Print industry market research leader Keypoint Intelligence has announced the availability of its latest study – The Wide Format Print Market Forecast: 2021-2026. The report evaluates and predicts trends, automation, profits and more in the wide-format market. Environmental sustainability is a factor in the evolution of the wide-format marketplace, it revealed. Demand for sustainability continues to grow and efforts to address this include the use of non-PVC materials, reduction of harsh chemicals in ink, and error and waste reduction. In addition, turnaround times are becoming shorter, leading to significant rises in web-to-print and workflow automation.
“While it’s not expected that printers will become 100% automated, web-to-print systems, digital MIS, and production tracking software usage will continue to grow as print service providers (PSPs) need to produce more products with fewer resources as a result of increased expectations from print buyers,” said Eric Zimmerman, Keypoint Intelligence Principal Analyst. “Unit placements in 2021 were almost 1,000 units higher than pre-pandemic 2019 units. Ink technology continues to move towards resin/latex and UV curable, allowing for immediate application to meet faster turnaround demands. Overall, the market continues to grow in the face of economic challenges,” he added.
