At Media Expo Delhi, the company had total five kits on display. Besides the launched machines, the other two were Pixeljet ECO 1800TS with Ricoh printheads, an eco-solvent printer and Canon iPF 8410SE poster printer.

According to TP Jain, managing director, Monotech Systems, the company’s focus now is four-colour roll-to-roll printing with white ink printing option. “We are also working on hybrid printer and it will be a combination of roll –to-roll and flatbed. We already have dedicated UV flatbed printers. We have installed more than 60 of those, but they are all in the industrial segment,” he said.

Manoj Garg of Monotech said that UV is the future technology for wide-format because it is green, it can print on any substrate and the outdoor life of UV printed boards/signage is much higher. He said many printers are now going for UV because recycled substrates are also in the market.

Jain, however, added that despite its advantages, UV printing has failed to make a splash in the signage industry because of the high cost of UV ink.

Along with UV, the future is also in the new substrates being introduced in the market. This is one of the reasons, Jain said, Monotech is coming up with a hybrid printer capable of printing on new media. “We were facing registration challenges in double-sided printing on the same media, but with the new and better media, those challenges have reduced,” he added.

Jain sees a continued rise in the signage industry, with the growth of segments like telecom, retail and banking playing a major role in this. However, quality would be a major concern. “There will be more demand for quality signage. The technology is gearing up to the next level and the market is growing in terms of numbers,” he said, pointing out all round developments in technology, like next generation printheads, robust structure of the machines, use of vibrant inks offering fantastic colour gamut and so on.

In last financial year, Monotech sold total 150 wide-format printers. This year, the company has already crossed that mark and now is hoping to double the number by the end of the year.