Discussion on Direct Plate Making Application and Investment

In today's increasingly fierce market competition, new technologies are always attractive to companies. Whether it is abroad or domestic, more and more printers have realized that using CTP technology is a powerful measure to increase the competitiveness of enterprises and win more customers.

I. The latest development of CTP application in China

In the fourth quarter of 2002, the Printing Technology Magazine conducted statistics on the installed capacity of CTP in mainland China. The results showed that as of September 2002, a total of 143 CTP installations were installed throughout the country. Today, eight or nine months have passed since the last statistics. What are the new changes in the situation? How many CTPs have been installed in China? With these questions, we sent a survey letter to the manufacturers on the basis of the statistics in 2002 and investigated the installation of the CTP from October 2002 to May 2003. The results show that as of May 2003, the cumulative installed capacity of CTPs in Mainland China reached 197 units, an increase of 54 units in eight months. Most manufacturers give positive support to our investigation and hereby express our sincere gratitude to them.

From the data provided by manufacturers, we can see that Agfa has grown by 17; Heidelberg has grown by 12; Creo has grown by 11; Screens have increased by 4; Yanjing Bank has increased by 2; The ECRM Emperor Leopard grew by two; Claus increased by one; Fujifilm, which was not present in the last statistics, installed two; Shanghai Patuxman sold three Lausanne, Switzerland; the remaining installed capacity. No change. Among the 54 new additions, most are still CTPs for commercial printing and packaging and printing; only 8 are CTPs for newspapers, among which 3 are Creo; 2 are Agfa; 2 sets; Klaus has 1 set.

From the development of domestic CTP applications, it can be seen that although the CTP plates used by domestic users are still dependent on imports, although some companies have encountered CCP problems after using CTP, the enthusiasm of domestic printing companies for investing in CTP has not diminished. . According to a survey conducted by Print Technology Magazine's visitors to All India, 37% of visitors expressed interest in CTP technology and equipment. However, judging from the above statistical data, the increase in the installed capacity of 54 aircraft in 8 months is indeed not a lot. It seems that the pace of investment in domestic printing companies to invest in CTP has somewhat slowed down. Some printers indicated that the high price of imported CTP plates has largely affected the promotion and application of CTP in China. With the continuous maturity of CTP technology, the increase in the number of equipment and plates, and the improvement of the level, if the prices of plates can be properly reduced, the relentless pursuit of new technologies by printing companies will certainly promote the application and development of CTP in China.

Second, the reasons for printing plants to invest in CTP

People have already learned about the technical advantages and characteristics of CTP from one CTP seminar, one seminar, and major professional publications. We will not repeat them here. Let's hear a few industry insiders talk about their reasons for investing in CTP.

Lan Ning (China Youth Daily Printing Factory Manager): It is competition that motivates us to invest in CTP. The "Jinghua Times" that we printed on behalf of us was changed from March 2002 to the printing of 3 factories, satellites, and at the same time, the distribution of the 3 prints was determined by the printing speed. While guaranteeing the printing quality, the fast printing factory obtains more copies. Using CTP technology, we can shorten the time of plate making, win more prints, and obtain better economic benefits.

Bai Qi (Deputy General Manager of Beijing Qiliang Hyde Printing Co., Ltd.): We mainly buy equipment to change the process, improve our capabilities, and stay ahead in technology. Prior to the CTP, we had all the printing and post-press equipment, but we had no prepress. Therefore, when the film provided by the customer has a problem, it often brings a lot of trouble to our printing work.

In December 2001, we saw that the CTP technology has matured. We have ordered Heidelberg direct platemaking machines taking into account the actual situation of the Beijing printing market and our own market positioning. In May 2002, the CTP was officially put into production. Today, CTP has more than 30% of the plate-making volume. After the CTP, we not only have prepress equipment, we can provide customers with one-stop service from prepress to postpress, and do not need to reprint or dirty the printing plate. The preparation time of the press has also been shortened. A lot.

Zhao Fang (Director of the Beijing Dida Color Printing Factory): When we first considered that CTP is a new technology, we must be technologically advanced and want to try out what this new technology can bring to our company's production structure and business structure. Kind of change. In addition, at the beginning, the printing machine configuration of our factory was relatively complete and the efficiency was relatively high. However, it was a traditional equipment before printing, and the prepress process flow was long and inefficient. We also want to go further in prepress to increase prepress production efficiency to meet the ever-shortening demand for delivery.

