Today’s advancements in sheetfed offset printing press technology greatly increase output productivity, minimize paper waste and makeready times, and enable shorter runs. Automation also reduces the labor requirements to complete what had been manual tasks in the printing industry.
Eric Frank
What's the future of offset technology? Find out where direct imaging is taking it—and how presses may eventually shed plates altogether. Look at the trends: Shorter runs. Faster turnaround demands. Digital job data. Cut-throat competition. Many printers won't survive. Those that do will have to use new technology to heed these trends. That's where on-press imaging comes in. It offers everything today's business climate demands: Short-run efficiency, lower costs, faster makereadies and fewer steps. True, direct imaging (DI) is nothing new; Heidelberg introduced its GTO-DI in 1991. But DI quality has improved since then. New imaging systems from Presstek and CreoScitex have paved
Like automation, color is not just an option anymore. Manufacturers are responding to the trend by offering more color-productive equipment. Color and simplicity seem to be the chief components of today's sheetfed offset presses. Quicker makereadies, digital prepress consoles, auto-perfecting channels and color controls are just some of the latest advances—with color creating a new niche market. "In 1986, most of the 9,000 presses sold by small-press manufacturers comprised single-color presses," observes Tom Nishimura, president of Hamada. "However, last year approximately only 4 percent of about 2,700 presses sold under 40˝ were single color. In-plants looking for easy-to-use, multi-functional machines that feature the