Wide-format is getting narrower
If one thing has become clear in recent trade shows and discussions with print service providers, it’s that wide-format print is becoming narrower. This might sound like a crazy statement but think about it. First off, if you’ve got the space, the budget, the machine and the inclination, there’s nothing to stop you reeling off hundreds of thousands of superwide prints. But common sense decrees that, if you can produce jobs which are dimensionally challenging on the upper end of the scale, then it must be possible to apply the reverse principle and run smaller applications.
Furthermore, the industry’s wide-format kit manufacturers are helping companies travel down the road to these narrower format applications. Think of the labels, stickers, decals and smaller displays which, for many, might have represented their entry point into the colour market. Now look at today’s latest machines, right down to the innovative desktop UV-curable unit from Mimaki and Roland’s latest metallic ink printers. These, and others, are positioned perfectly to bring a new route to display producers who want to add to their services without spending a fortune.
With promotional gifts, stickers, decals, labels and a wealth of other smaller products which can now be printed digitally, so personalisation comes into the frame. Today we’re seeing customisation and variable data printing finally making its way into wide-format as a very useful addition and these, too, are obvious elements when wanting to produce smaller individual items, be they novelties or industrial goods.
It’s noticeable, too, how more and more display producers are adding CNC cutting tables and routers to the armouries. Those who are using these additions to print and cut nested smaller jobs from a single, larger sheet of material are becoming the rule rather than the exception.
Suppliers comment that many new customers buying a printing machine also want a complementary cutting solution. Combined print-and-cut machines continue to be popular, and UV-curable printers installed alongside flatbed tables are becoming commonplace. The industry is definitely thinking small.
For a sign-maker to use a print-to-cut workflow, this is a natural progression from the days of computer cut vinyl. For a display producer who wants to combine the capabilities of colour with the versatility offered by different sizes and shapes, adding a cutting unit immediately makes it easy to combine wide-format print capabilities with limitless shapes as well as sizes.
Cutting, creasing and folding isn’t restricted to cardboard engineering and point-of-sale on a big scale. With UV-curable ink now being improved to the point where additional flexibility makes it suitable for all types of manipulation, it’s hardly surprising to find it being used for applications that go well beyond the boundaries of our perception of wide-format use.
Contour cutting tools and precision are both so good nowadays that accuracy is a given when working with multiple prints on a single sheet. Software options make it simple to nest, step-and-repeat and optimise images to get as many as possible onto one piece of material, and optical registration marks ensure that elements are cut in the right places first time, every time.
Automating a tedious and error-fraught manual process has also tempted many down the cutting route. True, many display producers might have originally intended their complementary tables to be used for large applications but more and more often people are telling me that those little fiddly jobs are the ones which carry the better margin and help them to stay profitable.
If wide-format is really getting narrower, where will it go next? We’ve already seen UV-curable units sitting on a desktop, and HP’s latest Designjet 3D printer has simplified modelling and small prototyping. In truth, if you can work with digital colour, then size has few limits. So if you haven’t the space or the budget to go larger, think about the potential of smaller applications. There are plenty out there.
