utility that enables file storage on and retrieval
from the “cloud” and winner of a Summer 2011 BLI “Pick” for “Outstanding
Achievement in Innovation,” is “going to capture new prints by tapping into
latent needs in the market for connectivity and the possibilities mobile
printing bring that were not previously available for wide-format printing.” He
also said that Web connectivity, available on the Designjet T2300 eMFP, T1300
and T790 devices, “is creating renewal on our installed base as customers begin
to understand the advantages they can realize in terms of workflow and
efficiency by upgrading to these new technologies. Furthermore, the company’s
recently introduced ePrint & Share iPhone application and new capability to
print from AutoCAD WS have resulted in a high number of downloads and been very
well accepted by the public.”
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