Reader Reaction: Large-format

 

David Gittus, Managing director, Active Display Group

 

In the very long term, there is no doubt digital will eventually match and probably outpace screen, but for now the best digital flatbed is still overtaken in cost and throughput terms by our high-end screen print at about a 150-sheet run. In retail, where store numbers generally fall in the 50 to 500 range, screen is in the sweet spot. Factor in digital’s significant capital, replacement and maintenance costs, plus its relatively short effective equipment life, and in a business where it’s about how much substrate you can push through the equipment in a day, a mix of both is still the most effective.

 


 

Keith Ferrel, Co-founder, Cactus Imaging

Digital, without doubt. It’s far more cost effective and takes a lot less time. It’s far superior. That’s the way things have gone in outdoor in the past seven to eight years. Since 2002, outdoor has grown 92%. Part of this has been because of digital. More than 90% of billboards are printed digitally – probably even higher. Cactus, Aussie Signs, Omnigraphics and MMT provide about 95% of the national outdoor billboard production and we’re all 100% digital. The technology is only getting better. Within 18-24 months you’ll find digital machines printing in excess of 1,000m2 per hour at better print quality.

 


 

Grant Cunningham, General manager, Allprint Graphics

 

The future is both. Billboards will be digital because it’s more economical with the bigger size. Street furniture will be both. Screen is extremely economical for medium to longer run lengths. I don’t foresee outdoor and large-format becoming exclusively digital in the near future. I think screen will still be a big player, although it will decrease over the next 15 years. If you’re reinvesting you would go digital, unless you have a special application. About 10 years ago it was doom and gloom for traditional printing, but the move towards digital has been slower than I expected. 

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