Printing company, how to choose CTP

At present, there are many technical solutions for direct computer-to-plate making. That is to say, the choice of CTP technology is very wide. There are two major technologies for offset-printing direct plate-making systems: thermal imaging technology and visible light imaging technology.

Thermal imaging technology is characterized by the thermal sensitivity of the plate material rather than the sensitization, so thermal imaging can be performed under visible light. To form a latent image on a thermal plate, the heat of the laser must be brought up to the "threshold" required for thermal imaging of the plate. It is for this reason that the image on the thermal plate is an accurate representation of the original textual information, without the disadvantages of dot gain and blurring at the edge of the dot.

Nowadays, the thermal plate is widely used, and the more extensive thermal plate used is the Kodak Polychrome plate. Some thermal plate materials use the base of double metal layer, that is, the composite structure of copper layer and aluminum layer. This type of printing plate is particularly suitable for packaging printing, because the printing plate's resistance to printing force is very impressive, to adapt to the surface of the substrate is not smooth printing, such as cardboard packaging printing, this printing plate can use advanced UV ink and EB ink printing .

Although the thermal-sensitivity CTP system is highly regarded by the industry, the visible-light system is still more popular than the thermal-sensitive system. In the packaging and printing market, the ratio of sales of visible light CTP systems to thermal CTP systems is 2:1. Visible light CTP systems are 30-100% more efficient than thermal CTP systems and require fewer processing steps than thermal CTP systems. The reason for the low efficiency of the thermal CTP is that baking is required.

Of course, both technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages. For a printing company, when deciding to invest in a CTP system, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze and compare which of the two technologies is more appropriate, mainly making decisions in terms of work efficiency, cost, printing business, and printing customers.

Now, in addition to visible light CTP systems and thermal CTP systems, there are other imaging technologies. There is now a technology called Violet imaging technology that uses a completely different kind of plate material with the same quality as the current direct platemaking system. However, this imaging technology is cheaper and has a shorter processing time.

Now that there are many kinds of direct plate-making equipment and plate materials available to the printing companies on the market, the decision to invest in CTP is to determine whether the time is ripe. It mainly considers the following aspects: First, the printing company must measure the company’s digital content. Whether the hardware equipment and facilities can handle the computer-to-plate workflow. If the digital hardware is not applicable, the digital workflow is only a piece of paper; second, there is at least one year of postscript prepress work experience, familiar with prepress processes such as trapping, color management, and dot gain compensation; and thirdly, at least Six months of experience in digital drafting, including contract drafting and page content writing; Fourth, mastered the statistical analog platemaking technology, the plate making less turnover rate.

In short, for a printing company, investing in CTP requires not only selecting the technology that suits it, but also seizing the opportunity to facilitate its own development.