A quick primer on printing can help you see why a digital printing service is the ideal source for your printing needs. Traditional offset printing and new digital printing have different technologies. These technology differences can make a big difference for the consumer. Offset printing is a comparatively more complex process than digital. Offset printing relies on etched plates to create printed images. Each different color of the printed image requires a different etched plate to make up the entire printed image. These etched metal plates are inked and attached to rollers. Rollers print the image onto the page. This process accounts for most of the cost of offset print jobs.
Digital printing uses drums and electrostatic charge that attracts different densities of toner. The toner then passes through high heat to attach or bond the image to the paper. This is a much quicker, simplified printing process. This difference in the process provides printing customers with some distinct advantages. Read about them below.
Saves Time
The streamlined production process saves both the customer and the printer time. Saved time reduces costs. Reduced printing costs help the company’s bottom line. Customers can now have much tighter turnaround times for their orders, and digital printing services can meet these tighter deadlines.
Lower Costs
As already alluded to, digital printing is cheaper for a couple of reasons. The print customer can make smaller orders and save money and save office storage space. Traditional offset printing always requires at least a couple of thousand copies to be cost effective. Digital printing eliminates unnecessarily large orders. It can handle both small and large print orders.
Eliminates Need to Store Print Inventory
The second point about smaller orders is customer convenience. With offset printing, the customer was always having to store most of the excessively large order. Reduced order size possible with digital printing eliminates storage issues.
Wider Choice of Printable Surfaces
Old offset printing involves a comparatively rougher process than digital printing. The paper undergoes what is essentially a stamping process as the metal plates contact the paper to leave an image. With digital printing, the object receiving the inked image never comes into full contact with the electrostatic roller. The ink is sprayed onto the surface.
This printing process does not require the print surface to be locked down or tightly held in place like offset printers. Spraying ink instead of stamping ink enables a wider range of items which can be printed. Items other than printer paper can be printed. Additionally, digital printing offers more color options for these different printing surfaces. Extremely thin paper that could never have been printed before can now be used. Digital printing can even print images onto thin, delicate fabric.
Quicker Proofing and Convenient Storage
Proofing is an invaluable step toward the final print product. Proofing involves carefully reviewing the intricate details of the requested print job. Digital proofing with digital files is a quicker process. They are less expensive than the offset produced proofs, and they can be shared more easily. The simpler digital proofs detail typing and font issues, location on the page and overall design issues. Exact colors are not the object with these first proofs. Inkjet or laser print technology is used to produce an image pretty close in color and design detail to the actual finished printed item. The enhanced color technology of these printers produces actual, final proofs also known as contract proofs. Contract proofs are the images the customer agrees to pay the printer to produce.
Storage of these proofs is convenient as well. Cloud storage is available for these image files. This means no more folders and packed file cabinets. The print customer can now retrieve stored print files and use them when needed.
So, are you ready to come into the 21st century with your printing needs? Shed those old clunker offset presses which require you to print more than you may ever need. Digital printing is a lot more convenient. It is also an excellent way to get your printing done professionally while saving both time and money. Only digital printing offers these advantages. Are you looking for a way to better manage your printing and printing related tools? Perhaps digital printing is just the ticket.
