Fueling the Growth in UV

Worldwide revenue from the sale of wide-format UV-curable printers will climb from $310 million in 2005 to $427 million in 2007, while revenue from the sale of wide-format aqueous and solvent printers will decline over the same period according to Lyra Research.

Advances in UV-curable printing technology, an expanding number of UV-curable printers at price points ranging from $50,000 to $850,000, and new applications are fueling the growth in the UV-curable segment of the market, reports the consulting group’s newly revised Wide-Format Printing Advisory Service. Overall revenue in the wide-format printer market will remain relatively flat, at a little more than $1.8 billion annually from 2005 to 2007.

“Manufacturers of UV-curable printers have made improvements in areas such as printer speed, hardware reliability, and ink durability, opening the door for a slew of new applications using this technology,” says Grey Held, director of Lyra's Wide-Format Printing Advisory Service.

“Print jobs such as point-of-purchase displays that were once output on roll-fed wide-format printers and subsequently laminated to a rigid substrate can now be produced on UV-curable printers. These improvements, recent market consolidation, and the marketing efforts of companies such as HP Scitex, EFI Vutek, and Fujifilm Sericol have combined to create a marketing ‘buzz’ about UV-curable printers.”

LYRA RESEARCH
www.lyra.com