Production Printer Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The production printer market is estimated to witness a CAGR of 5.26% over the forecast period. New technology innovations, the growing number of profitable business models, and the continuing shift to just-in-time production are anticipated to fuel the market over the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• Commercial printers are focusing on investing in digital and inkjet printing to offer customers wide-format and industrial printing applications. This indicates that digital production equipment must be profiled and calibrated for new materials, including ceramics, wood, vinyl, plastics, thin films, cardboard, textiles, glass, metal, paper, and more.
• Inkjet printing gained traction in recent years. There have been a few Continuous Feed (CF) inkjet installations at commercial printers globally. Some of them are Hansaprint in Finland, Zalsman in the Netherlands, Eversfrank, Haberbeck, Esser, and Walter Digital in Germany, Poligrafico Roggero & Tortia in Italy, ProCo, DG3, and Severn in the United Kingdom.
• Including customized marketing messages in promotional and marketing strategies is one of the drivers in the production printers' industry. This is creating a significant demand for personalized printing content, which is being catered to, by commercial printing companies that use digital printing technologies.
• Such technologies include variable data printing (VDP) that enables the customization of images, text, and graphics on each printed piece of their content. The short-run self-publishing industry's steady prominence results in high demand for digital printing due to its beneficial aspects, such as order flexibility, optimized stock handling, and minimization of time-to-market for printed content.
• The growing advertising needs of enterprises worldwide and extensive technological proliferation currently represent the key factors driving the market growth. Organizations are increasingly adopting commercial printers as they are more cost-effective and efficient for bulk printing.
• The global industrial sectors have all been influenced by COVID-19, which has altered the dynamics. The market for digital printing is no exception and has suffered greatly due to consumers' disinterest in the sector. The constrained regulation of movement has impacted every area of their operation. Due to unexpected shutdown restrictions everywhere in the world, the printing sector was forced to shift its emphasis to online transactions and develop new printing technologies and tactics. Since physical stores have been down for months, the only option to draw customers is online. An increasing number of clients may now contact businesses wherever they are, thanks to the trend of online communication. Additionally, even though the production printing sector is experiencing significant issues, the overall economic picture is gradually improving.

Production Printer Market Trends

Growth of Printing Applications in Packaging is Expected to Drive Growth

• Packaging applications generate the most substantial demand for production printers as digital package printing has become more mainstream. Product manufacturers are increasingly addressing focused groups of buyers through increasingly customizing cardboard boxes and labels.
• Packaging gained high importance. While many printers and converters used their printing systems for digital label production last year, folding cartons and flexible packaging are expected to become increasingly focused. With tactile elements on packaging materials and creatively designed outer packaging, brand owners further focus on driving the consumers' attention to their products.
• The developed markets offer opportunities based on product differentiation. Consumers in developed markets are willing to pay a premium for differentiation. Packaging can help change a product's perception and act as a price driver. This, in turn, is expected to create great print packaging opportunities by creating demands for innovation and design advances.
• The growth of e-commerce is expected to drive the demand for better packaging solutions worldwide. This is expected to drive the Production of Printing solutions in packaging to meet the market's needs, where competition is very high. The evolution of e-commerce is expected to create demands for printing methods that can match the speed, volumes, and standardization that this industry demands.

Asia-Pacific is Expected to be the Fastest Growing Market

• Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing market for Production Printing, with India, Indonesia, and Vietnam showing high growth rates markets. According to the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), India is anticipated to become the fifth-largest consumer market by 2025.
• Also, the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) anticipates that the country consists of more than 250,000 MSMEs and large printers. The data from AIFMP also suggests that commercial printing in the country is increasing at an annual rate of around 10%, while digital printing is expanding at a robust growth rate of 30%.
• The production printer market is widespread in the Asia-Pacific region concerning multiple printing technologies and applications in various industries. A number of industries related to food and beverages, consumer electronics, and many others in countries such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea have resulted in significant demand for printing solutions in the region.
• The demand for standard products in Asia is increasing, so the region's middle and small-scale industries are expanding, resulting in significant digital printing packaging market growth. Higher investment in packaging industry research and development is also responsible for the growth of the digital printing packaging market in the region.
• The region has been witnessing investments in new manufacturing facilities and product launches. According to the Worldwide Market for Print 2.0 published by the Association for Print Technologies (APTech), India is anticipated to be the fastest-growing market for publishing at a CAGR of 8.1% per year, USD 1.2 billion in revenue from 2017 to 2021.

Production Printer Market Competitor Analysis

The Production Printer Landscape is a consolidated market with a few players dominating the market. The market entry barriers for the vendors are very high, and established players with deep pockets dominate the market.

In April 2022, with the introduction of its brand-new cut-sheet digital color press, the imagePRESS V1000, Canon Europe created a new benchmark in production printing. The new device incorporates advanced technological features and performance attributes to overcome the daily production challenges faced by commercial and in-house print service providers, establishing it as the next generation in the evolution of the imagePRESS family.

In April 2022, the Agfa-Gevaert Group announced the acquisition of Inca Digital Printers. Agfa's position in high-speed digital printing is anticipated to be strengthened by the acquisition, which will also increase its focus on the packaging printing market. The purchase includes a line of recently developed single-pass printers for various packaging applications, a portfolio of existing high-speed multi-pass printers with a strong service organization, and a jointly developed in-line Print Engine with top corrugator manufacturer BHS Corrugated.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support