Digital Printing - The Basis for the Development of Digital Printing

Indig0 launched the world's first color digital press on IPEx 1 993. Then on Drupa 1 995, Indig0 and xeikon jointly initiated the revolution in digital printing technology. Drupa 2000 and lPEx 2002 culminated in the development of digital printing. In recent years, digital printing has developed rapidly. The overall progress and development of digital printing. It has brought many surprises for the printing industry. This development is not only a further improvement of the performance of digital printing equipment. It also includes the maturity of digital printing technology, the improvement of the quality of printed products, the reduction of raw material costs and production costs, and the increase in the market share of digital printing.

According to the predictions made by the Printing Association of the United States (PIA) and the Printing Technology Association of America (GATF) on the development of printed copies, the proportion of 1 to 2,000 copies of small-lot prints in the entire printing market will be 28% from 998. % rose to 43% in 2010 and will rise to 47% in 2020. On the other hand, it is expected that more than 10,000 copies of large-volume print will be reduced from 36% in 2000 to 26% in 2020.

Digital Printing Features

Digital printing is a comprehensive technology developed on the basis of printing technology. It uses electronic text as a carrier to store text content in a computer and transfer it to a digital printing device through the network, thereby realizing direct printing. The absence of printing and variable information in the printing production process is the biggest feature of digital printing. It covers various technical fields such as printing, electronics, computer networks, and communications.

Digital printing features:

1. The digital printing process is the transmission and transmission of all-digital information. Analog information should not appear in any link, and digital printing that does not belong to the ordinary meaning of film and plate direct plate-printing methods is omitted.

2. Digital print information can be 100% variable.

3. The digital printing process is the process of converting digital information directly into printed matter using a digital printing system. Digital manuscripts can be digital files processed by a digital prepress system, or can be derived from networks, digital media, etc.

4. Digital printing can be anywhere, anytime. There is no time and space limitation for the remote output of prints.

5. Digital printing has changed the existing value and charging concept. The value of digital printing comes from the services provided to customers. Not just the inherent cost of the manufacturer.

Digital Printing Technology Development
The printer will be broadly marketed. All-in-one, digital presses and DI on-machine plate printing machines are called digital printing devices. In terms of the formation of graphic and textual information, laser printers, inkjet printers, and all-in-one printers all belong to the category of digital printing. However, from the speed of printing, the color and fineness of reproduced images, and the maximum features of digital printing without information and information, printers, multifunction machines, and DI direct-to-plate printing machines are not the subject of this article. Digital printing equipment. According to different imaging mechanisms, digital printing methods can be divided into electrostatic imaging methods, inkjet imaging methods, electro-condensation imaging methods, thermal transfer imaging methods, magnetic recording imaging methods. Digital printers based on electrostatic imaging and inkjet imaging are currently the mainstream products on the market.

Digital printing has evolved from printing and copying technologies, as well as leaflet and monochromatic electrostatic imaging technologies, to monochrome digital printers such as Xerox DT75, DT90, DT6100, DT61 35. DT6180, Kodak's Digimaster 9100, and more. Until 1993, with HP Indigo, Xeikon. The emergence of high-end color products such as NexPress, Océ and Xerox, which were developed exclusively for the printing industry, are increasingly viewed by the printing industry as their high-quality imaging and printing quality. Such as the production of color digital presses HP Indigo Press 1000, 3000, W3200, NexPress NexPress 2100, Fuji Xerox DocuColor 2045, 2060, 6060, 1255, iGen3, Océ VP511VS6100/VS7400Twin, VS9220, Xeikon DCP320D, DCP500D, Canon CLC5000 and so on. The output speed of these devices is in the range of 40 to 150 pages/minute A4 format. These high-end products are close to traditional prints in terms of imaging accuracy and print quality.

The current development characteristics of digital printing:

1. The product serialization is mainly manifested in the different professional application areas, the introduction of supporting digital printing system;

2. Speed ​​up Although digital printing has greatly improved output speed, there is still a big gap compared to offset printing.

3. High quality In terms of practical results, the print quality of the electrophotographic imaging system has been able to reach the mid-range offset level;

4. Low price Most digital printing machines using electrostatic imaging systems have lower operating costs. The ink jet system has a lower operating cost and has reached a generally acceptable level;

5. Printing Machine Manufacturers The joining of digital art printing product providers will certainly promote the professionalization of digital printing.

