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UV
Roll-To-Roll Ink Jet Printers
Potential Manufacturer Revenue of $564 Million by 2011
Over the last few years,
a new type of wide format UV ink jet printer has come on the
market: the wide format UV roll-to-roll printer. (Definition
of UV ink jet printer: An ink jet printer where the inks are
cured by UV light.) The question being asked by many today
is: Will UV roll-to-roll printers experience as much success
as the UV flatbed or are these printers being pushed into
the market because of vendor need rather than user demand?
I.T. Strategies expects that UV roll-to-roll printers (does
not include hybrids) could grow from an installed base of
199 printers in 2006 to 1,300 by 2011, a CAGR of 46%. Total
manufacturer revenue from UV roll-to-roll printers (hardware,
ink and media) is forecast to increase from $121 million in
2006 to more than $560 million by 2011, a CAGR of 36%. (NB:
Total manufacturer revenue from UV flatbed ink jet printers
grew from $58 million in 2003 to $600 million in 2007.)
Wide
Format UV Roll-to-Roll Products over $200,000
Worldwide Forecast 2006-2011 (US$)
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2006
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2011
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CAGR
06-11
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| Hardware |
|
|
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| Installed
Base |
199
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1,300
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46%
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| Hardware
Revenues |
$45,749,970
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$140,370,802
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25%
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| Media |
|
|
|
| Throughput
Square Feet |
111,104,297
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726,261,856
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46%
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| Throughout
Square Meters |
10,321,922
|
67,471,905
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46%
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| Retail
Value of Media |
$66,283,460
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$391,649,817
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43%
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| Ink |
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|
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| Ink
Liters |
101,004
|
597,998
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43%
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| Retail
Value of Ink |
$9,090,352
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$31,780,063
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28%
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| Total
Mftr Revenue |
$121,123,782
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$563,800,682
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36%
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According to Patti Williams,
Consulting Partner at I.T. Strategies, "UV roll-to-roll ink
jet printers could negatively impact the solvent market over
the next five years, as users move some output from solvent
printers to UV printers and more importantly, as users decide
to spend their dollars on UV printers rather than solvent
printers. Perhaps though, the biggest impact will be felt
in the screen printing market as highly productive UV roll-to-roll
printers begin to go head to head with screen printed products."
UV roll-to-roll printers
offer a number of advantages over solvent ink jet printers
including increased productivity, fewer environmental issues,
versatility of substrates, less vendor competition and white
inks.
UVUV
Roll-to-Roll: Advantages and Disadvantages
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Compared
to:
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UV
Advantages
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UV
Disadvantages
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Solvent
(over $50,000)
Does not include low end, mild or ecosolvent products
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Instant
dry ink/increases productivity
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Fewer
environmental issues?
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Versatility of substrates
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Less
competition
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Less
ink consumed?*
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Potentially less ink migration
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White inks
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Ink
costs are higher per liter/ fewer ink vendor choices
(no UV aftermarket)
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Higher
hardware costs
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Ink
adhesion may not be as good as solvent on some substrates
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Ink flexibility may not be as good as solvent
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Free radical UV inks do not cure 100%
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Tire
tracking
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UV
Combo
A UV Combo is a product that is primarily a UV flatbed
printer, but has roll-to-roll capability
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*Durst
claims 1/3 less ink is used on UV roll-to-roll compared with
solvent.
Note: I.T. Strategies has not scientifically tested any of the
claims of comparisons between UV and solvent. The comments are
feedback from end users and vendors.
According to Williams, "It is still
too early to tell what the exact impact of UV roll-to-roll
ink jet printers will be on the solvent and screen printing
markets, but it is clear that there will be one. There is
vendor motivation to move to UV roll-to-roll and according
to I.T. Strategies research, many end users believe UV ink
jet printers will be the future of the wide format graphics
market. While we do not expect that UV roll-to-roll printers
will replace solvent ink jet printers in the near future,
we do expect UV roll-to-roll ink jet printers to impact solvent
printer sales and output over the next three years. How much
will depend on how quickly vendors continue to develop UV
products.
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