What I really, really want .
“Are we expecting too much from equipment? Or are some manufacturers responsible for making promises and claims that can’t be fulfilled?”
If we were to combine all the elements which are currently spread across the entire wide-format inkjet industry and put them into one machine, then everyone would be happy all the time. Never has this been truer than right now within digital print where the present array of options should, somehow, lead to the print service provider’s nirvana. But, in the real world, of course it doesn’t – because most people will always want more.
It boils down to common sense – if we’re looking for a 5m wide roll-fed printer, then we mustn’t be surprised that it has a large footprint and needs acres of space in which to store full width materials. When we’ve decided that we’d rather go for a dedicated flatbed unit which is designed primarily for working with sheet media, lamenting the lack of ability to handle reels automatically shouldn’t come into the equation.
We’re given tremendous choice with today’s inkjet machines, starting from desktop units right through to the fastest, widest and most highly automated options on the market. Manufacturers push speed and quality as important elements of their printers yet, in the real world, we should appreciate that we can’t have the optimum of one of these qualities without the likelihood of a shortfall on the other.
We say we want more colour options but, in reality, these will come at a price because the printing machine will require a greater number of heads and a more complex configuration under the bonnet to cater for these additions. Similarly, those pushing for greater automation in terms of loading and stacking shouldn’t really complain if it then becomes more complicated to work with odd sizes of single sheet. And, if finer quality is needed, then more passes and a higher resolution will slow down throughput.
What it all leads to is a kind of compromise where technology and its capabilities mean that the people using them have to learn to live with what’s available and get the best out of it in production terms. A low cost printer probably won’t elicit the same levels of support as one which costs the best part of ?1m, and nor will it last as long in real life terms. Similarly, printing in two passes will be faster than producing the same job with 12 passes but the extra speed gained will be offset against lower quality results.
Manufacturers of wide-format printing equipment are governed by what the market wants, with most having the sense to listen and learn from their users before progressing to the next level in design, functionality and operation. With speed and quality normally being the most keenly requested attributes, these can only be pitched against investment price. And the faster and tougher the machine, the more costly the components and engineering.
Thus, accepting that this compromise needs to be reached between investment cost, overall expenditure, ink types, materials, speed, quality and functionality, are we expecting too much from equipment? Or are some manufacturers responsible for making promises and claims that can’t be fulfilled? The truth probably lies somewhere between these two points but one thing’s for certain – human nature being what it is as an often uneasy bed-fellow with technology, we’ll always want more than we’ve got now.
