Profit Under Pressure: How Inkjet Helps Production Print Stay Ahead

Five years ago, the pandemic accelerated the consolidation of paper mills, which consequently reduced supply and increased prices of paper. That was the beginning of what has been an increasingly tumultuous time for central reprographic departments (CRDs) and production print centers. Wages have soared considerably over that same period, and the USPS has implemented several postage increases, with another 7% hike this past July. Not to be outdone, 2025 introduced tariffs to the equation, prompting many manufacturers to increase hardware prices on the same production presses used by print providers everywhere. All of this has made for some sleepless nights for managers and owners of production print operations trying to maintain healthy profit margins while minimizing price increases to their customers.

Inkjet as a business strategy

You can see why these decision makers are looking for an alternative to toner, something that makes business sense and that will help alleviate the economic pressures. Production cut-sheet inkjet delivers speeds of some 18,000 impressions per hour (at a minimum) and addresses the need to control labor costs. The faster the press, the quicker you get the job out, and the lower the cost of production. Inkjet offers many benefits, and speeds of more than 300 impressions per minute is one that can have a significant, positive impact on the bottom line.

In addition to its productivity benefits, inkjet is a technology that uses no heat. Take half a penny, divide that by 10, and you have your parts cost (per copy) for most production cut-sheet inkjet devices on the market today. For any print shop looking to cut back on expenses and cover the rising costs of wages, postage, paper, and tariffs, inkjet is an affordable cost cutting measure that greatly increases profitability. At a time when everyone is looking to reduce expenses, cut-sheet inkjet is a seamless way to accomplish that objective.

The production inkjet sale is in large part about business and economics. That’s a tough shift for an industry chock-full of salespeople still selling “copy quality.” Funny thing about salespeople, we see change all around us — we watch the news and are well aware of the increases in cost of living. And yet, many continue to sell like it’s 2005. The past few years have forced us to change how we buy cars, shop for groceries and purchase homes. Similarly, the controllers that manage large scale production operations have had to adjust the manner in which they buy. Sell to their needs, and right now those needs are all about the balance sheet.

Another important shift in corporate America lies with the print buyer, who has really had to change their approach to spending. The same person who signs off on all that marketing and transactional material outsourced to their approved print providers. Gone are the days of unchecked and limitless marketing budgets. How and when to spend marketing dollars sits with the accountants and money managers on the front lines of price increases coming from their print providers.

All of this demands that the production print managers in today’s business reality be more creative and strategic in their approach to buying big dollar presses. This new economy requires different print strategies as well as specialized production devices. Instead of sending out one job for 1 million pieces, corporate marketing departments will instead issue POs for half of that and decide on the rest later. One production manager admitted “It’s death by a thousand cuts. We prefer the entire job at once and roll it out over two shifts, nonstop.” Instead, the new dynamic is 10 times the number of jobs in much smaller increments. A job of 2 million pieces is now spread out in four or five smaller jobs over an eight-month period.

Inkjet’s physical and financial footprint

Over the past five years, this has forced print providers to hire more people in order to manage the additional graphics work. Along with that comes more staff to process the variable data and additional press operators to run the actual printing. It’s also spurred the need for multiple light production devices running several individual jobs simultaneously. One commercial production operation explained how they printed 70 million impressions in 2017 on 4,100 jobs. In 2023, those numbers evolved to 63 million impressions on 8,300 jobs. Now factor that bit of math into your operating costs (did I mention sleepless nights for these people?). More employees, more equipment, all in addition to the aforementioned increase in operating costs. The strategy for many who at one time invested $1 million on a single production inkjet device, is to now buy three or four smaller presses with that same money. Versatility, as well as redundancy, are key in this frenetic playground called the “production floor.”

