Pursue the Development Footprint of Digital Printing from Three Aspects (II)

PRISMA focuses on the workflow of digital printing, while Free Flow goes one step further and devotes itself to the integration of digital printing and traditional printing digital workflows. The latest version of Free Flow realizes the sharing and interaction of job information with Prinergy and Fuji XMF. It can send print jobs from the digital printing system to the CTP device or from the offset printing system to the digital printing system. The success of Free Flow may lead us to believe that the digital printing workflow is beginning to take over the future of mixed-printing processes.

2. Network Printing Platform

Although online printing can bring more convenient communication channels, lower costs, and faster service, how to smoothly convert customer's online orders into final products is a problem that manufacturers who are engaged in online printing services must face. . Although services for accepting orders on the Internet abound, products that really integrate network printing platforms into digital printing digital workflows are rare. Fortunately, the development of the network printing integration platform has been able to link the ordering, creation, on-demand printing, binding, logistics and distribution processes of the network together to meet the fast, personalized and convenient service requirements for network printing.

In terms of products, Kodak's integrated solution for network printing is a good example. The Insite software in its product suite can realize the e-commerce functions of online stores, and then it can realize personalized page paging and template software and PRINERGY process with EyeMedia. The system can realize digital printing automatic management process. Similar representatives include Agfa's Web-based Delano management platform and Printable Technologies' Web-to-Print solution.

3. Variable data typesetting software

Although most digital printing equipment will provide a certain random variable data printing function, if the variable data typesetting is completed at the time of printing, the management of the digital printing process is very unfavorable, and it cannot be disadvantaged by "What You See Is What You Get". It also increases the potential for error. Therefore, it is very necessary to introduce variable data typesetting in the content production stage, which has led to the emergence of variable data typesetting software.

As more and more banks outsource bill printing to digital printing service providers, variable data printing has become a new strong growth point in the digital printing market, which has also contributed to the rapid development of variable data typesetting software. In the field of commercial direct mail, the data that can be processed by the variable data typesetting software is relatively fixed and relatively simple to implement. For example, the entry-level variable data typesetting software PrintShopMail can easily complete personalized business cards, mail, and direct mail advertisements. Other products such as typesetting and printing work. Similar software includes XMPie's PersonalEffect, PODS's DARWINVIAuthoringTool, and Firefox's Fire and Variable Data Publishing Software.

Compared with the typesetting requirements of commercial direct mail products, the difficulty of typesetting the bills is much greater, mainly reflected in the increase in variable data volume and variable data fields. This also puts forward new requirements for variable data typesetting software. However, many companies have introduced corresponding products on the market, such as the PrintnetDesigner variable data typesetting software recently released by GMC and the newly launched paper from Founder Electronics. The sharp business letter version can handle complex layout requirements for products such as credit card bills.

Materials

The improvement of printing quality, speed, and substrates for digital printing equipment is inseparable from the development of digital printing materials, especially digital inks and toners. With the increasingly fierce competition in the digital printing market, digital printing equipment suppliers have increased investment in R&D for new inks and toners. In addition to the consistent advantages of water-based inks and enhanced durability, the development of various electronic inks such as solvent-based inks, eco-ink, sublimation inks, and UV inks has allowed the development of alternative inks to diversify. . The innovative application of toner on inkjet printing has also given us more imagination about the future of inkjet printing.

Water-based ink

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the use of water-based inks has become more widespread. The color gamut that water-based inks can replicate is almost the largest in all ink systems, so water-based inks have a natural advantage in color performance.

However, since water-based inks are generally based on dyes and pigment formulations, their service life is between a few days and one month, and they need to be used in conjunction with specialized coated inkjet substrates, which restricts the promotion of water-based inks. However, the introduction of the latest HP Latex water-based ink may solve this problem. Latex water-based inks are said to provide long-lasting, high-quality printing results for a variety of HP-produced or non-HP-produced media. Even uncoated products can exhibit outdoor durability of up to 3 years. . However, the true market value and application value of this kind of ink still need the test of time.

2. Toner

Usually the toner is used in digital printing machines that use electrostatic sensitized imaging, while Océ's CrystalPoint process toners have revolutionized the way toner is used, as shown in Figure 1. The process uses a microsphere toner, which Océ Company calls TonerPearls. This toner can be converted into a gel, which can be printed on paper exactly after the toner is inked, and the printing effect is half. Light, the image will not change with water. Since the toner does not dissolve during printing, the CrystalPoint process can obtain high-precision detail reproduction, and no feathering due to ink spreading occurs at the sharp edges. The latest ColorWave 600 digital press is the latest result of this new process.

3.UV curing ink

The gel-curable inks that Xerox is developing specifically for digital presses will be able to print on sheet metal, smooth-surfaced plastics, and cardboard, for a wide range of media. The stickiness of this gel-cured ink is similar to that of peanut butter, and when heated it becomes a viscous liquid like a motor oil. In the heated state, the liquid ink is ejected from the print head by ink jet, transferred to the surface of the substrate such as a metal foil, plastics, etc., and after cooling, the peanut butter-like consistency is restored, and the ink is cured by the UV light curing device. dry. However, the ink was only exposed on drupa2008 for a short time. The specific date of listing has not yet been determined.

Although digital printing bears people's ideal for digital printing in the future, development has undergone rough times. However, with the development of digital printing equipment, software, materials, and other aspects of technology, the cost of digital printing will become lower and lower, and the scope of application will also become increasingly widespread. We have reason to expect a brighter future for digital printing!