In 2006, there was another new addition to the Whitmar family as the continuing surge of digital printing technology led to the creating of Digital Printer, dedicated to the digital sector of the printing industry.
Digital Printer: April 2006
The future of digital print
There is the widespread perception that digital print is slow and expensive, and there has been good justification for these views. But that does not mean it is the case now, or that it will remain so. Cost per print has fallen remarkably, and speeds have increased and both these trends will continue as computer technology advances. For many years, the rate of progress of development of digital print systems was primarily determined by the progress of computer technology, and is still a significant factor, but now the constraints appear to be more to do with the imaging technology and ink/toner characteristics.
Of digital print’s characteristics three things really stand out as being strategically important.
Digital print provides a means of enabling products to respond to the challenge presented by e-media. Printed products of all types are being challenged by electronic systems, which achieve the same purpose but often faster, more effectively and at lower cost.
Digital print enables print products to respond to the challenge of mass customisation. Mass customisation is the mass production of items tailored to individuals.
Digital Print provides a real solution to print on-demand concepts. Conventional print technologies have obliged us to produce in batches of a reasonable size and store more of what we may not have necessarily needed.
