1 Trends in the printing industry
Let me talk about the current status of the printing industry and the future development. Japan ’s printing industry accounts for a small proportion of international trade (import and export), and it is produced in a self-sufficient way of producing printed matter for domestic consumption in the country. Another feature is that the Japanese printing industry is basically dominated by the domestic consumption situation in Japan. When domestic consumption is active, printed matter increases; on the contrary, when consumption decreases, printed matter decreases.
The Japanese economy has been slowly growing in recent years, supported by exports. The self-sufficient and domestic consumption-dependent Japanese printing industry cannot expect to find a way out through exports. The sluggish domestic consumption makes it lag in growth.
As can be seen from the annual trend chart in the "Monthly Printing Industry Dynamic Survey" of the Japan Printing Technology Association (JAGAT), although it sometimes increases and sometimes decreases, from 8 years from 2000 to 2008, printing sales decreased by about 5%. According to the "Industrial Statistics Table" of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the shipment volume of the Japanese printing industry has decreased since 2000, and it has decreased by 14% in 2006 compared with 2000. As a result, the number of Japanese printing companies and employees are decreasing, and the size of the printing industry is shrinking.
However, the sales volume of printing paper inks was basically flat or slightly increased during this period, and it can be considered that the total printing volume was roughly flat. According to the enterprise service price index calculated by the Bank of Japan, based on the price in 2000, the prices of all print formats have decreased. In particular, the price of offset printing products fell by 8%, a significant decrease. Due to the digitization of the pre-processes in the printing industry, the elimination of phototypesetting and plate-making processes, sales have decreased significantly. In particular, due to the sluggish demand for printed materials, the price competition is fierce, which has led to a continuous decline in printing prices.
2 Sheet-fed printing
Offset printing accounts for three-quarters of Japan's print shipments. Although there is no statistical data on offset printings and sheet-fed printings, about 3/4 of the offset ink shipments are for inks for rubber wheels. In addition, many ink manufacturers say that the amount of inks for rubber wheels is increasing ( Even considering the decline in the profits of inks used in offset printing, at least 1/2 of the offset printing products are printed using the offset method.
The preparation time of the rubber turbine is decreasing, and paper consumption is decreasing. The rubber tire machine is entering the field of small batch jobs of about 20,000 printed. In addition, in the field of short-run work, on-demand printing (POD) is growing, and 200 to 500 copies of live parts are produced by POD equipment. There are rubber wheels for the long version and POD for the short version, and the offset of the single sheet of paper is between these two plates. However, there are also problems with web rubber presses and PODs, which are constrained by paper size and paper quality.
Taking the above analysis as the basis of general cognition, as far as sheet-fed offset presses are concerned, the following characteristics exist:
Revolutionary technology cannot be expected;
Formed a competitive relationship with rubber wheel printing and POD printing;
Shipment volume is gradually decreasing.
Based on the above reasons, sheet-fed offset printing presses are required to achieve the following objectives:
①Reduce cost; ② Shorten delivery time; ③ Small batch; ④ High quality; ⑤ Diversity. [next]
3 Guarantee profits by buying printing presses
By purchasing a new type of printing machine, production efficiency can be improved and new business markets can be opened up. Although the role of the introduction of new equipment is great, ensuring the required business volume is a problem that needs to be solved.
1) Purchase of double-sided printing machine
The double-sided printing machine completes double-sided printing in one pass, which has obvious effects in reducing costs and shortening delivery time. It has been rapidly popularized in the past three or four years. There are three types of double-sided printing presses: â‘ with reversing type (single and double-sided printing variable type) â‘¡ double-layer bus type (alternating front and back printing type) â‘¢ Tandem type (one-sided printing type). Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages, and can be selected according to the company's business situation and the size of the plant.
Due to the quality difference between the front and back printing of the printed product, the double-sided printing machine is not suitable for the most high-end printed products, but it can still meet the quality requirements of most printed products. The ink should choose the product model with less ink stacking failure than the impression cylinder of the double-sided printing machine. In addition, there are paper and plate correction adjustment devices for the paper deformation caused by the double-sided printing machine, but the position of the imposition may also need to be adjusted during the CTP output stage. Based on the existing single-sided printing machine, the new double-sided printing machine increased the printing output by 1.6 times, and the continuous printing cost was reduced by 25%. In particular, the preparation time including the ink drying waiting time is reduced by 1/2. This can greatly achieve the goal of rationalization.
