How far is digital printing from us?

In recent years, China's printing market is undergoing such changes: in the field of book printing, the number of books printed is decreasing, and the circulation of book sales hot spots is getting faster and faster. This requires that the cycle of book printing must also be shortened. So the publishing industry is increasingly adopting digital presses to achieve POD (on-demand printing); digital printing capable of personalized and variable data printing is striding into telecommunications, postal services, transportation, banking, securities and insurance. The field of personalized ticket printing; with the increasing importance of accession to the WTO and the protection of intellectual property rights, digital printing requiring digital data using two-dimensional bar code technology is widely accepted; short-run printing, personalities The proportion of commercial printing, variable data printing, etc. in commercial printing is also increasing. Such as restaurant recipes, exhibition samples, color business cards, graduation certificates, and so on. This is also the demand for digital printing equipment. It will be even more prosperous.

However, digital printing is being integrated into our work and life. So what are the characteristics of digital printing and digital printing?

Definition and equipment classification

From the definition point of view, digital printing should have the following typical characteristics: First, the printing process is the process from computer to paper or print, ie, the process of directly converting digital files/pages into prints; secondly, the final image The formation process must be digital and does not require the intervention of any simulation process or carrier. Third, the print information is 100% variable information, that is, the two prints that are adjacent output can be completely different, and even different materials can be selected. Substrate, if it is a publication, the binding method can also be different.

As the core equipment of the digital printing system, digital presses can be divided into two types of digital printers, digital printers and digital printers, depending on the machine structure. In terms of printing methods, they can be divided into different graphics. The model is the same as the model of each job, such as Speedmaster DI in Heidelberg, Germany. The latter type of machine needs to complete the plate making on the printing press. Because the printing plate is still used, there are still limitations in the variable data printing.

Digital presses can of course be divided into black and white digital presses and color digital presses. Companies such as Nipson in France and Océ in the Netherlands are powerful competitors in the black-and-white digital press market, while HP, Fuji Xerox and others occupy a pivotal position in the field of color digital printing.

There are three main types of color digital printers: the first one is the digital press of the DI type that Heidelberg introduced in the past few years; the second is the unprinted version of the Xeikon company in Belgium and the original Xerox in the United States, which is completely suitable for variable data. Printed digital presses. Digital presses of this type use solid-state toner instead of liquid ink. Therefore, many people find it difficult to see the difference between digital printing and digital proofing. The third type is HP, which is produced by HP. Digital presses such as Indigo, which do not require printing plates, use electronic ink, and can fully realize variable data printing.

System composition and process

The digital printing system is not much different from the traditional printing system in its basic construction, but as a fully digital production system, it has its own characteristics:

Digital printing integrates prepress, print and postpress, and from a system control point of view, it is a seamless all-digital system. The digital printing system is like a “combine harvester”. The system's entrance (that is, the information input end) is digital information. There are many sources of such information. They can be digital files transmitted through the network, information transmitted by the prepress system, or they can be The data contained in other digital media such as optical disks, magneto-optical disks, hard disks, etc.; the system's export (ie, information output end) is a diverse information product with a desired form, such as books, magazines, commercial publications, trademarks, cards, and even Packaging printed matter. Digital printing has on-demand production capabilities, that is, all operations and functions can be pre-set according to needs, and then automatically completed by the system to produce the information products customers need.

In a digital printing system, a digital printing press is actually a high-speed hard copy conversion system that is responsible for high-speed conversion of digital pages into high-quality color hard copies, ie prints. In addition, the system's requirements for RIP are also very high: because digital printing processes 100% variable information and the output resolution is also increasing, this requires that RIP should have high data conversion speed.

Traditional printing production has to go through pre-press, printing, post-press and post-sale warehousing, transportation and other links, and these links must be in strict accordance with the time sequence. Digital printing is not the case. It is a new production method based on "digital flow + digital media/high-density storage + network transmission". It can "customize" all aspects of production according to the needs of users in time. "Production and then sales" means digital printing is "sales and production."

“Print on Demand/On-Demand Publishing” is to print and produce prints/publications needed by customers at the time and place where customers need them. Digital printing using this “on-demand” model is becoming more and more popular in foreign countries, and it is also used in China. With huge and potential market demand, it is believed that digital printing will approach us more and more quickly.