Custom Printing: Hybrid Presses Mix Offset and Inkjet Technology

I learned a new word today: “bespoke.” It means “to a buyer’s specification” (Wikipedia), and in the most recent era of print production it means that presses are being manufactured to exactly fit the print supplier’s needs. Think of it as “mass customization” for printing professionals (hardware, that is, rather than printed products).

“Combining the Best of Both Worlds with Hybrid Inkjet Presses,” an article by Jo Francis in the November 15, 2012, issue of Print Week, addresses not only the benefits of combining offset and digital elements on the same printing press but also the trend toward users’ designing their own hybrid presses on the fly, as the situation warrants. This is exciting.

Examples of Hybrid Technology

Here are some examples noted in the Print Week article:

1. Anton Group in Essex, Komatsu in Japan, and Axel Springer in Germany have incorporated Kodak Prosper inkjet printheads into their Heidelberg, Ryobi, and Manroland presses.
2. Focus Label Machinery in Nottingham has incorporated Konica Minolta Colourprint heads into their label press. When they’re not using the inkjet heads, they can be moved out of the way.
3. Press manufacturer KBA has incorporated inkjet technology into its RotaJet 76 inkjet web press using Kyocera printheads.
4. Timsons has created a continuous inkjet book printing press, the T-Print, using Kodak printheads.

Implications for Hybrid Printing

This movement within the inkjet arena has several implications for custom printing:

1. It means the quality and speed of inkjet technology have reached a level that now competes with the quality of offset lithography.
2. It reflects the ingenuity within the community of commercial printing providers. For example, instead of merely buying a Kodak Prosper press, many printers are attaching Prosper printheads to existing offset sheetfed equipment. When the press is operating at full speed, the offset printing and variable data inkjetting can proceed at approximately 10,000 sheets per hour rather than the 3,000 to 5,000 sheet-per-hour rate of typical personalization equipment.
3. It reflects the flexibility of these custom printing solutions. For instance, one printer referenced in Francis’ article, Anton Group, has both an 18,000 sheet-per-hour Speedmaster with four inkjet heads and six more inkjet printheads attached to an offline system to be used for shorter runs, thicker paper stocks, and as a back-up option when needed.

The Bottom Line: Higher Quality, Lower Cost, Faster Turn-Around

Here are some benefits these hybrid offset/inkjet presses offer:

1. Commercial printing suppliers are saving energy, reducing waste, providing only the amount of printed material the client needs, and saving time by marrying static data and variable data on one press instead of producing separate offset and inkjet press runs.
2. Drying technology is in place for continuous stream inkjet, allowing custom printing vendors to use both coated and uncoated paper stocks.
3. Personalization significantly increases the response rate of direct mail printing. Hybrid technology reduces the cost of digital printing supplies while increasing the response rates of printed direct mail products.
4. Due to the comprehensive nature of the technology as well as its speed, efficiency, and low cost, hybrid printing will be ideal not only for personalized address information but also for multiple areas of text and images within a printed product, as well as barcodes, QR codes, and security codes.

Next Steps for Hybrid Printing Technology

1. The Print Week article notes several print providers that are producing black-only work (primarily books) but that plan to incorporate process color inkjet capabilities in the near future. This is particularly encouraging since color increases response rates in direct mail marketing materials, and variable data color will increase response rates even further.
2. Printers are moving toward printing duplex (both sides of the press sheet) rather than just simplex (one side of the sheet at a time) jobs with the hybrid offset/inkjet equipment.
3. A “digital bar” (as opposed to distinct inkjet heads) already exists, according to Francis’ article, that includes inkjet printheads “seamlessly stitched together, so [the] image area covers the whole sheet or web width.” This means that inkjet text or images can be placed anywhere on the substrate (i.e., designs don’t need to be altered to position variable data under specific printheads). At this point, the digital bar is 17”; by next year it will be 30”.

So things are really moving in this arena of custom printing technology.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2012 at 10:29 pm and is filed under New Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.