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Choosing a Printer for your Kiosk Project

KIOSKmarketplace is set to launch its newest industry guide, and here's a sneak peek at the first chapter. The topic is one that sparks plenty of debate -- the kiosk printer.

March 2, 2004

To sign up to receive an e-mail with instructions on how to download the soon-to-be-launched guide to kiosk printers, click here.

It would be a whole lot easier to deploy a kiosk if printing wasn't such an essential component. Experts say printers are the primary reason for many deployment failures, and they often shoulder the blame when anything in the project goes wrong.

That said, printers are essential in most cases to successful deployments. Without them, kiosks are simply electronic devices, often nice to look at, but provide nothing for the user to take away from the kiosk experience.

The main idea behind printers in kiosks is a simple one - give the user some physical evidence of using the kiosk, something printed that has value. It can be anything from a two-inch wide receipt on inexpensive paper to a full-size four-color photograph printed on high-quality paper.

Experts say the benefits of printers at kiosks must be balanced against the necessity and expense of having maintenance and service available. One undisputed fact emerges from conversations about printers - they do break down. And those breakdowns inevitably cause other problems within the kiosk, affecting the overall success of the kiosk project.

Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates Inc., said many deployers would prefer not to include a printer in their kiosks. However, according to her research, more than 7 in 10 do.

"I'm a big fan of using printers, but they are the single biggest point of failure in a project," she said.

Mendelsohn said the vast majority of printers deployed in kiosks are thermal printers, though certain applications lend themselves well to laser printers, especially those in which higher quality and/or color printing is required.

"It's not a self-service device. A lot of people say if you can avoid using it, don't use it," Mendelsohn said.

In tune with technology

Kiosk printers may not be totally maintenance free, but manufacturers of the devices, along with developers of remote monitoring software, have certainly bridged the gap that allows printers to operate efficiently with long periods between service calls. They've done so by using technology that eliminates such problems as paper jams, poor print quality and out-of-paper notices.

Printer manufacturers, for example, have come up with "presenters" that keep users from tearing paper before it's ready and even pull paper back in to the machine if the user doesn't accept it. Remote monitoring allows a deployer to order service just when it's needed for any number of kiosks in a fleet.

Thanks in part to these recent developments, Mendelsohn said that fewer and fewer applications are being put into the marketplace that don't require printing. She said Web payphones, in which users are interested in activities like sending and receiving e-mail, are a notable exception.

The reality is that printing paper is a key component in many applications, whether it's a simple receipt or a complex four-color map. Colors, in particular, are challenging.

"You don't use colors in the same volume," Mendelsohn said. "Color can be great but on basic applications like receipts, coupons, etc, you don't want to use it."

One alternative is to use four-color paper stock and print in black on thermal paper. Many ATM operators, for example, have adopted this strategy to give customers a marketing message in color on their ATM receipts.

Simple, but tough

The challenge of operating a kiosk printer, as opposed to printers in most other environments, is that most don't have on-site personnel with responsibility for clearing paper jams and other mechanical breakdowns, and the printer is used by a large number of inexperienced users.

Thus, the operation must be simple. The printer must be rugged. It must be designed for long use without maintenance.

Brian Sikorski, marketing manager for printer manufacturer Practical Automation, said advances in quality and technology in the last several years are making the addition of a printer more likely for the 30 percent that have not included one.

"Performance and reliability have been improved dramatically," he said. "You can beta test something and learn what affects printers on kiosks. After eight or nine months you know what the environment is going to do. There are now deployments that have been in the field two or three years without problems."

He said his company's ATX38 wide-format printer is installed in more than 15,000 deployments globally. Recently, Practical Automation introduced an upgrade of that product, the ITK38, a 300 DPI (dots per inch) device.

The proof in the pudding

According to Frost & Sullivan's 1999 report, "U.S. Interactive Kiosk Component Markets," the emergence of kiosk-specific printers since 1996 will aid in the growth of kiosks overall. That report said that in 1998, 65 percent of kiosks had printers and prior to 1996, many kiosks adapted home or office computers for use in the kiosk environment.

Sikorski said that makes a big difference for deployers considering printers in 2003. "Two or three years ago, it was a new peripheral environment. The proof of the pudding is that there are deployments in the field that have proven the reliability on maintenance issues."

Frost's forecast for printers ranked improved printer performance as the number one market driver for kiosk printers through 2005. It said products have been introduced with higher print speeds, higher resolution and redesigned delivery systems that have helped reduce problems such as paper jams and high maintenance costs.

Elaine Bresnick, vice president, sales and marketing for Swecoin, said, "as the market grows, you have more experience with features that will be most attractive to customers. A few years ago, there were few sizable projects."

Bresnick adds that there is still marketplace resistance to the use of printers. "People still have an aversion and reluctance to thermal printers. People ask if they really need a printer. It's true that when there are moving parts, there is more possibility for problems."

Swecoin, based in Sweden, has been in business since the 1980s, providing direct thermal printers for self-service applications.

"Europe has been ahead of North America in accepting self-service technology," she said. "There's been a reluctance to add a printer even thought the value of a takeaway is crucial in completing a transaction."