There’s no doubt that advances in digital colour capability are the focus of most R&D spend in the graphic arts space, and with good reason. Page volume growth in the US and Western Europe – currently estimated at around 5.6 per cent - is being driven predominantly by demand for colour pages, which are themselves showing impressive double-digit growth.

1. THERE’S STILL MOMENTUM IN MONO
There’s no doubt that advances in digital colour capability are the focus of most R&D spend in the
graphic arts space, and with good reason. Page volume growth in the US and Western Europe –
currently estimated at around 5.6 per cent1
- is being driven predominantly by demand for colour
pages, which are themselves showing impressive double-digit growth.
Meanwhile, page volumes for most black and white digital print applications are flat or even in a slight
decline. That’s to be expected, as more customers embrace digital colour to enhance even the most
functional documents. That being the case, you might reasonably ask why suppliers such as Canon are
still innovating for the monochrome print market with major product introductions such as the recent
launch of the new Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN series. And from the perspective of the print service
provider (PSP), where is the business growth opportunity in black and white today?
The answer is equally straightforward. The market research organisation InfoTrends estimates that 360
billion black & white A4/letter pages2
will have been printed in 2017, representing around 63 per cent
of the total digital cut-sheet production print volume in the US and Western Europe. That means that
almost two out of every three pages printed digitally today are still black and white.
And despite the competition from electronic delivery methods for transactional print, and the
increased appetite for colour across many applications, the volume of monochrome digital print will
continue to be significant for the foreseeable future as more print producers still recognise black and
white as the optimal production solution for many applications.
What’s driving black and white digital print?
So, which applications are generating these billions of black and white pages?
1 US & Western European Digital Production PrintingApplication Forecasts(2015-2020),Keypoint
Intelligence/InfoTrends
2 US & Western European Digital Production PrintingApplication Forecasts(2015-2020),Keypoint
Intelligence/InfoTrends

2. Looking at monochrome volume by category, InfoTrends3
puts the largest black and white categories,
‘Promotional’ (direct mail and brochures) and ‘Publishing’ (books and manuals), at 28 per cent each.
These are followed by ‘General Office’ (proposals and reports, letterhead and other office documents)
and ‘Transaction’ (bills and statements) at 18 and 17 per cent respectively. ‘Utility’ (forms) - at 8 per
cent - accounts for most of the remainder.
A segment of the ‘Transaction’ category is gradually moving from the legacy two-step process using
pre-printed offset shells with monochrome digital overprinting to a single-step process using colour
inkjet. At Canon we’re seeing this transition to ‘white paper production’ driving enthusiastic take-up of
advanced cut-sheet inkjet solutions enabling mixed colour and mono production, such as the Océ
VarioPrint i300.
However, many other applications remain most cost-effective when printed in monochrome. One
application in particular – books – promises compound annual growth of 3.4 per cent between 2017
and 20264
. Despite the rise of digital media such as eBooks and audiobooks, young individuals are
placing growing value on physical media. This is driving growth in the legacy book market, with 72 per
cent of people today preferring to read printed books and newspapers, according to a 2017 survey of
10,700 consumers entitled ‘Print and Paper in a Digital World’, commissioned by international print
industry advocacy group Two Sides.5
Transactional print – down but definitely not out
Realistically, the move towards electronic delivery of transactional documents has been one of the
biggest factors impacting mono volumes. InfoTrends suggests that around 40 to 45 per cent of this
type of documentation will soon be shared electronically. That said, research indicates that the tactile
quality of paper, its permanence, easy access and trustworthiness mean that consumers will ensure
that demand for electronic documentation does not push above those rates6
.
3 US & Western European Digital Production PrintingApplication Forecasts(2015-2020),Keypoint
Intelligence/InfoTrends
4 Western Europe Production Digital PrintingMarketOverview Report, Caslon,July 2016
5 Printand Paper in a Digital World,Two Sides, June 2017
6 US & Western European Digital Production PrintingApplication Forecasts(2015-2020),Keypoint
Intelligence/InfoTrends

