Busting inkjet myths

Myth Busting: Six Common Misconceptions About Inkjet Printing

A recent independent survey of over 3,600 office workers and IT decision makers across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK shows that six common misconceptions about inkjet printing technology are still deeply engrained in the market – despite industry tests highlighting the advantages of inkjet over laser¹ printing technology.

Independent tests, carried out by Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI), compared Epson’s business inkjet solutions (WorkForce Pro (WFP) and WorkForce Pro Replaceable Ink Pack System (RIPS) models to competitive laser printers and copiers, and demonstrated how far inkjet technology has come in putting the following six common misconceptions to bed:

1. MYTH: “Inkjet technology is more expensive than laser.”

FACT: With inkjet technology, customers get up to four and a half more prints with two cartridges per colour compared to laser printers

• Up to twice as many prints with WFP models than competitive colour lasers²
• Up to four and a half times more prints with WFP Replaceable Ink Pack System (RIPS) models than colour lasers and copiers³

2. MYTH: “Laser printers are more productive than inkjet technology”

FACT: Inkjets are up to three and a half times faster than lasers for first page out and could cut time spent on interventions by up to two thirds

• WFP models are up to three and a half times faster than lasers and colour copiers for first page out⁴
• WFP models are up to one and a half times faster than colour lasers and copiers for typical business print jobs of a few pages⁵
• WFP models could cut time spent on interventions by up to two thirds compared to lasers⁶
• WFP RIPS models can cut time spent on user interventions by up to 100% compared to colour lasers and laser copiers on a run of 40,000 prints⁷

3. MYTH: “Laser printers offer ‘better quality printing’ than inkjet technology”

FACT: Inkjet technology delivers professional output quality by precisely controlling the ink droplet shape and volume

• Inkjet printers with PrecisionCore have up to triple the nozzle density of conventional piezo printheads with native output at either 600 or 720 dpi per print chip

4. MYTH: “Inkjet technology is noisy.”

FACT: Inkjet printers are up to 18% quieter than lasers

• WFP models are up to 18% (29.42 dBA) quieter than lasers and laser copiers⁸

5. MYTH: “Inkjet technology is less reliable than laser technology.”

FACT: Inkjet technology requires less frequent user intervention than laser printers, making them more reliable

• WFP models are ‘Reliability Certified’ by BLI with up to 75,000 impressions without a misfeed and no service calls⁹

 6. MYTH: “Inkjet technology is not eco-friendly”

FACT: Inkjet technology can cut most waste associated with printing and uses up to 82% less energy than lasers

• WFP models produce up to 95% or 77 kilograms less waste than lasers and laser copiers when printing up to 80,000 pages¹⁰
• WFP models use up to 82% less energy than lasers and laser copiers¹¹

Laser printing has long been the ‘go-to’ choice for the office environment with inkjet viewed suitable only for commercial markets including textiles, labelling and other large scale productions.

“We introduced our WorkForce Pro (WFP) range of business inkjet products in March 2014, using our PrecisionCore technology that was previously only used for high-end, industrial duty printers. PrecisionCore uses a revolutionary high-density print chip which can generate up to 40 million precise dots per second with astonishing accuracy, delivering high quality printing at up to half the cost of other colour lasers as seen in the recent test results,” comments Paul Steels, Vice President Europe – Business at Epson Europe.

As more businesses discover the benefits of inkjet printing over laser, market intelligence firm IDC estimates that the inkjet sector will grow quickly over the coming years and is set to account for 34% of the total business printer market by 2019. Inkjet adoption in the workplace is increasing by 13% per year in contrast to laser technology adoption which is growing at just 2% per year¹².

“To match market growth and maximize printhead quality and productivity, we have invested €125 million in advanced, fully automated production lines in Japan with a further €73 million invested this year. Equipped with Epson’s own industrial robots, the production lines employ a combination of inkjet technology fine-tuned over two decades and MEMS microfabrication techniques which will allow us to develop a whole range of new inkjet printheads with even higher print speeds, print quality, reliability and flexibility,” Paul Steels concludes.

Find out more about Epson’s inkjet printing solutions here.

¹ FTI Consulting commissioned by Epson, 2015

² As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against all competitive machines tested at time of publication. For more information visit www.epson.eu/inkjetsaving

³ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against all competitive machines tested at time of publication.

⁴ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, FPOT from overnight sleep, against all competitive machines tested at time of publication.

⁵ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, FSOT against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

⁶ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

⁷ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

⁸ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

⁹ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015

¹⁰ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

¹¹ As tested by BLI, over two months to April 2015, against a selection of competing machines, as commissioned by Epson.

¹²  IDC, 2015