Digital printing in the latest century

Digital printing in the new century Abstract: in the new century, digital printing has gradually become the mainstream of the printing industry. This paper mainly summarizes the concept, current situation and Prospect of digital printing, hoping to attract the attention of domestic manufacturers to digital printing

in the new century, the rapid development of information technology has not only injected great vitality into the world economy, but also created conditions for the rapid development of the printing industry. In the printing field, due to the diversification and personalization of the whole printing market, the demand for project books, leaflets and personal prints of enterprises is also increasing. The traditional printing methods can not meet people's needs gradually, and digital printing came into being

I. The concept of digital printing

digital printing technology is the essence of the technological development of the printing industry in the 20th century. Its general process is as follows: the operator inputs the customer's data files into the computer (prepress processing system) according to the user's requirements and the originals provided, or from the Internet network system; There is no doubt that the development trend of nickel cathode materials can be improved by processing the graphic data on the computer, comprehensively adjusting the color, tone and level of the image, and innovating and modifying the graphic information according to the user's requirements and the designer's ideas, so as to achieve a satisfactory effect. These digitized information are finally formatted by rip to generate corresponding monochrome pixel digital signals, and then output these digital information to the electronic data control center. In this way, the digital signal can be transmitted to the laser on the printer for modulation, and the corresponding monochrome laser is sent to scan the plate cylinder. The plate cylinder made of photosensitive materials can absorb ink or black powder after photosensitization, In this way, the graphic information can be transferred to the substrate to complete the printing process

from its process, we can see that digital printing is a digital process that runs through the whole production process, from the input of information to printing, and even binding. In other words, it is to directly convert digital pages into printed matter, and no longer through any intermediary, including printing plates. At present, digital printing is mainly suitable for "on-demand printing" characterized by claw printing, variable information printing and instant printing, such as publications that need to be updated frequently and printed matter with many pictures inserted, manuals that are republished with a few changes, conference documents and charts, etc. Therefore, it is a printing method that provides relevant services to users according to their time requirements, location requirements, quantity requirements, cost requirements and some specific requirements

second, the current situation of digital printing

at present, in the printing field, offset printing is still booming as always, and the proportion of digital printing is still very low. However, the strong growth momentum shown by digital printing is irresistible. Based on this, many printing companies began to pay attention to digital printing

HP, the global leader in imaging and printing solutions, has successfully acquired the world's color digital printing equipment pioneer Yise indigo company. With its famous corporate brand, advanced printing and printing technology, unique digital printing technology, smooth product marketing channels, and the integration of Indigo's technology and product advantages, it has set off a personalized frenzy in the digital printing market, It has promoted the development of the whole digital printing field

another giant in the printing industry, the Digital Printing Department of Edinburgh has long regarded the establishment of a link between traditional offset printing and new digital printing as the next development target. Wolfgangpfizenmaier (CEO of Heidelberg digital printing) also stated: "it is wrong to set offset printing technology against digital technology, and it is not in line with Heidelberg strategy."

however, in China, the application of digital printing machine is not ideal. Although digital printing began to be promoted a few years ago, and digital printing machines have become a hot spot in the market, most of the digital printing equipment is still in the experimental and trial stage, and many digital printing machines have not yet begun to be installed in large quantities. The main reasons are as follows:

1. Technical reasons. Digital printing machine is to transmit and receive synchronous information for printing, so how to correctly transmit the data of network or database to the printing machine has become a key problem. The further improvement of digital printing technology is inseparable from the process of data transmission. The improvement of a series of problems, such as the networking of data transmission, the digitization of print layout, the digitization of analog negatives, and the high-speed calculation time. This depends on the application degree of the whole social interconnection and the maturity and perfection of digital printing technology

2. Price. The high price of digital printing press makes many enterprises stop at it. According to the service cycle of printing machines, the printing machines of many domestic manufacturers have been replaced in Europe for 5 ~ 7 years and the United States for about 4 years. However, the printing machines of many domestic manufacturers have been used for} several years and have not been replaced. When the old machines can be used, new equipment is added, and the profit return cannot be seen in the short term, the printing manufacturers are a little reluctant. And now the cycle of technology update is getting shorter and shorter. Today's heavily invested equipment is likely to have lower cost products coming out soon, so printing manufacturers are a little afraid to spend money wrongly

3. the market is imperfect. Because users have not yet fully understood digital printing, the first investor returns little because of insufficient living resources, and the successor also retreats and is not optimistic about digital printing. At the same time, because the number of digital printing enterprises in China is small, and most of them are small, 7 has invested too much money in publicity, which also led to digital Solvay paying special attention to China's implants and medical equipment. The printing of these two plates can not be known and accepted by everyone for the time being

third, the prospect of digital printing

although there are many problems in the field of domestic digital printing at present, as a new printing form, the market prospect and development prospect of digital printing are beyond doubt. With the increasing social business activities and the improvement of people's living standards and consumption levels, personalized printing has become a necessity for people. For printed products such as enterprise IC brochures, product leaflets, hotel menus, passes, license plates, greeting cards, breast cards, invitations, direct mail advertisements, people not only hope to print as much as they need at any time, but also hope that the shorter the current delivery period, the better, and the cheaper the price. This demand forces traditional printers to seek new businesses. The application of digital printing just provides traditional printers with opportunities to explore new markets. It can be said that the huge market potential and attractive input-output ratio of personalized digital printing cannot be ignored

according to statistics, living in the United States, the business volume of digital printing has accounted for more than half of the total printing activity, and the trend is still developing. At home, with China's entry into WTO, the application prospect of digital printing is broader. According to insiders, at this stage, the printing volume of most "medium and long editions" (that is, the printing volume of 30005 is generally required to be more than 0.2 ~ 0.4000 copies) is constantly decreasing; The activity of 1000 to 3000 copies is increasing. These small batch printing brings a bright future for digital printing

as large international enterprises (Hewlett Packard, Heidelberg Agfa, IBM Xerox, etc.) have entered the digital printing market, the digital printing technology and equipment tend to be more serialized. The printing speed and quality have been greatly improved, the cost price tends to decline, and the application scope of paper is wider. In the next few years, digital printing machines will continue to develop in the direction of product serialization, high quality, high speed and low price. Indigo founder BennyLanda once said, "everything that can be digitized will become digital, and printing is no exception." Digital printing technology is constantly improving, and the potential of digital printing is still being explored. We have every reason to believe that this is a printing method full of vitality

source: China Packaging