3. 88% of those surveyed by Two Sides believe they should have the right to choose whether they
received transactional communications from their suppliers in print or electronically, and 73% believe
that keeping hard copies of important documentation at home is a safer and more secure way of
storing information. 7
Based on these end user preferences around consumption and retention of
critical information, monochrome transactional volumes are unlikely to drop off dramatically any time
soon.
Future-proofing mono production
There remain many compelling arguments for exploiting all that monochrome has to offer, but PSPs
and in-house printing departments also need to ensure that they invest in the most appropriate
production equipment for the proposed applications and volume.
Production sites looking to meet the needs of monochrome document customers and open up new
opportunities for business growth should take a number of factors into consideration when
developing their investment plans:
Productivity: Anticipated volumes need to match the volume output of an appropriate device. High
speed is important for documents that require quick turnarounds or have very tight production
windows – most monochrome applications fit into one of these categories. Being able to print
accurately on both sides of a sheet simultaneously means that the likelihood of paper jams is reduced,
speeding up delivery. Through workflow software or inline finishing equipment, automation can also
have a huge impact – a single operator can handle document production from prepress to finishing
and can often handle multiple devices and production peaks. Temporary speed licenses can also give
added flexibility for managing dramatic fluctuations in demand. However, productivity is not just
about making efficiencies. High up-time is important for any site producing large volumes of
monochrome print, therefore having a reliable machine that you can trust to deliver, at high quality
and at high speed, is key. Today, cut-sheet digital technology is productive enough to handle print
7 Printand Paper in a Digital World,Two Sides, June 2017

4. volumes that would previously have been considered suitable only for offset or digital continuous
feed production.
Media versatility: Thanks to multiple paper trays and their workflow flexibility, a key feature of cut-
sheet digital presses is their ability to handle a range of print applications requiring different formats
and papers. For promotional and transactional applications, service providers can make use of variable
data software to personalise documents as required. Having a press and a digital front end that work
in tandem will enable the delivery of variable data documents accurately and efficiently. The ability to
print on lightweight paper is also a significantly beneficial feature which offers multiple advantages.
For example, for direct mail, bills and statements, which all go into the mail, lightweight substrates
offer significant cost savings. For books, manuals and reports with many pages, lighter stocks are of
benefit to the reader and will incur lower shipping costs, especially when multiple copies are sent. In
addition, having the ability to print on bigger formats, such as B3, enables PSPs to have more
flexibility, for example, by being able to print four-up book blocks, maximising efficiency and reducing
waste. Digital cut-sheet presses such as the new Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN series from Canon offer
the flexibility to print on media up to 350x500mm (B3) to enable a more efficient workflow set up for
book printing. For packaging inserts, especially in the case of pharmaceutical inserts that are printed
only in black and white and must fit into small packages, lightweight paper can be folded multiple
times. Lightweight media handling options give PSPs the opportunity to tap into new application
areas working with substrates as light as 45gsm.
While many PSPs and corporate reprographic departments may understandably have focused capital
investment in recent years on developing their colour capability, the robust outlook for mono
applications makes it clear that there is good commercial sense in investing to maximise mono
capability too.
PSPs still operating with outdated legacy mono printing equipment may not be fulfilling their
production potential and will almost certainly be missing the opportunity to reduce total cost of
operation, including energy costs and wastage. Canon’s new VarioPrint 6000 TITAN series presses, for
example, offer energy consumption that is calculated to be 30% less than other machines in their
category, generating virtually no ozone emissions. The question PSPs should be asking themselves is:
is my mono print technology as modern, productive and energy efficient as it could be?

5. Optimal productivity and system uptime is ever more critical in a constantly moving world. There are
multiple production efficiencies to be gained thanks to ongoing developments in digital print
technology. Continuous innovation such as Océ Gemini Instant Duplexing technology enables highly
accurate duplexing, which increases press uptime by eliminating the need to stop and turn the paper
and reduces reprints caused by misaligned text. The advancing capability to handle a broader range of
substrates with a single device also increases operational flexibility.
By identifying where they can optimise their mono printing capabilities, PSPs can still open up
valuable revenue growth opportunities and unleash black and white’s full potential. There is still plenty
of momentum in mono.