Creating big business opportunities from small nozzles Printers are breaking free from the confines of their own industry to engage in cross-industry collaboration 小噴頭創造大商機 印表機突破產業藩籬跨域合作
You may find it hard to believe that the traditional printer manufacturing industry could be linked to advanced, hi-tech industries like the beauty and skincare industry, the healthcare and biotech sector, the automotive industry, the solar energy industry and the large-screen OLED TV industry.
很難想像，傳統印表機產業竟然會跟先進的美容保養、醫藥生技、汽車工業、太陽能產業及大尺寸有機發光二極體(OLED)電視會有所連結。
Ch’en Cheng-Hsiung, Chairman of the Printing Technology Research Institute, points out that the printer industry is at a major turning point in its history; as long as it can achieve a sufficiently high degree of technological innovation, the printer industry is poised for take-off and explosive growth. Motonori Okumura, Chief Operating Officer of Epson’s Imaging and Information Operations Division, notes that, thanks to advances in technology, companies that possess smart inkjet technology are in a position to develop almost unlimited opportunities for cross-industry collaboration.
財團法人印刷工業技術研究中心董事長陳政雄指出，印表機產業正站在歷史的轉捩點，只要技術創新程度夠，印表機產業正處於先蹲後跳的爆發醞釀期。日本精工愛普生集團情報科技本部事業部長奧村資紀指出，由於技術創新，此刻掌握智慧墨滴的噴墨技術者，跨領域合作的機會無限寬廣。
The basic principle behind the operation of an inkjet printer is to squirt tiny droplets of ink onto paper, thereby creating text or images. The smaller the ink droplets, the more detailed the images. The smallest images that the human eye can see have a resolution of around 1,200 dpi (dots per inch), but today’s printers can already achieve a resolution of 2,800 dpi. Technology innovation is the key factor that will make cross-industry collaboration possible.
噴墨印表機運作原理，是將細小墨點噴在紙張上，以造成文字或圖像效果，墨點愈細小，圖像就越細緻；肉眼所視，解析度1200dpi已為視覺感官極限，目前印表機技術卻能達到解析度2800dpi，技術創新即為能進行跨領域合作的重點關鍵。
The healthcare and biotech sector is another area where printer nozzles can play a major role. Ch’en Cheng-Hsiung explains that “gene chips” have become very important in the healthcare and biotech sector. A special glass chip carrying DNA needs to have several thousand nucleic acid probes placed on a tiny area of just a few square centimeters. The human hand is not capable of achieving the level of precision that is needed here, but a printer nozzle can. This is an application for printers that would have been unimaginable in the past.
醫療生技也是印表機噴頭能著力的產業，陳政雄說明，DNA晶片(gene chip)在醫療生技產業是很重要的，一塊帶有DNA的特殊玻璃片需要在小小的數平方公分之面積上布放數千或數萬個核酸探針，這時人的雙手是無法吻合精密的點滴要求，噴頭的精準度恰能符合此產業需要，這是昔日難以想像的應用方向。
很難想像，傳統印表機產業竟然會跟先進的美容保養、醫藥生技、汽車工業、太陽能產業及大尺寸有機發光二極體(OLED)電視會有所連結。
Ch’en Cheng-Hsiung, Chairman of the Printing Technology Research Institute, points out that the printer industry is at a major turning point in its history; as long as it can achieve a sufficiently high degree of technological innovation, the printer industry is poised for take-off and explosive growth. Motonori Okumura, Chief Operating Officer of Epson’s Imaging and Information Operations Division, notes that, thanks to advances in technology, companies that possess smart inkjet technology are in a position to develop almost unlimited opportunities for cross-industry collaboration.
財團法人印刷工業技術研究中心董事長陳政雄指出，印表機產業正站在歷史的轉捩點，只要技術創新程度夠，印表機產業正處於先蹲後跳的爆發醞釀期。日本精工愛普生集團情報科技本部事業部長奧村資紀指出，由於技術創新，此刻掌握智慧墨滴的噴墨技術者，跨領域合作的機會無限寬廣。
The basic principle behind the operation of an inkjet printer is to squirt tiny droplets of ink onto paper, thereby creating text or images. The smaller the ink droplets, the more detailed the images. The smallest images that the human eye can see have a resolution of around 1,200 dpi (dots per inch), but today’s printers can already achieve a resolution of 2,800 dpi. Technology innovation is the key factor that will make cross-industry collaboration possible.
噴墨印表機運作原理，是將細小墨點噴在紙張上，以造成文字或圖像效果，墨點愈細小，圖像就越細緻；肉眼所視，解析度1200dpi已為視覺感官極限，目前印表機技術卻能達到解析度2800dpi，技術創新即為能進行跨領域合作的重點關鍵。
The healthcare and biotech sector is another area where printer nozzles can play a major role. Ch’en Cheng-Hsiung explains that “gene chips” have become very important in the healthcare and biotech sector. A special glass chip carrying DNA needs to have several thousand nucleic acid probes placed on a tiny area of just a few square centimeters. The human hand is not capable of achieving the level of precision that is needed here, but a printer nozzle can. This is an application for printers that would have been unimaginable in the past.
醫療生技也是印表機噴頭能著力的產業，陳政雄說明，DNA晶片(gene chip)在醫療生技產業是很重要的，一塊帶有DNA的特殊玻璃片需要在小小的數平方公分之面積上布放數千或數萬個核酸探針，這時人的雙手是無法吻合精密的點滴要求，噴頭的精準度恰能符合此產業需要，這是昔日難以想像的應用方向。
