Print Solutions November 2006
manufacturing
The Struggle Between Offset and Digital Print
BY IVARS SARKANS
The adversarial relationship between offset and digital printing was evident at
the IPEX 2006 international printing equipment exhibition held in the United
Kingdom earlier this year. Compared to previous IPEX shows, there was a
diminished population of small format (2-page) 2- and 4-color sheetfed offset
presses. This sheetfed press format, typically 12 x 18 inches to 14 x 20
inches, currently represents the market segment where competition between
offset and digital color printing is most direct and intense, and digital
appears to be gaining market share.
At IPEX, digital press suppliers stressed the advantages of their equipment over
offset. Demonstrations of automated web-to-print workflows and integrated
in-line finishing with minimal manual setup showed how digital printing can
eliminate a separate page or signature collating operation and minimize printed
product inventories by economical on-demand production of short runs.
To counter competition from digital color printing, small-format offset press
designs are becoming more innovative with some capabilities that cannot be
matched by digital color presses. New features on some models include very high
levels of automation to minimize job changeover time, compact new designs and
the ability to print on plastics, folding carton board and other heavy stocks.
Automatic changing of plates, perfector setup and washup are becoming more
common on 2-page presses. The highest level of automation is typically found on
DI (Direct Imaging) presses, which may be the strongest small-format
competitors to digital printing at this time.
Offset Presses
Heidelberg announced that the Quickmaster DI 46-4 color short run model, with
on-press imaging of plates, has been discontinued. The replacement is a new
Speedmaster 52-4 with conventional print tower configuration and a new compact
ink train that Heidelberg says will reduce setup time and limit startup waste
to less than 20 sheets. Improvements in CTP imagers and digital plates have
reduced the advantages of on-press imaging, and Heidelberg no longer offers any
DI models.
Heidelberg also introduced the first 2-page, 10-color long perfector model, the
Speedmaster 52-10-P. This press—with on-line coating units—signals competition for many small commercial printers who run 4 over 4 process
color work on 2- and 4-unit, 2-page presses and aren't likely to have resources for acquiring a long perfector. As the perfectors
from Heidelberg and other suppliers enter the market, the short run volume
shift to those presses will also affect the competitive position of many
printed product distributors.
The market for DI presses may no longer be attractive to Heidelberg, but demand
is sufficient for several niche suppliers, including KBA, Ryobi, Presstek and
Screen. Presstek launched a 4-color landscape format 52 DI, with 20.5 x 14.8
inches maximum sheet size and rated speed of 10,000 sheets per hour. The
machine uses a central impression cylinder layout, with two plate and blanket
cylinders, each carrying two plates and mated with two ink trains. This design,
common to all Ryobi-built DI presses, needs only two laser stations to image
all four plates. These highly automated presses use the waterless offset
process and polyester plates that are in rolls, mounted inside the plate
cylinders, and advanced mechanically for each new job cycle. In IPEX 2006
demonstrations, job changeover time was consistently under 10 minutes.
Müller Martini had the only fully operational web offset commercial printing press
at IPEX 2006. It was a 27-inch web width Alprinta 74V, with five offset towers,
UV dryers and a blanket coater. This machine can be configured with typical
size inserts for each selected print repeat, but it's also available with special print inserts that allow changes of individual
plate and blanket cylinders. Changing lightweight cylinders expands the range
of sizes that is practical and economical on one press.
Digital Printing Equipment
Digital printing exhibits held the biggest new business opportunities and the
most serious threats for forms industry participants. Some monochrome and
highlight color web-fed digital presses can be configured just like
conventional forms presses with printing and processing stations for the
production of documents and direct mail containing both fixed images and
variable data. Matti Technology showed just such a press assembled from modular
web handling, punching and perforating stations; a Kodak 9-inch wide ink jet
head and several narrower ink jet units for highlight colors.
Xerox introduced a new black toner duplexing web press with two Fujitsu laser
imaging engines in a single compact cabinet, which limits face to back print
position variations. Another innovation for Xerox is flash fusing. Its CF 495
Duplex Printer can run heat-sensitive materials that would melt in hot contact
fusers. The demonstration form for the Xerox 495 had affixed plastic cards,
integrated labels, RFID tags and cards with a plastic face laminate.
Xerox also showed the DocuPrint 525/1050, rated at maximum 244 feet per minute.
This translates to 525 pages per minute with one print unit and 1,050 pages per
minute in a twin engine duplexing configuration. This model also uses flash
fusing to avoid web distortion due to heat.
The Océ 9000 series black plus “business color” web printers are also, in effect, digital forms presses, and the version
demonstrated at IPEX 2006 could print 3 over 3 colors in one pass from blank
mill rolls. The versatility to add highlight colors can be a major advantage in
forms and direct mail applications. The digital web presses at IPEX 2006
suggest that forms production will continue to migrate from offset to digital
equipment, and traditional forms industry participants can choose to follow
this migration or forfeit more business to service bureau operations and other
types of digital document factories.
In sheetfed digital printing, HP promoted the versatility of Indigo 5000 to
serve as a high-speed black-only document press, with the option to add color
to printed documents as needed. Printing black only, the Indigo 5000 is rated
at 272 pages per minute or 16,000 pages per hour. Users can switch to process
color commercial printing as needed to run 4,000 4-color pages per hour.
Canon presented a major new entry in commercial color digital printing, the
ImagePress C7000VP, rated at 70 4-color pages per minute. In demonstration
runs, color quality appeared to match other
“top-of-the-line” digital color presses using toners. The C7000VP can run a wide range of papers,
including tag and index grades, in sheets up to 13 x 19 inches. This is a
significant development for forms industry participants considering digital
color production, because two of these Canon presses can be purchased for
approximately the same price as the fastest available alternative rated at 110
pages per minute.
A radical new approach to sheetfed digital color press design at IPEX 2006 was a
modular multiple-tower prototype from Inov-Media. The Jet7Pro was distinguished
by the ability to print sheets up to 27.5 x 39.8 inches and heavy stocks up to
1mm thick with a machine configuration somewhat similar to conventional
sheetfed presses. Production rate can be increased from 60 to 1,100 sheets per
hour by adding more print units equipped with arrays of Epson piezoelectric
drop-on-demand ink jet heads. This exhibit hints at the potential of ink jet
technology to compete on both commercial printing quality and speed.
Ivars Sarkans is president of the Los Angeles consulting firm Sarkans & Associates. Email him at isarkans@sarkans.com.
