noelward
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Is Inkjet the End of Offset?
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
Content sponsored by Canon U.S.A., Inc.
“I have bought my last offset press,” said the head of a printing company who had a mix of presses under his roof. A pair of three-year-old half-web offset iron stood in one room. An adjacent space housed toner and inkjet devices, the floor next to one already marked for the next inkjet machine.
It was not the first time I’d heard those words. This time I was partway through a trip shooting video at several successful printers who possessed inkjet, offset and toner presses. I was mostly shooting inkjet machines on this journey and more than once was asked whether I was a video dude or a “print guy.” I always assured the person I was a print guy, making for relaxed and informative conversations. In talking with the business owners, I learned how attuned these pros were to customer needs. All had built their mix of machines based on customer requirements.
A preferred technology
Increasingly, those needs are being met by inkjet technology. While not as fast as their offset counterparts, inkjet machines meet many expectations, especially when short-runs or fast turnarounds are the order of the day. I think of the printer down the street who once informed me, almost apologetically, that he couldn’t deliver my job the next day—but asked if the morning after that would be all right.
Inkjet has solidified its position as the preferred technology not just for digital printing but for printing in general. As an industry analyst/journalist, I’ve long been skeptical of new products and technologies. I certainly had some doubts about production inkjet. Sure, the inkjet photo printer in my office and the one in the studio of a pro I know do a great job with multiple hues of ink, but production print is a very different game. Can it, I wondered, deliver what customers need? The answer arrived at a trade conference. A guy from Canon pulled me aside and showed me some of the latest pages produced by a high-end CMYK inkjet press that had yet to launch. I remained skeptical but kept looking, digging deeper, and listening to printers who were increasingly betting on inkjet with their checkbooks. They knew more than I about how the market worked and what customers were telling them: Run length was becoming less important. The invoice price was part of the game but not always the deciding factor. And, unless a brand or logo color was critical, what has come to be called “pleasing color” seemed to be okay. Yes, color wonks and art directors from the ad agency will always whine about color. I know this; my wife used to be an art director. I’ve been on press checks with her.
Looking at the inkjet vendors that seemed the most serious about commercial print, I thought Canon might be a good firm to look at. Plus, I know a couple print pros who have Canon inkjet devices. So I picked up the phone. The first guy I tapped was Jon Downing, EVP and CTO at Impact in Minneapolis, followed by Curtis Nelson, SVP of operations at Matrix Marketing Solutions in Syracuse, NY. Downing has a Canon ProStream continuous-feed inkjet press while Nelson uses a Canon varioPRINT iX sheetfed press.
I hit Downing first, interested in hearing about his experience with the ProStream. He came to the machine from a positive service and support experience with a previous Canon varioPRINT i300 sheetfed press but needed the greater throughput of a continuous-feed machine. He explained that Impact had adopted Canon's PRISMA workflow, which Downing said improved efficiency and scalability through automation and data collection.
He still made a point of visiting a couple of shops that had ProStreams on their floors to make sure the machine would run as claimed. Liking what he saw, he pulled the trigger. “The ProStream brought the quality, productivity, and substrate flexibility we needed to the table,” said Downing
But was he able to make money with it? Always a key question. I don’t know the real dollar figures at Downing’s company, and of course there are many variables, but his experience told me it was possible. “Since adding the ProStream in 2022, Impact's print and associated revenue have grown steadily,” said Downing; “2024 was the highest revenue year in our history.” He went on to note how increased productivity and being able to expand into new product categories with the press had helped fuel Impact’s growth.
Nelson at Matrix provided similar feedback for the sheetfed varioPRINT iX. Nelson said Matrix looked for print technology, quality and speed. He liked the iX press for its capability on coated stocks and found that to be a business booster. “We’ve seen continued revenue growth, improved efficiency and flexibility,” said Nelson.
If the past is any indication, more may follow. When inkjet was dominated by continuous-feed, I remarked that the next game-changer would be sheetfed inkjet. My colleagues said I was crazy. And now Canon has been rolling out sheetfed inkjet for a decade, spurring competitors to develop similar machines. With over 700 global installations to date, Canon has announced two new sheetfed inkjet presses coming in 2026.