The most critical issue for making a double-sided printing machine fully function is how to ensure the printing work of the double-sided printing machine. Generally speaking, you can expand sales through hard work under the trend of decreasing single-sheet prints, so as to ensure the workload of the double-sided machine; or discard the original aging equipment to rationalize production, or adopt a compromise between the two.
2) Purchase large printing press
If it is a large-size printing machine, the printing production efficiency can be increased by about 2 to 4 times, which can play a great role in reducing costs and shortening delivery time. When large-size posters are used for large-size posters as printed products, it is a good choice in forming differentiation from other companies. Since only doing such special work will bury the production capacity of large-scale printing presses, both large-volume work and multi-page number work must be guaranteed in quantity. When purchasing large printing machines, it is essential to purchase large CTP output machines, large cutting machines, large forklifts, etc. at the same time. In addition to the high price of the printing press, it must be considered that the configuration price of the auxiliary equipment is not low.
3) Purchase with glazing press
For product catalogs, the glazing of the cover of the brochure and the glazing of the packaged products are usually sent to a professional glazing factory for external processing. Therefore, processing fees and transportation fees are outflowed as outsourcing funds. If the paper can be finished on the printing machine at one time, it can reduce the cost and shorten the delivery time.
Varnish is divided into UV varnish and water-based varnish. Extend the paper take-up section of the printing press, and install a UV lamp or an infrared lamp on it to cure and dry the varnish. In terms of the smoothness and glossiness of the glazing coating, although the glazing processing of the glazing device of the printing press is not as good as that of a special glazing machine, after the resin relief plate is installed on the glazing part, partial glazing can be performed In the past, the glazing device was more superior and became a characteristic of the glazing of the printing press.
4) Purchase of web feeder
In a printing machine with roll paper, roll paper is arranged in the paper feed section, and the roll paper is cut to a desired size while printing is performed simultaneously. Roll paper is easy to use, the price is cheaper than a single sheet of paper, and it has a significant effect on reducing costs.
Roll paper can provide all possible paper, and it is better for large batches of printed products and regular printed products, especially in the case of large blanks and obvious waste in specifications, the roll paper used by the rubber machine is very good.
5) Realize rapid printing by UV printer
By installing a UV lamp on the printing machine, the ink is quickly cured and dried after printing, so that the drying time tends to zero, greatly reducing the preparation time.
UV printing has applications in packaging printing, plastic printing, etc., but few examples are used in commercial printing and publication printing. The reason is that the price of UV ink is about three times the price of ordinary ink, and the energy consumption of UV lamps is large. And the cost rises.
For applications that can absorb the rising cost factors, there are ultra-short delivery prints. However, it should be noted that due to the low gloss of the UV prints and the appearance of cloudiness, it is not suitable for high-end prints.
4 Guarantee profits through system improvement
By purchasing a new printing machine, the production efficiency can be improved and the cost can be significantly reduced. However, this will generate more equipment costs, and the guarantee of business volume is also a necessary condition. Even if it is determined that buying new equipment is a good thing, it cannot be bought on many occasions.
Another way is to make good use of existing printing presses, or to make some improvements to make it profitable or prevent business outflows.
The improvement of the system or the improvement of the business is the fundamental to ensure the profit. Although a method can not achieve great results, it can ensure the profit after the accumulation.
1) Construction of integrated production system
Through the construction of the minimum integrated production system including CTP, printing, binding processing, and delivery, the waste of cost and time can be reduced to zero. Having a complete production process in your own company is not an ideal solution. It is the best solution to build an integrated production system through the cooperation of ideal partners. In the past, it was very important to build an integrated system that did not pay much attention to the delivery process (including classification and packaging) that resulted in poor management and outflow of profits.
2) CMS color management
Through the application of the CMS system, the color monitor, simple proofing proofs and the color of the printed matter of the printing machine can be uniform, and the effects of cost reduction, quality improvement and operation technical difficulty can be obtained. Let's talk about the main points of the success of the CMS application:
â‘ Production of CMS Profile file
Printing paper includes three kinds of coated paper, matte paper and high-quality paper. When printing, it is necessary to determine the solid density, dot expansion value and gray balance of the printed product and print the signal strip. These data are measured by a densitometer, and then a CMS Profile is created to correct the color reproducibility of the monitor screen and simple proofing proofs. Finally, output simple proofing proofs again to confirm the consistency of color rendering.
Since the quality of the simple proofing proofs is improved, especially the accuracy of the CMS software is improved, so that the proofs with fairly consistent colors can be obtained.
â‘¡ Standardization of printing conditions
The color difference during printing is related to changes in room temperature, improper ink viscosity, blanket ink stacking, ink roller pressure, ink roller temperature, dirty fountain solution, and heavy ghosting. If the CMS Profile is preset, it will reduce the factors that cause color difference, which is very important.
