Citing digital prints volume growth between 2010 and 2015, Mayer said, “The Indian print market has shown a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5%. And in comparison, the CAGR between 2015-2020 is expected to grow to 3.8%.”

 

Mayer also highlighted the segments where a noticeable digital augmentation is expected. “Newspaper, commercial, and packaging and labels are the segments, which will grow, so will the directories and securities segment, but with moderate growth.”

 

Giving a perspective of why inkjet will fit into the offset workflow, Mayer said, “It is its handling of paper stock, which is geared towards the larger size.”

 

Speaking to PrintWeek India, on the sidelines of the Print Summit 2016, Mayer said, from Canon's point of view, inkjet can be made an affordable option. “Inkjet solutions in the high-end segment are an investment of around USD 1-mn and more, but we are also talking about financing more, such that at the end when you offer your product to the customer, you can decide at which level you can sell it to the customer.”

 

Mayer said that though toner is still a technology in which Canon is investing in, major part the company’s investment is in the high-end inkjet area. “We have a few thousand systems on the toner front, and we also see that the technology will stay because they are very economical from the cost point of view. If you compare the toner systems, if you don’t have additional applications, they are relevant. There is still a market segment for toner systems. But from a quality point of view, we may have to split between the dry toner and liquid toner (inkjet) systems.”

 

Mayer said toner technology is getting longer, but can’t get any wider. “Certainly the size is important, but the toner technology is not flexible to get any wider. Imagine a B2 size drums, six of them, with a limited lifespan because of its photosensitive characteristics, plus the wirings running across, does not make it operationally viable.”