When buying a new industrial label printer, it makes sense to look for compatible inks. However, the prices of different brands of ink cartridges adds up quickly, so buyers need to think in advance about the long-term impact when it comes to ink costs.
In an article for ComputerWorld from 2012, Lamont Wood looked at the way that ink cartridges lead to major expenditures in the long run. Part of this is because the materials needed to make the ink are expensive and complicated, and the finished ink itself needs to be able to withstand a variety of different environments.
Wood spoke to Thom Brown of HP, who described some of the different behind-the-scenes processes that go into making high-quality printer ink. The final product is the result of years of testing, he said, and customers should be aware of the extreme tests that each version of printer ink is subjected to during development.
“There’s a lot of technology in ink,” Brown said. “It’s more than colored water; there are more than a dozen different ingredients.” He also said that “it takes three to five years to develop one new ink formulation and a thousand prototype printers, since there are so many iterations in the process.”
Since the cost of ink ingredients is rising in some sectors, such as Europe, businesses should think about what this means in terms of their individual budgets. Before deciding on a printer, it’s worth looking at the rate of ink consumption it would require as well as how often the business would need to buy new inks.
Visit the stores at Optimedia Labs for a range of different printers and accessories. We give you plenty of information to make an informed purchasing decision.