A report from TrendWatch Graphic Arts suggests that for the first time short-run colour using digital presses (such as Indigo and Xeikon) has surpassed short-run colour using traditional offset presses as a sales opportunity.

A survey last spring showed a total of 13% of respondents believed that the digital colour press would present the best sales opportunities, ahead of conventional litho at 11%, while 8% believed that direct imaging digital presses, such as the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI and Speedmaster DI, offered the best route. This compared to the autumn of 2001, when 11% chose litho, 9% colour digital and 5% DI.

The report suggests that the number of US companies planning to buy a traditional offset press is at its lowest level, at around 2,200, compared to the peak of spring 1997, when 6,700 firms planned to purchase.

There is now a resurgence of companies planning to invest in digital colour presses compared to the spring of 2001, with around 1,800. But this figure is still lower than in autumn last year. Despite turbulent economic conditions, the
number of companies planning to invest in DI presses was the third highest recorded at around 1,600, even though this was down from autumn 2001.

As for the long-term outlook, TrendWatch Graphic Arts expected sales of traditional offset presses to "remain steady with perhaps a slight decline", while it said the digital market would grow.

The blossoming of the digital colour sector has been attributed to the solving of technical problems associated with the technology in its early stages.
Visit: www.TRENDWATCHGRAPHICARTS.COM.com

Story by John Davies