What are the Reasons to Own Large Format Printers?

These days a printer is often an afterthought in small offices. However, in thriving businesses across a variety of industries, printing is a booming business - and a necessity. Some companies still need to print large images, blueprints, proposals, and more. For any business that needs to print something larger than legal-size pages regularly, approximately 18-100 inches wide (anything wider is considered a grand format or super wide printer), a large or wide format printer should be on the list of possibilities. 

Let’s take a look at the reasons businesses need wide format printers and the benefits they’ll want to consider. 

Affordability

For businesses that need to print large, high-quality projects, investing in a wide format printer to keep the printing in-house quickly becomes a cost saver. Outsourcing more than two or three large print jobs can end up weighing heavily on operating costs. By bringing that expense in-house, you're getting the same great quality without the outsourced mark-up. 

Convenience

Not only do you save money by bringing wide-format print jobs in-house, but you also have the convenience of ongoing access to the printer. Meaning, you can go through the process of design, print, tweaking, and reprint as much as you want. This saves time and money while also giving you the freedom to redesign and print on-demand. 

Quality

Wide-format printers are designed for high-quality output. They are used to print a variety of projects, all of which require precise detail, even when viewing the image up close. That means a business can print a banner that is meant to be seen at a distance by passing cars as well as banners at a convention booth, for example, that are meant to be seen up close by passersby. 

Advantages for Specific Industries

While a number of industries, businesses, and types of projects need a wide format printer, there are a few that consider large format printers to be part of the regular office equipment investment. 

Healthcare

Hospitals, medical offices, and other healthcare businesses use wide format printing to ensure their physical space reinforces their branding. 

For example, children’s dentists will use large prints to put child-friendly imagery on the walls and wrap elevators to make children feel comfortable and indicate this is a kid-friendly space. 

During the pandemic, hospitals and other care facilities used large format printers to communicate valuable information to patients about pedestrian traffic direction, the need for masks, and other COVID-related notices. 

In addition, many commercial and privately held medical spaces will use a wide format printer to turn high-traffic spaces into advertising and fundraising opportunities. 

Construction

This is an industry that isn’t often associated with printing in the mind of the public, but the construction industry does use wide format printers quite a bit. 

For example, many construction companies work on a project basis, so they need to keep their sales pipeline moving. To do this, they’ll often print their own advertising signage. They also need signage that identifies their company and the project name for the general public for larger projects. 

Another example is architectural printing. When architectural plans are printed in a large format, it increases accuracy, maintains the scale of the image details, and allows viewers to better distinguish between graphs, numbers, and lines, so everyone is on the same page, so to speak. 

Education

When we think about schools, we may think about classrooms decorated with children’s art or the occasional banner in the lunchroom. However, wide format printers are a staple at many educational institutions. 

These printers allow instructors to print teaching aids without the high cost of outsourced printing. In addition, large prints can often increase student engagement because they can better observe the lesson and related imagery. 

Wide-format printing can also often give school branding a facelift, allowing a fresh way to communicate professional-looking messages throughout the year. 

And, if nothing else, schools have a cost-effective way to print large banners for school games and events, rather than relying on flyers and word-of-mouth. 

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is such a broad term; there are myriad ways businesses in related industries use wide format printers. 

Consider the need for signs, photos, and banners for advertising and notices. 

Also, consider special projects like cartography maps, materials for proposals and presentations, the need for multiples of blueprints and other building maps for facilities management and related departments, and so much more.  

Final Thoughts

Wide-format printers are used for countless reasons by numerous industries. They are a way to get large-high-quality prints cost-effectively and affordably. They not only save money but time as well. And they are exceptionally convenient. Printing your own projects without the longer time frames and pricing of outsourcing the same work is extremely convenient.