Commentary: Technology marriage between digital printing and offset printing (on)

The printer gradually adapts to this ever-changing market and hopes to find a place with these two technologies.

In the past decade, different opinions from the two camps of digital printing and offset printing have always been heard. When the two passions meet, the public’s attention is also diverted.

Today's printers are no longer keeping a close eye on the technology. Digital printing and offset printing are no longer just sticking to their respective advantages and disadvantages, but working together to meet the challenges of the market.

Jon Bracken, Creo’s product management manager, said: “Frankly speaking, we did not expect digital printing and offset printing to remain competitive for so long. Successful companies see digital printing and offset printing as complementary technologies. To enable them to provide customers with perfect printing solutions and print sales solutions in different situations."

The claim that digital printing and offset printing are complementary technologies is very attractive, but it has also caused misunderstandings of digital printing by vendors, printers and print buyers. Some people think that digital printing is a document. If a digital file runs through the cylinder it is printing on, that's digital printing. Others think it is related to ink. If you print with toner instead of standard ink, it's digital printing.

The last point of view is that if your printer can print data, that is, each page has a different variable data, that is digital printing. According to Howard "Howie" Fenton, senior technical consultant for digital technology at the National Offset Printing Association (NAPL), the definition of ink is a commonly used method.

No matter how you view or define digital printing, it is an objective reality. The PIA/GATF (American Printing Industry Association/Printing Technical Committee) believes that digital printing is the fastest growing sector in the industry.

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Laurie Herrmann, owner of Queen City Imaging in New York City, said: "The speed of digital printing presses is very satisfactory to our customers. They also told these benefits to more customers." She purchased this company in 1998. Still a small copy center company. In 2000, Laurie Herrmann purchased a Ryobi offset press. She wanted to use this machine to increase her business volume and reduce costs. Since then, she has begun to apply digital presses such as the Océ 3165 and Canon 6000 to his own production, as well as provide printing and binding services. Her latest purchase was an Océ VarioPrint 2090 press with Copy Press's patented technology. Queen City uses an offset press to print a color cover, and then prints variable data using a VarioPrint digital press.

Dillon Mooney, technical advisor to the PIA/GATF (American Printing Association/Printing Technical Committee) heard many stories about process integration. "Printing a color job on an offset press and printing it on a digital press is also a way for printers to combine the two technologies."

Mooney warns that the use of ink and the dampness of paper may cause some problems. The digital printer used toner uses heat to fuse the toner on the page. If no laser security ink is used during offset printing, the previously used offset ink will melt on the paper. Another problem is related to the moisture in the paper. The heat generated by the digital printing press will dry the paper with high humidity, but in turn, it will also cause curling of the paper, which will cause jamming in the printing press, post-press processing equipment or folding machine. If this problem occurs frequently in the printing process, the consequences are very serious.

If the printer reuses the paper used on the digital press again on the offset press, humidity problems will occur. During offset printing, excessively dry paper absorbs the surrounding moisture and causes the paper to deform. Mooney added: "This is not a simple matter of unloading a pile of paper from one machine to another. You must be very careful about your raw materials."

In addition to the printers finding their own solutions to these problems, digital printer vendors are also trying to avoid these problems. Bruce Ganger, senior sales manager for Océ North America, points out that their Copy Press technology allows the ink on a digital press to fuse at a lower temperature without the need for high temperatures. In addition, Océ has also developed a one-component toner including a developer. This avoids an unstable factor in the printing process.

Low-temperature fusion, one-component ink and simple and fast printing ensure the stability of printing. Copy Press can also allow printers to print on a variety of substrates. Its low-temperature fusion capability allows the press to print on heavy-duty, lightweight, coated and glossy papers at a constant speed.

(to be continued)