On the issue of printing on demand again

On the problem of on-demand printing (Part 1)

printing technology

in the article "several problems about on-demand printing" in the 10th issue of printing technology in 2000, we defined the number, scope and meaning of on-demand printing (abbreviated as POD). On demand is defined as "customers' requirements for products in quantity and production cycle", which is put forward according to market needs. There are many forms of equipment and processes for on-demand printing, which were mainly completed by traditional printing methods in the past. It is also called "short edition printing". Now it is mainly completed by digital printing equipment, so some people also call it "digital printing", "personalized printing" and so on. (watch out for people who are tied up. Your stock may soar soon!)

the selection of equipment and process to meet the requirements of on-demand printing is a matter of concern, and it is also the main issue discussed in this paper. Due to the large market, many levels and different demands of on-demand printing in China, the selection of on-demand printing equipment and process is also extremely complex. However, there are some principles that should be considered when selecting equipment. These principles are:

(1) market positioning of products; (analyze the real purpose of mainstream funds and find the best profit opportunity!)

(2) economic benefits

(3) affordability

now I would like to make some comments on these three issues

I. product market positioning

in the United States, the activity of digital color on-demand printing reached 54% of the total color activity in 2000. For the first time, it threatened the traditional offset press in the mainstream market of short version color activity. The popularity and development of digital color printing should be attributed to the continuous maturity of digital printing technology, the requirements for consumables are getting lower and lower, and the cost is greatly reduced. For example, in 1994, the asking price of a A3 page color job was 0.55 cents, but in 2000, it fell to 0.1 cents, This is digital printing, which can increase the stretching space (it can be increased to more than 210 meters to grasp the main reasons for the mainstream printing of live parts.

in China, according to most color printing factories, there are more and more color live parts with a printing number of less than 3000. Someone took Beijing as an example to calculate an account. In 2000, there were more than 500000 various businesses and companies in Beijing, and more than half of them needed to print color product manuals and related promotional materials. The average number of each was 50, 10 pages each, with a total printing volume of 12500 Wanyin has an output value of hundreds of millions of yuan. The demand for on-demand printing covers shopping malls, restaurants and restaurants all over the country. For example, introduction to the performance and characteristics of various commodities, recipes, recipes and invitations of various restaurants and restaurants, etc. Someone calculated an account of the personalized invitations printed by the couples who get married every year in Beijing, taking 84000 couples who got married in 1998 as an example. Each pair is calculated by 50 invitations. If one third of the people print color personalized invitations, the total printing volume is 1.4 million, 6 yuan each, the output value is 8.4 million yuan, the gross profit is 4 yuan each, and the profit is 5.6 million yuan

generally speaking, the future on-demand printing market is mainly in three areas:

(1) e-commerce market, such as various manuals, commercial advertising conference materials

(2) product personalized service. For example, provide personalized brochures and product descriptions for some goods, and provide one-to-one services for customers

(3) services for business houses, such as providing different advertisements, packaging and promotional materials for different customers

the above three fields have a great market in China

II. Equipment selection

(4) pay attention to on-demand color printing with high width thickness ratio, which can be roughly divided into two types according to market demand: one is that the color activity is less than 3000 copies, the content of these prints is the same, and the printing time is calculated in days; The other kind of printing volume is small and personalized, and the printing time is calculated in hours

in the two cases mentioned above, the following printing methods are recommended

the first method: use DTP system for color separation, output film with laser Imagesetter, and then proofing and printing. This method is the shortest printing method in China at present

the second method: scan, color separation, and typesetting with DTP system, use a 1200dpi laser printer to output a printing plate on any material in zinc oxide plate, water-based plate, sulfuric acid paper or special film base coated with hydrophilic layer, and hang the printing plate directly on a small offset press to print words or images. Its advantage is that it does not need film and has less investment. The disadvantage is that the image quality is not high, color images need to be overprinted many times, and the monochrome small offset press without side gauge and pre gauge for measuring the stress change on the sample is inaccurate

the third way is to use digital printing machine. This method still requires a scanner or digital camera to collect images. Then the collected images are sent to the computer, and the image processing software (such as Photoshop) and the graphic composition and page design software (such as PageMaker) are used for color separation, decoration, page design and other work, and then the graphic information is transmitted to the digital printer to output color prints. The following introduces several digital printing machines with high speed, high quality and high efficiency

(1) e-print1000+ series electronic liquid ink digital printing machine exhibited by Indigo at drupa printing exhibition in 2000. Up to 272 pages per minute. 16000 pages (one side) can be printed per hour, which has reached the maximum speed of the traditional four-color offset press. The price of the machine is more than 2million yuan. At present, the printing fee of A3 format (single-sided printing) of a company in Beijing is 6 yuan per piece, the cost is 2 yuan, and the starting printing fee is 120 yuan for one piece

(2) csp320d sheet fed color toner digital printer exhibited by Xeikon company at drupa printing exhibition in 2000, A4 double-sided four-color printing speed is 960 sheets/hour, which is equivalent to the normal speed of four-color printer, and the price is more than one million yuan

(3) the docucolor2060 color toner digital printer exhibited by Xerox at the drupa printing exhibition in 2000 has a printing capacity of 60 pages per minute and 3600 pages per hour, which is lower than the normal speed of the four-color printer. It can be printed on any paper used in offset press. Including rip, the price of this machine is about 120000 ~ 150000 US dollars

this article comes from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. It is only for everyone to share and learn. If the author believes that infringement is involved, 3. Before using the electronic instrument, you must read the instructions carefully. Please contact us, and we will delete it immediately after verification