UV Roll-to-Roll Printing will Grow, says I.T. Strategies

I.T. Strategies, the consulting firm based in Hanover, MA, has released projections for UV roll-to-roll inkjet printer growth and revenue gain over the next few years. The consultancy predicts that UV roll-to-roll printers (not including flatbed and roll-to-roll hybrids) could grow from an installed base of 199 printers in 2006 to 1300 printers in 2011, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46%. Additionally, I.T. estimates that total manufacturer revenue from UV roll-to-roll printers (including hardware, ink, and media) will increase from $121 million in 2006 to more than $560 million by 2011, a CAGR of 36%.

With this growth in the UV roll-to-roll market, reports I.T. Strategies, the solvent and the screen printing markets could be negatively impacted over the next 5 yr as print providers move jobs from solvent or screen printers to UV printers and as they decide to spend their dollars on UV printers over solvent or screen printing hardware.

Says Liz Ziepniewski Logue, senior consultant at I.T. Strategies, 'It is still too early to tell what the exact impact of UV roll-to-roll inkjet printers will be on the solvent and screen printing markets, but it is clear there will be one…While we do not expect that UV roll-to-roll printers will replace solvent inkjet printers in the near future, we do expect UV roll-to-roll inkjet printers to impact solvent printer sales and output over the next 3 yr.'

I.T. STRATEGIES
www.it-strategies.com