I’d love to begin this article with some kind of rhyming mnemonic for recalling the major large-format printing processes, but alas there are only three. For a few years now, digital has been the mainstay, flooding the short run market with its vibrant color and timely turn-around. Along with digital, gravure has also hung around. With its gapless cylinder, wallpaper and long-run flyers are often the niche of gravure’s porous plates. Flexography, too, still has its own market of interest, with its capability to produce low-cost packaging and its flexibility in substrates. But Sheetfed Lithography has quietly made a lot of headway in the ever-growing market of large format.

Once upon a time, Canada was a market with few large-format sheetfed machines. These machines stuck around, basking in their 4-color glory, but their quality dwindled and the interest and demand dropped, and those giants that ran up to 77” wide sheets are more relics than actual powers in the industry. While the Canadian machines grew old and grey, the Europeans continued to invest in this technology, buying new large-format presses by companies like MAN Roland and KBA. You’ll still find many of the old Harris machines running, but the market for these dinosaurs is shrinking quickly. The only reason they are still able to operate is because the machines are all so old they have depreciated to the point where their BHR is that of a much smaller machine.

The new giants are faster, smarter and more diverse, while still posing a range of challenges for their owners. These new presses have inline coaters, complex software packages that monitor every millimeter of the press, automated densitometer packages—and the list just keeps on going, but it’s not all fun and games. Most stock suppliers don’t readily carry stock sizes that fit on these beasts, and despite all your best efforts at the gym the sheer size of these presses means everything is bigger and heavier. To give you an example, just forty sheets of 72 x 51 gloss text weigh 30lbs—the same as 150 sheets of 25 x 38.

Now let’s meet your starting lineup for GTA large format lithography. Annan & Bird have the largest press in Canada at 81” wide (KBA) and have long been a part of the Sheetfed wide format market. Annan also boasts a 77” press (Harris) along with various other presses over 40” in width. The T.I. Group is next in line with a newly acquired 72” press (MAN Roland). Much newer to this market, T.I. is expanding their existing services in a big way. Other shops, such as Eclipse and Lithotech, have had larger format machines for some time. Eclipse works mostly on commercial displays and posters while dabbling in trade work, while Lithotech does their business in high end boxes.

With such a broad range of products that might be suitable for large format sheetfed, it’s hard to believe there isn’t more attention paid to this market. However, expect that to change as companies like the T.I. Group begin to take the plunge and purchase much larger equipment. Couple larger equipment with an increasing demand for more unique products, and size is just another thing printers can use as a selling feature of their facilities. But before you run out and spend tens of millions of dollars on a new press, make sure you do all your research and think long and hard about the costs and benefits. Bigger is not always better.

As always, questions and comments can be sent to johnathonanderson@graphicartsmag.com