Another key component in what is now affectionately referred to as a “short-run world” is space. High-end inkjet devices require about 35 feet and a very sturdy floor. On the opposite end of the spectrum are oil-based inkjet products that need anywhere from a maximum of 16 feet depending on the model. The modern production floor now has anywhere from five to 15 light production devices, lined up back-to-back and all running multiple jobs at the same time. SLAs are more demanding than ever and every minute counts when juggling multiple jobs on multiple units. Higher costs it seems, affect not only the bottom line but every facet of the production print operation including the investment and print strategy. Getting more equipment for less dollars is the name of the game in 2025 and for the foreseeable future.

It’s time to join the party

For dealers or salespeople wondering if they should join this frenzy — just do it! It’s been well documented that office print volume is in steady decline while production inkjet print volume has remained steady. As for the misdirected question of whether to sell toner or inkjet, take comfort in the fact that you don’t sell production inkjet “instead of” toner, you sell it “in addition to.” This is incremental revenue and sales for the dealership. Inkjet is a complement to a current fleet of production units; it sits in between the mono and color toner devices. Its role is to complete or round out the production operation. In many cases, inkjet is used to convert black-and-white applications to color in a manner that respects budgetary limitations. Print providers have come to realize that they can double their profits for every black toner job they convert to color inkjet. This is a double win: the customer that couldn’t afford color in the past enjoys the benefits of low-cost color output while the print provider increases profits. As for the toner versus inkjet quality debate, we’re talking about monochrome jobs converted to color. That typically makes for ecstatic customers even with the “flat” finish of inkjet output.

Ink has been a big part of our industry for ages, and the departure of the offset press has left many print operations inkless. The fact is you cannot run a print shop without ink on your floor. Doing so is akin to forcing digital handcuffs on to the entire process. A print provider with black-and-white toner units, color toner devices and production inkjet presses is much more flexible and capable of meeting the demands of a complex production market. A triple threat of this nature allows them the ability to take spot color work off of slower, more fastidious color toner devices and run the jobs on heatless inkjet units at three times the speed and half the price. Once again, we see the benefits of a technology that will fill the gap between black and color toner units. That gap can be a mystery to some salespeople, but know that where there is mystery, there is margin. If you’re not selling production inkjet, you are missing out on an experience that involves less competition and higher profit margins.

Moving beyond clicks

A big topic of conversation among the BTA dealer community is the diminishing rate of meter clicks. That may well be a dilemma in the office print arena, but it isn’t one when it comes to production inkjet. One production inkjet account can easily generate 250 million annual impressions for a dealership. Three to five key placements in the high-volume transactional arena will generate 500 million meter clicks a year. How many MFPs would you have to sell to capture 500 million impressions annually?

The transactional print market while extremely profitable, remains somewhat misunderstood. Common transactional output hovers at about 40 billion annual pages in America. This is material you would find in your mailbox that includes invoices, bank and financial statements, and utility bills. A transactional document is essentially output with a very short life span. Its role is to inform, educate and create awareness. It is then stored, recycled or quickly disposed of. An expanded, more generous definition of transactional output includes educational material like the homework and workbooks that your kids bring home from school. Government, education, healthcare and financial institutions generate their own version of transactional documents with a short life span. Adding color to these jobs is a budgetary nightmare as most cannot afford the transition. This is a problem for many organizations, both commercial and nonprofit. But where there is a problem, there is an opportunity to sell. Though they may be disposable in nature, monochrome transactional output is today being transformed to color out of necessity. To further simplify this dynamic and help you see the scope of the inkjet opportunity, consider that every time you hear a customer say, “we’d love to print more color, but we can’t afford it,” you have an inkjet prospect.

As economic pressures reshape the production print landscape, cut-sheet inkjet stands out as both a practical solution and a strategic advantage. It delivers the speed, efficiency, and affordability today’s buyers demand while unlocking new revenue opportunities for providers and dealers alike. Those who embrace this shift won’t just survive the short-run economy — they’ll lead it. For those still on the fence, the message is clear: inkjet isn’t the future. It’s the now.