Inkjet printers in production.

NEW INKJET PRINTERS PERVADE THE PRINTING MARKET, REPLACING HIGH-SPEED, COLOR LASER DEVICES IN SEVERAL PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS.

The latest inkjet technology from companies new to the graphic arts market, as well as from some stalwarts, is enabling inkjet printers to perform tasks that were once the preserve of high-end laser printers: full-page variable-color imaging.

Inkjet technology is already well-established in design studios, corporate communications departments, and prepress houses in proofing devices and convenience printers, or as an in-house means of outputting transparencies for presentations.

In the graphics industry, wide-format inkjet printers also are used often for proofing impositions and producing color proofs that replace blueline or VanDyke proofs. Workflows that use the same RIPs to drive both an imagesetter or platesetter and imposition proofers have made these proofs not only possible, but also highly reliable.

Today, inkjet technology is often the basis for production printers, or output devices that are not used for producing comps or other materials that are secondary to or supportive of the owner's business, but rather are used as revenue-generators in their own right. Inkjet printers produce wide-format output, from architectural drawings and blueprints (increasingly a misnomer) to banners, posters, point-of-sale displays, transit shelter ads, and billboards.

Inkjet branches out

Wide-format inkjet printers keep getting bigger, wider, and faster. Not so long ago, companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Encad, and CalComp debuted innovative new printers boasting wide-format imaging widths of 24 or 36 inches. And companies continue to make headlines with advanced inkjet technologies. Roland DGA Corporation's Hi-FiJET Pro FJ-5000, infused with the …