This Month's Spectrum Summary:

(The following is an excerpt from the January 2006 issue of Spectrum, a proprietary monthly briefing published exclusively for the clients of I.T. Strategies, Inc. © 2006)

Subtle Barriers Destined to Fade;
Path to End Run Around the Big Guys

This month we meet with Mark Hanley and Marco Boer to consider the significance of UV inkjet. A lot has been said about how fixed array speed can open the way to vast new markets. But barriers remain, most notably chemistry. Tools are being developed to surmount this and other barriers. So now it is believed we are at an "inflection point" where the growth of UV inkjet will accelerate beyond flatbed. Packaging remains a major opportunity. Other potential markets include taking market share from screen and flexo printing, and perhaps EP document printing. More importantly, in 10-20 years there will be applications that cannot be envisioned at this time.

Major attributes include speed and surface independence. Emissions are minor compared with solvents. But there are barriers, including ink cost, hardware investment, and the need for close collaboration within the "development triangle," head design, lamps, and ink performance requirements. There is complexity, including an explosion in types of UV inks. Sunjet, the largest supplier, now offers around 80 types of UV inks. Barriers, however, inevitably fall. Less expensive curing is being introduced including LEDs and electron beam curing.

Three factors are now converging to open up a path to real change: much of the mystery is gone; most vendors are looking at inkjet's potential for volume markets; and they are now realizing that there need to be breakthroughs in chemistry. It is speculated that the major vendors will be slow to move forward with a new technology that competes with their bread and butter. UV inkjet therefore offers the potential for today's smaller vendors, even vendors unknown today, to do an "end run" around the majors, in perhaps five to ten years becoming the industry giant that HP or Xerox are today.