Notable Advancements in Printing Technology

Despite concepts such as paperless office and e-paper making headlines, printing technology is seeing a resurgence thanks to noteworthy innovations from key market participants. Broadly speaking, printing is driven by two diverse sectors: business printing and commercial printing that are in turn driven by two key technologies, inkjet and laser printing. While inkjet printing has dominated business printing until recently, laser printing is showing’ promise and providing equally beneficial results to a wider market audience. Application areas such as advertising, color printing, and security-related printing are key drivers for the growth of the laser-printing segment. In terms of technology, aspects such as wireless printing, cost, software, and document management systems are becoming important for the long-term sustenance of this technology.

As far as inkjet technology is concerned, the large number of applications using it is driving the market. Printing electronic circuits onto substrates (flexible and rigid), printing organs for transplantation, and 3D printing as a means of rapid prototyping are a few of them. "Each of these application areas are future oriented, with inkjet printing fueling their growth," notes the analyst of this research service. "Inkjet technology is also collaborating with corresponding developments in nanotechnology to cater to the printed electronics domain."

HP Develops Scalable Printing Technology

During the development of printing technology, there have been very few paradigm shifting technological advancements. The most recent one is the scalable printing technology (SPT) from HP. While most inkjet printheads comprise sub-elements that are assembled to create the final product, HP altered the manufacturing process and created an integrated printhead using a photolithographic process. More importantly, the printhead has 3900 nozzles - an unheard number of nozzles on a single printhead. Along with exceptional speed and print quality, the most notable aspect of this technology is its scalability to fit any requirement, thereby making it ‘future-ready’.

In another noteworthy development, Epson (Long Beach, CA), a leading player in this sector, has created an organic light emitting diode (OLED)-based laser printing solution. Since laser printing involves usage of either a laser or an LED source to create the final image, there are a number of shortcomings such as accurate alignment of lenses and mirrors to prevent parallax errors and the shorter life of LEDs compared to OLEDs. These shortcomings are boosting the use of OLEDs and this development from Epson might lead this industry in future. "Also noteworthy is the iTi Corporation – Inline Curing Printer which gives the user control over curing the 3D printed material," says the analyst. "The iTi Corporation’s Inline Curing Printer is able to cure the layer as it gets printed, and although it is in its preliminary development stage, its impact on a whole range of industry segments including aerospace, automotive, and general manufacturing could be huge in terms of cost and time savings."