The Big Picture - July 2012 - (Page 12)

Rollfed Printers Detailed specifications on 148 wide-format machines. In life, we face several milestone decisions that lead to investments that can have a significant effect on our financial futures: Which college to attend? Which career path to choose? Which home to buy? And for print providers: Which wide-format printers to purchase? Investing in an exemplary rollfed machine can mean the difference between producing incredible graphics on time to outputting mediocre work and perhaps missing a deadline. In an ideal world, when making a printer-buying decision you’d be able to test drive every rollfed on the market, but let’s face it, ample research coupled with knowledge of your customers’ needs (current and future) as well as a bit of gut instinct oftentimes has to suffice. With the tremendous number of wide-format printers available, you need a starting point to identify the printers most suited to your workflow and production needs. Enter The Big Picture’s annual rollfed printer charts. On the pages that follow are specifications and data for nearly 150 rollfed printer models. With the information here, you’ll be able to quickly pinpoint some machines of interest and then begin to move onto the next stage of your selection process. Note: Keep in mind that this month’s charts comprise only rollfed printers; we’ll feature flatbed and hybrid printers in our August issue. here utilize UV-curing technologies, which is slightly higher than last year but more than double the number indicated in our 2008 rollfed report. A solvent slice of the printer pie: Since 2008, the number of true solvent rollfeds featured in our charts has decreased by 52%. But, in the last three years, the number of solvent machines has remained relatively steady. As for mild solvents (aka eco- or low-solvent, etc.), this segment has continued to grow each year with nearly a 25% upswing since 2008. This year, nearly 30% of all machines fall into the solvent/mildsolvent category. The color of money: Close to half (47%) of all rollfed printers you see here are offering something beyond standard CMYK or CMYKcm inksets. And about 15% of the printers here are making white ink available, which can lead to more profits for print providers. Wider choices: More than a quarter of all the rollfeds are now available in widths of 100 inches or more. Why print small and seam, the argument is, when you can simply go big from the get-go? As you look over this year’s charts, here are the specs you’ll see noted: • Company and website: We’ve listed the manufacturing company rather than the distributor. If a company has an exclusive US distributor, we’ve listed that information in the “Notes” area. In the case of companies listing printers from two different divisions or two different nameplates, we’ve typically combined these under the single company name. • Printer model: We’ve generally combined models if the only difference between them is maximum media width or number of colors offered (a few exceptions were made for space purposes). • Maximum media width (in inches): Note that this is media width, not image width – typically, image width will be 1 to 2 inches less than media width. Minimum here is 24 inches. Decision Time: Trends and specs Twenty-two companies responded to our requests for information on their rollfed printers this year. Some trends to keep in mind when looking over the specs: New introductions: Of the 148 printers listed here, 50 were introduced in 2011 or 2012. Think of it this way: More than a third of all rollfed printers seen here are new introductions into the market, showing that manufacturers continue to listen and respond to print providers’ requests for additional features, improvements, and other changes. UV holding steady: Nearly 30 rollfed printers indicated 12 THE BIG PICTURE july 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - July 2012

The Big Picture - July 2012
Contents
InSight
UpFront
Wide Angle
Inside Output
Decision Time: Rollfed Printers
Virtual Walk-Through
Laminators: Protecting Aesthetics
Inkjet Drupa 2012
Job Log

The Big Picture - July 2012

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