Offset vs Single Pass Digital? A question of Industrial Print economics
UK-based Large Format Review (LFR) magazine has recently published a special Q&A report exploring the economic realities of offset and single-pass digital production in industrial print environments. Entitled Industrial Print Economics: Offset vs Single Pass Digital 2026, the report, which focuses on an interview with Barberán Corrugated North America’s VP, Chuck Slingerland, is available to download free of charge here.
The discussion comes at a time when digital inkjet continues to gain market share globally. According to Smithers’ The Future of Print to 2030, the global value of output produced via web offset declined from USD$94 billion in 2015 to USD$62 billion in 2025, with further contraction forecast. Over the same period, digital inkjet output more than doubled from USD$49 billion to USD$108 billion and is projected to reach USD$136 billion by 2030.
Marc Burnett at LFR explains: “Print was once defined by distinct disciplines – screen, wide-format and offset – each operating in its own world. Digital technology has changed that. Wide-format provides a useful benchmark because it was the first sector to commercially embrace digital inkjet at scale, and the businesses that succeeded developed skills and expertise that are directly transferable to other areas of digital print. Offset is simply the next stage in that evolution.”
“We commissioned this report to give decision-makers a practical, economics-focused perspective on what that transition really means in the real world, helping them understand both the opportunities and the challenges involved.”
Prior to joining Barberán, Slingerland led Abbot-Action’s transition from litho label production to single-pass digital printing in 2016, making the company one of the earliest adopters of the technology in North America.
Drawing on his first-hand experience with Abbott Action’s corrugated operation and his leadership in its digital transformation, Slingerland offers practical insights into the financial, operational, and strategic factors that shape investment decisions across today’s print sector.
Rather than assuming digital technology is inherently superior, the report examines the true costs associated with traditional offset production, including make-ready times, changeover waste, plate remakes, inventory holding costs, product obsolescence and how choosing the right ink technology supports an evolving strategy.
Chuck Slingerland says: “Many companies still compare offset and digital using cost models that fail to account for inventory, waste and changeover costs. These expenses are often absorbed into overheads and therefore overlooked when assessing overall production efficiency. When those factors are properly measured, the economics often look very different.”
The report explores cost-curve dynamics, capital investment strategy, asset lifecycle economics, workforce considerations and the practical distinctions between industrial single-pass systems and other digital print technologies. Particular attention is given to the financial perspective, highlighting how the primary value of single-pass digital production often lies not in lower unit costs, but in reducing business risk through shorter production runs, lower inventory requirements, fewer write-offs and improved cash flow management.
The report also challenges long-held assumptions around offset efficiency. While offset remains highly effective for long, stable production runs, the economics become less favourable for increasingly common applications characterised by shorter runs, greater SKU proliferation, versioning and customisation. In these environments, costs that have traditionally remained hidden within operational overheads become increasingly significant.
Importantly, the report also examines the financial impact of delaying investment decisions and the implications of relying on production technologies for applications they were not originally designed to serve.
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