The development direction of digital printing-related technologies: 1 Digitalization of the entire printed matter; 2 Digitalization of traditional negatives; 9 Electronic liability and electronic binding; 4 High-speed computing time i5 Data processing suited to data volume; 6 Saving of layout data 7 database usage.

The advantages of digital printing

Digital printing is suitable for short editions and personalized printing, but at present its printing quality is still not superior to conventional printing such as offset printing, and for medium and long-run printing, its cost is far higher than traditional printing.

Compared with traditional printing, digital printing has its unique advantages:

1. All digital printing methods;

2. The printing production cycle is shortened, one sheet is printed, and there is no waste of test machine;

3. Variable data printing. Adapt to personalization. Short print;

4. With all-digital production information and production control requirements of similar production systems;

5. Easy to introduce digital management. Digital workflow and color management

6. Can achieve remote printing. Long-distance printing avoids the storage caused by the traditional printing after the first printing, the high transportation costs and the easy time delay.
Increased economic efficiency;

7. Optimize resources and benefit the environment.

At present, traditional print products still account for more than 90%, both from domestic and international markets. The main reasons are:

1. Various traditional printing production processes are mature;

2. The involvement of digital technologies such as CTP has greatly increased the production efficiency of traditional printing;

3. The introduction of new technologies and new equipment with high speed and stability has improved the quality of traditional prints.

4. The comprehensive application of various printing methods can satisfy the printing of various printing materials;

5. The effective use of existing equipment of enterprises, relatively low operating costs of materials, etc.;

6. Users have long been entrenched in traditional printing, so the acceptance of new technologies has also hindered the development of digital printing to some extent. From all indications, analog printing production will continue to maintain a considerable market share for a long period of time.

With the increasing popularity of personalized information digitization and the increasing demand for personalization, variable information, and on-demand products, the digital printing application field will also become wider and wider. Especially in the short version. In the fast printing market, digital printing will show absolute advantages.

Digital Printing Market Positioning

Digital printing has high printing speed and high printing quality. In addition, digital printing has absolutely no requirement for printing, and the cost of single sheets is fixed, which makes the investment of digital printing machines low. High returns. Digital printing technology has basically matured and its application space is gradually expanding.

From the actual application of the current market, the digital printing system is clearly positioned in the fast short-run printing. On-demand printing, personalized printing. Variable data printing. Therefore, the printing market has undergone major changes in a subtle manner. Digital printing will break through in the following areas.

1. Book printing

Books are a diversified product. Every year about 200,000 different books are published in China. Some books appear to be under-printed due to best-selling and need to be republished; some books cause inventory backlogs due to poor sales. As the number of prints of books has become less and less, the hotspots for book sales are being converted faster and faster, so the cycle of book printing must also be shortened. This change makes it possible for the publishing industry to use digital printers to achieve on-demand printing. The rapid printing of small batches of books can effectively solve the problems of republished books and out-of-print books, and also makes it possible for customers to edit books (such as a limited number of scientific and technological essays).

2. Newspaper and magazine printing

Some of the more influential newspapers and magazines have a daily market demand in excess of 5 million copies worldwide. Because of the timeliness of newspapers, traditional printing. The issuance method can no longer meet the needs of readers all over the world, so it requires the application of off-site digital printing on demand.

3. Business transaction printing

Various notes present a growing tendency towards personalization in public utilities. In the fields of telecommunications, postal services, banking, securities, and insurance, the potential for the digital printing market is very large for personalized products such as billings, billing checklists, forms, and tickets, and opportunities in the digital printing market for personalized and variable data printing. More and more.

4. Security printing

With China's accession to the WTO, the protection of intellectual property rights has been mentioned on the agenda. In anti-counterfeit printing, many times need to adopt variable data methods such as two-dimensional bar codes, and variable data must be completed by a digital printer. Therefore, digital printing equipment has great potential for market development in security printing.

5. Commercial printing

Short-run printing, personalized printing, and variable data printing are increasingly used in commercial printing, such as recipes and exhibitions. Colorful business card. Diplomas, etc. are very suitable for printing on digital presses. So, digital printing in the short version. There is a large market in the field of ultrashort commercial printing.

6. Promotional printing

In the field of promotional printing, digital printing has great potential for development. Most of these are direct mail printed products, and they need to be printed on the preprinted material by computers. In the future, the content of direct mail and the personal interests of the recipient can be printed through variable data. Hobby and lifestyle features files are combined to automatically address files