Expert opinions, FORECASTS, TECHNOLOGY

Printers of the future: Main industry trends

The printing market is a niche that has been subject to changes all throughout its history because of the constant emergence of new technology. These changes prompt market players to come up with new business strategies. Despite the fact that the demand for printed products is in decline due to the competition from electronic media, printing will always have its place and potential, especially in large organizations.

Cutting costs

Even with the onset of the digital revolution and arrival of Generation Y that seems to need no printed media, office paperwork flow remains an important process in many organizations. Right now the majority of companies try to follow various trends. For example, one of the currently important areas in the printing industry is using printers as multi-purpose devices and exploring their functionality to help with document management. These days, printers do not simply print, copy, scan and send faxes. Many models are synced with document management apps. For example, Kyocera Document Solutions devices with pre-installed software will not only route a document but also fix errors as it is printed.

Energy-saving for businesses

Businesses have several options laid out ahead of them when it comes to reducing office printing costs. One of them is developing various devices and implementing innovative energy-saving solutions. Today’s popular solutions include solar panels that can be fully automated and can accumulate energy to reduce expenses. There are also different interchangeable components that can be replaced at the end of their life instead of replacing the entire system. This method will not reduce power consumption expenses but will significantly reduce the consumption itself for which users pay service companies. These devices have both industrial and personal uses.

Since manufacturers’ R&D centers are improving the technology with every new line of products, it allows them to develop machines with lower energy consumption than older models, which is direct energy-saving for future users.

Environment

For modern technologies to have a lesser impact on the environment, resource recycling is not the only way. A more cost-efficient method would be to create products that already create less waste and were developed with minimizing environmental damage in mind.

In addition to energy-saving batteries, a no-cartridge system for laser printers can be used to take care of the environment. The main operational units are embedded into the machine itself rather than the cartridge. Therefore, the only expendable is not a cartridge with multiple components that has not fully exhausted its resources but a plastic pipe filled with toner. These printers are significantly more cost-efficient because there is no need to buy cartridges with built-in components that have to be disposed of before they are completely depleted. This is saving money and a green effort rolled into one because utilized waste is significantly reduced.

Fast production

Saving costs for expendable materials is an important aspect of large organizations’ activities, and they thoroughly choose devices that would allow reduction of operating costs. For instance, the Kyocera company, while manufacturing its model TASKalfa Pro 15000c, stuck to the ‘cold start’  principle, with the device requiring only 60 seconds to get started. The model can print up to one million A4 size pages until the first maintenance session, which takes only about 35 minutes. The model specifications help save electric power costs, while the inkjet printing and a lack of necessity to replace cartridge during extended operation time allow for reducing environmental impact.

The future of printing

Despite the growth in the printing market having declined to a certain extent, the market itself is immense. According to IDC’s Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions group, equipment sales volume accounts for $45 bln each year. Despite companies’ attempts to reduce printing capacities and costs, major content processing is done through printing. Most printer manufacturing companies are taking efforts to introduce new technologies to save the environment and decrease energy saving costs due to devices that do not require frequent cartridge and toner replacement.  

By Tariq Alhourani, Business Development Director at Kyocera Document Solutions Russia

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