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According to the latest industry report from Smithers, the printing market is heading towards an "increasingly digital future".

The report "The Future of Digital and Offset Printing to 2027" highlights that as digital printing machines become more advanced and customer demands change, inkjet and toner pose a threat to offset printing.

Digital's faster turnaround, low-cost customization and better cost position in the short term make it particularly attractive in the advertising and commercial printing industries.

To address these threats, lithographic printing manufacturers have focused on enhancing the efficiency of their printing presses, particularly by minimizing downtime.

The report predicts that "one-click stop" technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence software will be at the forefront of this push.

The company stated that manufacturers have begun to attach importance to after-sales service to maximize customer returns. Meanwhile, to take advantage of economies of scale, they may increase the use of super-large format printers.

Mark Willis, the managing director of KMSLitho, runs a business that combines digital and offset printing. He said that although lithographic printers are doing their best to counter the "impact" of digital technology, they will inevitably lose some ground.

He said that part of the reason is that the cost-efficiency curve has been constantly improving, and digital printing machines can now achieve higher output, which was previously cost-effective only for offset printing.

He said, "Litho still has its place, but I think for a traditional small printer like us, you need to use it in smaller areas, such as Pantone."

Dominic Hartley, the commercial director of multi-disciplinary printer Lexon, said that the price advantage of digital printing for low-volume jobs has been further enhanced due to the increase in printing costs.

He said that with the recent increase in the prices of paper, consumables, energy and wages, the price reduction of inkjet sheet-fed paper has been lower than that of offset sheet-fed paper. Therefore, more jobs have been created through digitalization.

Previously, Lexon could only print 500 copies of a 24-page A4 booklet using inkjet printing or more than 1,000 copies using offset printing, but now Hartley says that inkjet printing of more than 1,000 copies is competitive.

The continuous improvement of digital printing quality has brought similar problems to offset printing. Some machines are now indistinguishable from offset lithographic production.

This improvement in quality has even affected the digital market: the latest generation of B1 and B2 format inkjet printers has begun to erode the demand for toner printing. A large amount of monochrome continuous commercial work has been transferred to high-speed inkjet printers.

However, the cost of these advanced machines may cause damage to small businesses.

Willis said, "The cost of these (new digital) devices is prohibitive for a small business like mine. But equally, I can’t see a business of our size (turnover of £1-2 million) surviving in this industry unless you specialize or diversify in a niche area."

Digital technology has been getting better and better. I believe it will replace traditional sheet-fed offset printing plants and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The report predicts that before 2027, although packaging, commercial printing and books are all growing strongly, advertising will be the industry with the fastest growth in inkjet printing sales.

The company said toner would see moderate growth in commercial and graphic applications, including for special products such as photo albums.

Due to the expanding demand for labels and packaging printing, other similar processes such as flexographic printing will prove to be resilient.