The Rush Is On for Digital Papers

On-demand printing sales are flying high on double-digit growth as commercial printers widen their offerings and service bureaus grow their businesses within the digital realm. Consequently, paper companies are actively pursuing customers, with products and services to meet the demand; this month, virtually all the majors exhibited at the On Demand show in New York City.

"Commercial printers continue to see digital printing equipment as an area of capital investment," reports Chris Harrod, national accounts and business development manager for Mohawk Paper Mills. "As we work through a sluggish economy, printers are finding that digital brings value-added services to customers in need of diversifying their portfolios. As print budgets shrink and run lengths shorten, digital looks more promising to increase revenues and profits."

Indeed, Harrod states, digital printing is gaining market presence, if not market share in the graphic arts revenue pie.

Papermakers are seeing the market subdivided by applications for short-run offset printing (Heidelberg Quickmaster DI), high-speed commercial color laser printing (Xerox DocuColor iGen3), specialty variable-data printing (HP Indigo, Xeikon), and networked laser printers within corporations.

Thus, paper companies are directing their marketing fire at distinct markets. According to Domtar business paper product manager Ted Nielsen, "Digital printing equipment is constantly improving in speed, image quality, and cost. Domtar positions its products according to the digital application."

Meanwhile, the equipment business is booming. Investment by large technology companies in the U.S. and Japan also are helping to keep the market fluid. Large companies with diversified portfolios of manufacturing—complete with big marketing departments, engineering staff, and research and development—are ensuring that the future of digital print technology definitely is onward and upward.

Canon, Heidelberg/Kodak, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Xerox are all sinking big bucks into continuous improvement programs to keep digital printing functionality high and cost low. Most equipment can still be purchased for under a half-million dollars, and there are leasing options available at very low interest rates.

Those requirements that Harrod and Nielsen cited above—high speed, image reproduction, efficiency, and versatility—are all being chased by papermakers within their product development labs. Important qualities include brightness, whiteness, stiffness, smoothness, and density. Papermakers work on fiber selection, chemical treatment, and manufacturing processes to create and maintain the qualities needed to meet those applications.

There exists plenty of diversity in applications by which to stake a claim. For example, paper made for real estate flyers inserted into local newspapers need not require the same qualities as an on-demand book order. However, paper companies, having gone through the cut-size retail markets in laser and ink-jet offerings in the 1990s, are keenly aware of the desire of consumers to apply a single grade in different operations, as well as expect the same results every time.

The big rush seems to be at HP Indigo. Once the domain of only a few mills, now everyone wants a piece of the action. HP threw open the qualifying doors, partly to break up the tightness around paper specifications, and partly to open up its own channel in accessories, which is extensive.

The printing engine was thought to have been a technical hurdle for paper, but experience has shown that most grades can meet the challenge. Of course, label and tag operations still need care in paper selection in variable-data applications.

There also is a big marketing push into coated stock, another past barrier to entry into certain printing applications. Hot rollers and twisted paper paths were seen as extreme challenges to coated stock, which could delaminate (at worst) and mottle and feather (at best) in digital printing machines. Today, two-sided coated papers in web and sheet are widely available and work well.

Officials at Domtar say that high-speed color laser printing is the fastest-growing sub-segment in digital printing, and is expected to increase 40% over the next three years. With color laser printers producing great quality at the rate of 100 color images per minute, it is an obvious marketing target.

Domtar released a new grade to its Microprint line. Coated Laser is a 90-brightness, non-sapphire coated sheet specifically designed for the HP Indigo 3000, Heidelberg NexPress, and other popular high-speed color laser printers from Xerox and Xeikon. Domtar's Microprint Coated Laser is made in 80-lb. text and cover weights with gloss and matte finishes in popular sheet sizes.

Mohawk Paper Mills already is a celebrated name in digital markets, as the company's Navajo and Superfine grades are best sellers. Says Harrod, "Mohawk digital papers bring value in their ability to increase productivity and reduce downtime on most major digital printing platforms. Rigorous testing and sharp engineering allow Mohawk to perform as well on a mid-level copier as they have for decades on the most sophisticated offset presses."

In a global launch on May 1, Sappi Fine Paper will introduce Voltage, its range of premium coated papers designed specifically for high-quality digital printing on production color systems. Greg Bird, Sappi's printer segment manager for North America, says Voltage is available in cut-sizes, sheets, and web, in a comprehensive range of weights, from text to cover, and in silk and gloss finishes.

Bird notes, "Voltage offers consistency across a complete grade line, with the same characteristics of whiteness, quality, feel, and print performance. Engineered sheet formation, moisture control, conductivity, and flatness provide the best image definition, toner adhesion, and jam-free runnability on dry- and liquid-toner equipment."

Eastern Paper is releasing a new grade called Inspire for value-minded consumers using HP Indigo equipment. The offering, which is untreated and needs no pre- or post-treatment, is available in web and sheet text and cover grades, and is said to be universally applicable. Inspire contains 30% recycled content.

Glatfelter is charging ahead with its paper for on-demand publishing. Its DigiBook line is targeting the on-demand book market with improved qualities in smoothness for sharp black-and-white lines.

Two new tear-resistant grades are now commercially available. Synthetic paper producer Yupo is targeting HP Indigo applications with its new Dura-Go, engineered with its partner, Tekra. The product is suited for printers that make banners, point-of-purchase display items, safety badges and tags, and other applications where tear resistance and weatherproofing are needed.

Smart Papers makes a cast-coated tear-resistant paper called Tuffkote. Here, the company has taken the successful Kromekote line and laminated it on tear-resistant film to make a two-sided, high-strength coated board-like paper for dry toner, heat-fused applications.