What is the future of printing?
“Printing is dead”, you may have heard this statement used over the last few years, this is a misconception that was largely caused by the rise of digital. Printing is far from dead, in fact printing has not only a future but an exciting one.
Printing has been around since 3000 BCE, where Mesopotamian civilizations used round seals for rolling impressions into clay tablets. These were some of the first documents humans ever produced. Printing has come a long way since clay tablets, it now features an array of modern technologies which impact people’s daily lives. From 3D printing to sustainable printing , printing is shaping the world we see today. As printing is constantly involving, what does it’s future look like?
Printing will become more environmentally friendly
We are now focused on the environmental issues that printing poses. As a response to this market regulations across the world are changing. Legislation’s will start to favor environmentally sustainable printing practices. For example new legislation will include recycling of cartridges and paper. Estimates show that if printer cartridges are re-manufactured then 400,000 tonnes of waste could be saved each year.
3D Printing will become more advanced and change lives
With 3D printing it is now possible to print three dimensional objects out of various materials including plastic resin. The implications of this are huge. 3D printing will eventually become
more advanced, affordable and more accessible. It has the potential to revolutionise the manufacturing industry by allowing production to happen at the point of consumption. One day, we may see normal people able to manufacture their own goods in their own homes. This has the potential to shift economic models as the big manufacturers could lose their advantages.
Advanced Technologies
Printing technology is constantly evolving. Many technologies are already in development such as photonic printing and conductive inks. Photonics, which is the physical science of light is being used by innovators in order to develop invisible photonic printing techniques. This may be used for anti-forgery or for watermarking documents. Conductive inks could change how print is used for communication. Currently using nanoparticles these inks are basically circuits that connect paper to the digital world. For example a poster could have touchscreen capabilities.
Printing is far from being a thing of the past, the future of printing looks bright and exciting. We are likely to see a future where the use of 3D printers is more widespread and advertising is printed using conductive ink. 3D Printing is already a growing and fast evolving side of the industry. Find out more about how we are working with manufacturers to bring the latest technologies to the market, including 3D Printing.