With a market size of $8 billion (IBISWorld stat), Australia's printing industry benefits from the idea that the most cost effective way for a business to print large-format materials is to outsource. However, for those companies who have high annual print volumes, this simply isn't the case anymore.

Whether you need to print CAD drawings, big event banners, GIS surveys, posters and POS promos, or similar high-quality printed materials, a new in-house large-format printer could save you time and money. Here's how.

In-house printing to save ... money

When talking about outsourcing large-format printing versus bringing it in-house, the maths works out like this: With the former, you can save money now. With the latter, you're trying to save more money in the long run.

Let's compare outsourcing an outdoor banner project to a printing company against purchasing a device from the Epson T-series range. We want to print 30 glossy outdoor banners, 594 x 841 mm in size. We plan to do this at least three times a year.

What do we see?

• Outsourced: The total cost, based on a quote from a VIC-based professional imaging company, is $8,991.91 with a two-day turnaround. If we do this three times a year, it'll cost us around $2,697 annually.
• In-house: For just a little more than that price we could purchase an Epson T-series printer such as the 24-inch Epson SureColor T3460, which means no more outsourcing ever again. In just over a year, it pays for itself. As it has ultra-low power consumption, it also won't suck up electricity - helping to keep your overheads low. 

In-house printing to save ... time

The second big factor of outsourcing a major print job to a third party is the time it takes to deliver the products. In our example above, we saw that the turnaround was about two days (not including shipping). With our in-house printer, it's instant - all it takes is the time to print. To put this in numbers, the Epson SureColour T3460 can print A1 drawings in as little as 25 seconds.

So, comparing the two again:

• Outsourced: Request a quote, accept price, wait for the job turnaround, wait for the shipping, then you have your product. If there are any issues, you go back to the company and ask them to re-do the job, repeating the cycle (assuming they don't push back). If a higher-paying client comes along requesting an expedited service, you may get bumped down the priorities list.
• In-house: Decide to print, send the job to the printer, come back a bit later to collect the banners. If there are any issues, you ask your graphics team to fix them and then send a new job to the device. And because Epson uses modern inkjet technology, with few moving parts to replace or repair, maintenance is minimal and therefore IT delays are reduced.

In this example, not only are we saving time on the printing job itself, but at the quality control stage as well. We have full control over the printing process from design to checking the finished product.

So is in-house printing the best option?

Not for everyone, but certainly for more companies than they realise.

If all you need is a one-off job every now and then, you may still find outsourcing the logical cost-saving option. However, with modern day inkjet technology, technical and graphics printers have such a low total cost of ownership (purchase price, consumables, electricity and maintenance) that any company across industries that has regular large-format printing needs would be wise to at least investigate an in-house device.

To learn more about what device might best suit your needs, book a demo with our sales team today.