More than an alternative
Both Downing and Nelson reflected something I’ve observed over the past several years. First is how the print industry has changed in the past thirty years and continues to evolve rapidly. Back when offset presses dominated, most owners did not appreciate the intrusion of digital. At the time, the only pretenders to the offset throne were toner boxes that arrived with real limitations in terms of speed and print quality. Then things changed.
Inkjet went from being a toner alternative to what is becoming the dominant print technology. More impressive is that it has happened so quickly. I think of one massive shop I was in that moved out a large, tall toner box from one press maker, replacing it with a faster machine from another. Nelson told me something similar happened at Matrix, where they replaced an end-of-lease toner box with the faster inkjet machine. “Speed, lower operating cost and print quality make a big difference.”
Downing tells a similar story at Impact: “Speed, combined with the output quality of inkjet, gave us the flexibility to print on a wider variety of substrates.” These factors set up inkjet for a win, especially in an age when short runs and the ability to print all manner of variable data has come to be expected by customers large and small.
The transition is not only from offset to digital but between digital boxes as well. Not long ago, I visited a shop where a long continuous feed inkjet press stood about twelve feet away from a toner machine. The inkjet beast I saw has since been replaced by a newer, faster inkjet model (from the same vendor) that also took out a tall toner box that had hit end-of-lease. In that shop at least, inkjet was the answer to the needs of the print provider and of customers.
Clearly in charge
In talking to vendors, I keep hearing that inkjet can go faster. If history is anything to go by, I’m not about to guess. Interestingly, the need for speed may not matter. Speed is not an issue for many applications: Minimal set-up times and shorter run lengths are reducing the need for tens of thousands of copies all at once to only a few thousand or even a few hundred—creating a sweet spot for inkjet. The printers I talk with tell me the print quality is fine and that most customers have adapted to the price differences. Does the CMYK palette of the big inkjet iron mean there are limitations? Sure. Spot colors are another challenge. But those may be overcome. I’m very possibly wrong on this, but the eight colors on photographer’s printers (I have one of these) may find their way onto production presses before long. Same for those critical brand colors. Doubt this? Remember that about a dozen years ago inkjet presses were nice but lacked speed, image quality and the ability to render color well. Now they are the printer of choice.
Inkjet is clearly in charge.
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
Content sponsored by Canon U.S.A., Inc.
“I have bought my last offset press,” said the head of a printing company who had a mix of presses under his roof. A pair of three-year-old half-web offset iron stood in one room. An adjacent space housed toner and inkjet devices, the floor next to one already marked for the next inkjet machine.
It was not the first time I’d heard those words. This time I was partway through a trip shooting video at several successful printers who possessed inkjet, offset and toner presses. I was mostly shooting inkjet machines on this journey and more than once was asked whether I was a video dude or a “print guy.” I always assured the person I was a print guy, making for relaxed and informative conversations. In talking with the business owners, I learned how attuned these pros were to customer needs. All had built their mix of machines based on customer requirements.
A preferred technology
Increasingly, those needs are being met by inkjet technology. While not as fast as their offset counterparts, inkjet machines meet many expectations, especially when short-runs or fast turnarounds are the order of the day. I think of the printer down the street who once informed me, almost apologetically, that he couldn’t deliver my job the next day—but asked if the morning after that would be all right.
Inkjet has solidified its position as the preferred technology not just for digital printing but for printing in general. As an industry analyst/journalist, I’ve long been skeptical of new products and technologies. I certainly had some doubts about production inkjet. Sure, the inkjet photo printer in my office and the one in the studio of a pro I know do a great job with multiple hues of ink, but production print is a very different game. Can it, I wondered, deliver what customers need? The answer arrived at a trade conference. A guy from Canon pulled me aside and showed me some of the latest pages produced by a high-end CMYK inkjet press that had yet to launch. I remained skeptical but kept looking, digging deeper, and listening to printers who were increasingly betting on inkjet with their checkbooks. They knew more than I about how the market worked and what customers were telling them: Run length was becoming less important. The invoice price was part of the game but not always the deciding factor. And, unless a brand or logo color was critical, what has come to be called “pleasing color” seemed to be okay. Yes, color wonks and art directors from the ad agency will always whine about color. I know this; my wife used to be an art director. I’ve been on press checks with her.
