"Entry-priced" digital flatbed devices are now changing the rules of competition: your competitor can be the screener down the road or the exhibit company looking for a new income source. "More than one SGIA member serving the short-run market segment has said digital flatbeds are must-have items to compete in today's marketplace," says Mike Robertson, SGIA President/CEO. "They're reshaping the playing field - established graphics printers, sign shops, photo imagers, lithographers and others are refocusing their businesses with these inkjet devices in mind and new competitors are concentrating on flatbed technology from the beginning." SGIA spoke with two manufacturers of affordable flatbeds each with a different market approach - Raster Printers Inc., a new company who recently entered the flatbed market, and MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., a company who has been manufacturing printers since 1985.

  What Flatbeds Can Do

  The beauty of UV flatbeds is that UV curable inks will print directly on a wide range of substrates. "Instead of putting on roll to roll substrate, printing, then mounting the print on rigid media, and laminating it, a flatbed can print directly on almost anything," says Rak Kumar, founder and CEO of Raster Printers Inc. (RPI). For POP and signage, the cost and time savings are enormous. And for unique applications, there is of course no comparison-the flatbed can print on glass, ceramics, copper, doors, and leather. "A well-known sneaker manufacturing company is now printing shoes," Rak says. "They can print directly on leather. And many other companies are finding specialized niches printing directly on more unusual substrates."

  "Using instant-cure UV inks is the secret to their versatility," says Bruce Butler, director of marketing for MacDermid ColorSpan. "Flatbeds are changing the way imaging professionals produce finished graphics. Printing directly onto a substrate greatly reduces production costs by reducing labor because it eliminates the transfer and mounting of vinyl to sign and display boards. This reduces the time you need to complete a job, so you can increase the number of jobs you do while improving service to your customers." A huge side benefit, he adds, is that these printers eliminate the solvent fumes associated with drying solvent inks, reducing health risks to employees.
  Until recently, only larger shops could afford a UV flatbed, giving only those shops access to these unique capabilities. This shut many small shops out of new and expanding markets. But with the introduction of lower cost printers under $100,000, even small shops can expand their business by leveraging the new capabilities that flatbeds give them. "Flatbeds also let printers create many more options to show clients," Rak says." Take packaging. Packaging design options for presentation are extremely time-consuming to prepare using old methods of printing on paper and pasting it to the packaging substrate. This is one example of how flatbeds are a huge plus for small shops who don't have the staff and time to work slowly using the old method."

  Emerging Markets, Growing Demand

  "Until recently," Bruce explains, "UV flatbeds were all large, heavy  metal machines that consumed large amounts of floor space. The smaller footprint of the lower-cost machines fits better into the smaller shop environments for which they are being purchased. Many franchise sign shops, for example,  are in strip mall locations with limited space and no ability to deal with solvent fumes."

  Another emerging market for digital flatbeds is for true manufacturing applications. "Manufacturing companies are buying these machines to use as part of their assembly lines, printing the same thing over and over not to resell, but to use themselves," Rak says. "Everything from sneakers to labels for machine tools to glass doors for bathrooms can be printed in-house by these companies." 

  "Everywhere you look you find new applications for these machines," Rak adds. "The SGIA Digital Expo gave us a tremendous opportunity to showcase our printers, we were thrilled to participate." The company is beginning to expand into international markets, including Australia and Japan.

  RPI sees the flatbed industry as very price elastic. "Where you might sell 100 to 200 $200,000 machines a year, we predict you can sell several thousand $50,000 machines each year and tens of thousands of $35,000 machines." Rak feels that the price will continue to come down, and that the subsequent spread of the machines will prompt more creative new applications, expanding the market still further for UV devices, and in turn expanding markets for both printers and customers.

  How They Brought the Cost Down

  There are many companies in China making printers, but overall the quality is not good. "But we thought, why not take our expertise and partner with a Chinese company to manufacture our printers but retain quality control," Rak explains. "So we do some manufacturing in China, where costs are half of what they are in the U.S., and finish the production in the U.S. where we also do quality control and testing." This approach allows RPI to produce UV flatbed printers for $60,000 instead of close to $200,000.

  RPI has a full time engineer living in their Chinese manufacturing facility to oversee quality control, and Rak and his research and development team travel four times a year to China to inspect the facility and products themselves. In addition, half the production is completed in the U.S, and each machine goes through extensive finishing and testing in the states. "We applied our know-how but took advantage of the low manufacturing costs in China," Rak says. "Today, many companies do manufacturing in China, and with good supervision and good controls turn out high quality products."

  RPI helps their Chinese partner with the overall printer design and the Chinese company works on detailed design and manufacturing.

  "Our local and hands-on manufacturing and design process allows us to control costs," Bruce explains. ColorSpan printers are designed and manufactured at their Minnesota-based headquarters. "This allows us to maintain complete control of the entire process, from design to product completion," Bruce says. "The printers are built from the ground up by our manufacturing personnel working closely with the design engineering team, allowing us to react in real time to any issues as they come up." ColorSpan uses custom extruded aluminum platens and rails from local suppliers as the foundation for their printers, and the printers have an open, non-obstructive design that not only eliminates the costs associated with covers and access doors, but reduces the footprint space requirements. This also makes it easier for the operator to access and use.