Off-line and online post-press processing discussions

Drupa 2000 New Product Launch Conference did not deny that post-press binding work is progressing towards full digitalization. From desktop publishing to the final product, it is definitely more attractive than a bunch of loose pages. It also makes printing machine manufacturers turn their attention to “downstream” processes. With the ever-increasing speed of printing, the personalization requirements for printing have become higher and higher, and the circulation period of printing products has become shorter and shorter. The concept of printing has become very different from previous ones, including both printing and distribution. Although there has been endless debate between “online” and “offline,” most experts agree with this view: Users are generally enthusiastic about the “online” approach. The online method can make the printing work more uniform because all the work is connected together, and the entire product has a short production cycle, low waste paper rate, and little manual intervention, which is very favorable for on-demand digital printing. On the other hand, "offline" proponents also talked about the lack of online mode. For example, the system technology is more complex and the cost is higher, and the system is specially matched with molding, and the system flexibility has to be discounted. In addition, if a certain product has a huge amount of output, the quality of the finished product that can be provided by this special system cannot be compared to other methods. Some customers have also gradually realized that the “offline” approach also has its inherent advantages. For example, with the development, when the system needs to be upgraded in the future, an "offline" system can be used to directly replace the part that needs to be upgraded, without having to eliminate all parts, and the required investment is less than "online". It is hard to decide whether the outcome is good or bad. As a result, the market has formed a phenomenon in which both methods coexist. It is up to the user's own decision to decide: Is it willing to spend some money to configure a unique online processing system? Or use a combination of ways to do offline work? This also needs to consider various factors. One of the main problems with the "online" post-press processing machines is that they cannot fully match the speed of printing equipment, especially the modern presses, and its speed is growing faster and faster. The binding machine, according to Sour Rudda, CPBourg sales manager, always "catch up" with the press, and it is hard to complete the high-speed printing requirements. Of course, the Indian printer maker can still produce high-speed bookbinding equipment, but the economic reason will be its biggest problem. An on-line binding machine that can match the 1,000-speed presses per minute is definitely "expensive", and it is expensive to "the point where users are not willing to spend so much money for a single machine." Char Chan also agreed Binding equipment is slower than digital printing equipment. He believes that only by allowing the printer to complete as many tasks as possible, such as cutting, paging, stacking, etc., and then binding it, can improve the overall efficiency of the entire package. The situation is even more different if color processing is to be added to postpress. Because from a professional point of view, the printer's online equipment can only be called professional printing when it reaches a processing speed of 60-100 pages per minute or more. If you can't reach this level, it's better to add a cheap "offline" bookmaker. Challenges/Opportunities Although the color “online” processing system is still in the stage of initiation, its processing speed is gradually increasing and it has now reached the minimum required for commercial printing. The Ricoh DocuColor 100 and IBM's InfoColor 100 belong to the models that can do this kind of work. There is also a related technical problem that requires a color post-press system to solve: It is the coloring problem of coated paper. Since the surface of the coated paper is coated with a film layer, the color toner cannot be adhered to it, and the pattern may be blurred or stained. However, in the future, color processing equipment will become as cheap as black and white. Roll Systems' well-established web color processing system based on Xeikon performs well and provides a high-level finishing solution. Now, as the time for finished products is getting shorter and shorter and more and more types are being used, excessive manual operations will inevitably cause an increase in the average cost of each print. Therefore, replacing manual operations with machines will save time and increase profits. It will certainly become Future developments. At present, many on-demand printers have added an indoor post-press processing system that is faster than you can colorize the prints. Because everyone knows that it takes time and waste of energy to go out for subsequent processing. In the now more and more personalized printing world, sometimes even a single order can not be given up, indoor processing can control time and reduce waste, and it is definitely the best choice. In short, the post-press processing part is becoming an extremely important part of the entire printing process. Printing is also increasingly involved in post-press processing work procedures. Whether they are on-demand short-run printers or traditional offset offset printers, now they have begun to understand that the future direction of profitability is - post-press processing.