It is usually counterproductive to embark on ‘predicting the future’, especially in our world that is rich in computing and internet technologies. Many would say that printing industry needs to ‘re-invent’ itself to survive and engineers and experts are busy working on this as we speak. However, some trends that are just around the corner will influence printing in the near future, and we are here to mention them and their fight for supremacy.
Printing technologies on the rise
Mobile phone technology is conquering the modern world, so print shop businesses are quickly adapting to the new technologies in this field. Printing commands have an immediate result via mobile phones, and with the help of new apps that are becoming more available to users.
3D printing will continue to be on the ‘rise’ and something that is relatively new, printed electronics and functional and industrial printing is gaining speed within the printing industry in 2015.
Internet is another new ‘organism’ that influences printing, it is good to mention a few examples here: Big data, web-to-print, variable data printing and internet-supported tools such as augmented reality and QR codes. This new market would also be influenced by the cost factor.
Ecommerce is another trend that will influence printing in the future. It has grown rapidly in the past 2 dacades especially in the USA and China and will continue to grow.
Packaging and package printing is constantly on the rise and the economic recession has enabled printing industry to find a niche for revenue with modern/urban packaging.
Let us mention Cloud Printing as well, all the i-products and android phones are enabling printing services via the Cloud based servers therefore freeing printing industry to provide these servers themselves.
A new trend in 2015 is to use companies like this that offer managed print services which can reduce printing costs by up to 30% while improving document production capabilities using document network services.
Production of the Inkjet Printers is also on the rise. The whole cycle of printing is more attractive for the printers as Inkjet printers beam with advances in sheet transportation and Digital Front Ends.
One of the popular ways in the printing industry, therefore a trend, is to educate users in opting for the digital products instead of a more traditional (physical) one. A trend that goes against this is the ‘no digital’ products movement. However, experts will confirm that it is futile to resist digital media, because it is definitely winning this particular game.
Earth-friendly printing
One of the most important trends on the rise is Eco-friendly printing. One of the companies that are practicing this is Norwood, a leading printing company in Melbourne. As we find out in short, they are improving and enhancing the processless and chemical free plates for printers, and therefore making the complete printing process more Eco-friendly.
Though ‘paper’ is still the enemy in this ‘battle’, it is not as bad as it looks. For example the US still grows more trees than it harvests. We have more space to utilize in this sensitive ‘field’. And not to mention here a new ‘kid on the block’ – electronic waste. Large corporations in the Electronic Industry should address it as they come up with new products and are mainly responsible for ‘cleaning’ the environment from the waste.