Landa’s time seems to be running out

News that arrived from Israel yesterday is disappointing but hardly surprising. Landa Digital Printing’s cash flow problems have forced it to seek the protection of the court while it attempts to rebalance its books or find a deep pocketed investor. Its existing deep pocketed investors have discovered that other businesses are also being squeezed and the promise of Landa remains just that, a promise of jam tomorrow.

The problem is not that it has taken too long to perfect an entirely new technology for printing, one which at a stroke solved some of the major problems associated with other technologies but at the same time created more of its own. The problem was that since a first appearance at Drupa in 2012, expectations have been unrealistically high among those in the industry that came to view the technology. The early hype was a kind of crowd funded movement which dissipated when four years later those enthusiasts could see little progress. Eight years on from 2016 the technology appears to have delivered, and while not yet perfect, could at least stand alongside other technologies in terms of quality. Landa could perform the job.

The problem is that many other technologies can now also address the same opportunity of a constant flow of short runs, from litho with plate shifting robotics to continuous feed and sheetfed inkjet presses. A number of these are well behind schedule in terms of development and may not deliver on the promise of the spec sheet or impressive demonstrations at the likes of Drupa. Many of these belong to businesses with existing technologies that can bring in the cash while waiting for the jam. Landa did not have this. In the end it has not been about the jam but about the shortage of bread.