Through daily maintenance and inspection, as well as the inspection of color reproduction based on the periodic standard color sample printing, the printing can be kept in a standard state. It is difficult to do this, but the effect achieved is very good:
Easy color stacking (no need for skilled technology);
No color difference (stable printing quality);
Platform proofs can be replaced with simple proofs (reduce costs and shorten delivery time);
The color is consistent under the DTP system (improving the service level to customers).
If the application accuracy of CMS can be further improved, the color difference between the simple proofing proof and the officially printed proof will remain the same when printing under standard conditions.
In the printing process, under the premise of confirming that the standard printing conditions are met by the patch color patch and the gray balance curve, it is an ideal printing. There is no need to "transition" the simple proofing proofs to the printing process, especially the page data and instructions necessary for printing can be delivered through communication, and the effect obtained is very good.
In the future, the requirements for the captain of the printing press will no longer be the technical requirements for color matching, but will be raised to the level of printing while maintaining standard printing conditions. Especially in the management of printing factories, printing standards will be established, and printing will be carried out under the conditions of maintaining standard printing conditions (for example, keeping the room temperature constant, performing data management through the density meter, strictly implementing the maintenance inspection system and the 5S system). [next]
3) Work preparation in one direction
If the color management by CMS described in 2) is used in combination with the ink preset function, you can reach a predetermined color by taking dozens of sheets after changing the version. In addition, if the installation position of the printing plate and the position of the front and side regulations are standardized, due to the accurate and consistent color, rules and printing position, the trial printing can be completed quickly and the official printing can be entered. The work preparation in one direction can eliminate the multiple trial printing for color matching and registration, reduce the preparation time to the shortest, and become a winning magic weapon for small batch printing.
4) Waterless printing (ecological printing)
Waterless printing is evaluated as an ecological printing method because no fountain solution is used. Recently, it has attracted attention as a printing method to reduce CO2 emissions. Prints that are valued for their ecology include CSR reports, company brochures, and catalogs of ecological products. The main advantage of waterless printing is that the printing quality is stable, only a little experience can be used for printing, less paper for trial printing, and high-density printing. Fully exert these advantages of waterless printing, and use it as an output method of CMS, you can play a greater effect.
5) High-definition printing, FM printing
Since high-definition printing and FM printing have more faithful and more realistic reproduction effects on fine images, the range of expression of printing means is expanded, which is suitable for photobooks, art books, high-end catalogs, medical photobooks, etc.
The problems in the printing plate process are solved by CTP, but there are still problems in the printing process, which is the stabilization of the dot expansion value. This is the biggest technical problem that exists. Therefore, it is required to standardize the operation and carry out daily management. High-definition printing and FM printing technology are effective in forming differentiation from other companies and demonstrating the high level of our printing technology.
6) High color printing
The so-called high-color printing is a printing method that uses high-density or multi-color methods to make the reproduced colors more abundant than the colors reproduced by the standard 4-color printing. Specifically, high chroma printing refers to four-color printing by increasing solid density, or seven-color printing by adding complementary colors of orange, green, and purple, or four-color printing using high color rendering ink.
High-definition printing and FM printing are aimed at improving the resolution, and high-color printing is aimed at improving the color performance. If the two are combined, it is very characteristic as a high value-added printing method.
7) Thin paper printing and thick paper printing
Products printed on 30-50g / m2 thin paper include insurance documents, manuals, dictionaries, collections of legal documents, direct mail, etc. Large and medium batch prints are mostly printed on rubber wheels; small and medium batch prints and special processing size prints must be printed on sheet-fed printing presses.
Although there are problems such as paper elongation, difficulty in feeding out the feeder, and difficulty in collecting paper in the delivery section, there is a need to use a sheet-fed offset printing press for printing thin paper.
Other 0.3-0.6mm paper is used in the field of thick paper printing (carton, etc.), but if thicker paper can be used, the coverage of the business can be expanded.
8) Plastic printing
Printing on PET film, synthetic paper, metal foil, and plastic labels is classified as a special printing category, so companies engaged in such printing have greater advantages than other companies. Printing on these substrates will cause problems such as static electricity and ink drying, but can be improved by measures such as humidification in the printing workshop, improvement of the Feida department, and printing with UV ink. Plastic film, thin paper, and thick paper printing have become possible by making several improvements to sheet-fed offset printing presses, but this requires accumulation of technology in the use of substrates, printing press adjustments, and other technologies.
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