Looking at the inkjet vendors that seemed the most serious about commercial print, I thought Canon might be a good firm to look at. Plus, I know a couple print pros who have Canon inkjet devices. So I picked up the phone. The first guy I tapped was Jon Downing, EVP and CTO at Impact in Minneapolis, followed by Curtis Nelson, SVP of operations at Matrix Marketing Solutions in Syracuse, NY. Downing has a Canon ProStream continuous-feed inkjet press while Nelson uses a Canon varioPRINT iX sheetfed press.
I hit Downing first, interested in hearing about his experience with the ProStream. He came to the machine from a positive service and support experience with a previous Canon varioPRINT i300 sheetfed press but needed the greater throughput of a continuous-feed machine. He explained that Impact had adopted Canon's PRISMA workflow, which Downing said improved efficiency and scalability through automation and data collection.
He still made a point of visiting a couple of shops that had ProStreams on their floors to make sure the machine would run as claimed. Liking what he saw, he pulled the trigger. “The ProStream brought the quality, productivity, and substrate flexibility we needed to the table,” said Downing
But was he able to make money with it? Always a key question. I don’t know the real dollar figures at Downing’s company, and of course there are many variables, but his experience told me it was possible. “Since adding the ProStream in 2022, Impact's print and associated revenue have grown steadily,” said Downing; “2024 was the highest revenue year in our history.” He went on to note how increased productivity and being able to expand into new product categories with the press had helped fuel Impact’s growth.
Nelson at Matrix provided similar feedback for the sheetfed varioPRINT iX. Nelson said Matrix looked for print technology, quality and speed. He liked the iX press for its capability on coated stocks and found that to be a business booster. “We’ve seen continued revenue growth, improved efficiency and flexibility,” said Nelson.
If the past is any indication, more may follow. When inkjet was dominated by continuous-feed, I remarked that the next game-changer would be sheetfed inkjet. My colleagues said I was crazy. And now Canon has been rolling out sheetfed inkjet for a decade, spurring competitors to develop similar machines. With over 700 global installations to date, Canon has announced two new sheetfed inkjet presses coming in 2026.
More than an alternative
Both Downing and Nelson reflected something I’ve observed over the past several years. First is how the print industry has changed in the past thirty years and continues to evolve rapidly. Back when offset presses dominated, most owners did not appreciate the intrusion of digital. At the time, the only pretenders to the offset throne were toner boxes that arrived with real limitations in terms of speed and print quality. Then things changed.
Inkjet went from being a toner alternative to what is becoming the dominant print technology. More impressive is that it has happened so quickly. I think of one massive shop I was in that moved out a large, tall toner box from one press maker, replacing it with a faster machine from another. Nelson told me something similar happened at Matrix, where they replaced an end-of-lease toner box with the faster inkjet machine. “Speed, lower operating cost and print quality make a big difference.”
Downing tells a similar story at Impact: “Speed, combined with the output quality of inkjet, gave us the flexibility to print on a wider variety of substrates.” These factors set up inkjet for a win, especially in an age when short runs and the ability to print all manner of variable data has come to be expected by customers large and small.
The transition is not only from offset to digital but between digital boxes as well. Not long ago, I visited a shop where a long continuous feed inkjet press stood about twelve feet away from a toner machine. The inkjet beast I saw has since been replaced by a newer, faster inkjet model (from the same vendor) that also took out a tall toner box that had hit end-of-lease. In that shop at least, inkjet was the answer to the needs of the print provider and of customers.
Clearly in charge
In talking to vendors, I keep hearing that inkjet can go faster. If history is anything to go by, I’m not about to guess. Interestingly, the need for speed may not matter. Speed is not an issue for many applications: Minimal set-up times and shorter run lengths are reducing the need for tens of thousands of copies all at once to only a few thousand or even a few hundred—creating a sweet spot for inkjet. The printers I talk with tell me the print quality is fine and that most customers have adapted to the price differences. Does the CMYK palette of the big inkjet iron mean there are limitations? Sure. Spot colors are another challenge. But those may be overcome. I’m very possibly wrong on this, but the eight colors on photographer’s printers (I have one of these) may find their way onto production presses before long. Same for those critical brand colors. Doubt this? Remember that about a dozen years ago inkjet presses were nice but lacked speed, image quality and the ability to render color well. Now they are the printer of choice.
Inkjet is clearly in charge.
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