Inkjet Insight surveyed customers who have developed, or plan to develop bespoke inkjet solutions for their business. Our goal with this research is to gather information on the demand for custom or hybrid inkjet solutions in various application segments and to understand how buyers of these services engage services providers and budget for projects.
Key Findings
- Of companies who had completed an integration project, 72% reported that it resulted in a hybrid solution combining inkjet with another production process
- 88% reported plans to complete an integration project in the future with 79% of those projected to start in the next 18 months
- 42% of responding customers identified as Brands or Product Manufactures using inkjet as part of the manufacturing process or as part of the product packaging process while 32% were Print-for-Pay Commercial Printing companies
- 10% of respondents identified as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of printer or printing components who are using, or plan to use, inkjet in the product manufacturing process.
- Of those who had previously completed an integration project, 36% reported using an integration service provider and 9% used more than one. However, more than half (54%) said that they did not engage an outside service provider for the project.
- Nearly half (46%) reported completing the project in 6 months or less while less than 10% reported a timeline of 18 months or longer.
- When asked about their motivation for pursuing custom inkjet development, nearly half (46%) said that they believed that it would be less expensive to build than to buy while 33% were trying to extend the value of existing solutions by adding inkjet. The remaining 20% said that they were not aware of a commercially available solution that would meet their needs.
- While 11% of completed projects were reported to cost over $2 million USD (€1.68 million EU), a wide majority (89%) spent less than $750,00 (€630,000) with a third spending less than $200,000 ((€170,000).
- Of those who had completed a project 66% would consider doing so again as opposed to pursuing a commercially available product.
The full report, “Customer Perspectives on the Development of Custom Inkjet Systems,” including data on budgets, application segments, timelines and substrate needs for future projects is available for free on InkjetInsight.com