Zhang Zhongming (General Manager of Hubei Daily Newspaper Group Chutian Printing Co., Ltd.): As a newspaper printing company, the printing volume of newspapers printed by the company is getting bigger and bigger, and the time is tight. We are mainly on the CTP to adopt new technologies to increase the timeliness. After adopting the CTP, there is no longer a situation where mistakes are easily made when using hand-made imposition. Not only the timeliness of newspaper printing has been improved, but the printing quality has also been significantly improved. Now, there are several newspapers printed by us that require the use of CTP plates. The original CTP has been unable to meet the needs of production, so we bought the second one.

Third, how to invest in CTP

According to statistics, there are currently more than 75 types of CTP equipment (metal plate base) available on the market. These products vary in terms of speed, breadth, and degree of automation. There are also more than 10 polyester CTP devices (not including laser imagesetters that can be imaged on polyester plates).
The range of CTP plates is very large, and the application of thermal plate solutions seems to be broader than that of violet lasers. Let's take a look at some of the existing solutions.

Thermal Solution

The main use is the 830nm laser. In the past, the cost of running a preheated version was relatively high (according to statistics from foreign countries, the annual cost was more than 20,000 US dollars). Nowadays, many manufacturers have introduced plates that do not need to be preheated, but there are still many times when baking is required to increase the resistance to printing and support UV printing. In the long-lived field with over 350,000 copies, the thermal plate dominates.

In fact, in the so-called printing plates without development or chemical development, some still need to be washed, glued, and even need to remove ablation. The attractiveness of no development is mainly to reduce the floor space of the equipment and to use less chemicals. However, the cost of gluing equipment is comparable to the cost of purchasing a plate processor, and the system for removing ablation material also costs more than 20,000 U.S. dollars. Now, almost all manufacturers are focusing on and developing this technology, but with little success.

Visible light plate solution

Now, almost mentioned visible light technology basically refers to the violet laser technology. Others such as argon ion laser, neon laser, and red diode have become past technologies. At present, in the field of visible light imaging, the silver salt version still dominates, but with the advent of 30mW violet laser diodes, the photopolymerization version is also gradually expanding its market.

Most of the violet laser CTPs are mainly used in the market with the following format. As small-scale printing companies invest in CTP, price and operating costs will become the main topics of concern.
As for the direct platemaking system using UV light sources, there are still some problems in commercial applications. After all, solid UV laser technology is still a less mature technology, and gas UV lasers are too expensive.

Inkjet CTP system

Although the quality of inkjet CTPs has increased, the price is also attractive to users, but its application range is limited. Inkjet CTP is sandwiched between the high-quality polyester CTP and the low-cost metal violet-CTP market, and it is difficult to find a market position that suits itself. Whether it can withstand competition from other products is not yet known.

Polyester CTP system

The appearance of polyester version CTP has been for more than 10 years. Users who use this type of CTP basically use four-fold format printers. The amount of plate making is less than 10 sets per day, and the printing capacity of prints is basically at 20,000 copies. the following.

Investment memorandum

First, the important thing in choosing CTP is to clarify your own needs. What kind of quality level do you hope to achieve (how many network cables do you need to use FM network, etc.)? What is your print volume? What are the requirements before printing (such as trapping, imposition, CIP4, JDF support, etc.)? What are the requirements for proofing? General Manager Zhang Zhongming of Chutian Printing General Company of Hubei Daily Newspaper Group believes that before a company decides to invest in CTP, it must first see whether it has such needs, whether it has the necessary funds, and whether it has a certain amount of money. strength.

Second, digital proofing solutions have been adopted before the CTP. Some printers who have already used CTP have realized this. Zhao Fang, director of the Beijing Dadi Color Printing Factory, said that if it is not ready for color management and digital proofing, even if it is on the CTP, it will not be able to immediately take advantage of the CTP. It is recommended that printing companies first master the digital proofing technology, first make the digital proofing and the laser exposure film process docking, after the preparation is fully on the CTP, so as to achieve a smooth combination of digital proofing and CTP.

Third, it depends on whether the supplier is a good partner. Technology is important, and technical support is also important. When choosing a CTP, printers should not only focus on the technology, but also pay attention to the manufacturer's strength. Because once the equipment is purchased and installed, you still need someone to answer your questions and help you improve your ability. In particular, some small businesses, unlike some large companies that have a lot of senior professional and technical personnel, should pay attention to whether the technical support strength of the suppliers is strong. If you can't get the technical support you need at any time, a cheaper system is likely to become a costly system for future use.

Mr. Zhang Haiyun, Technical Department of Yangcheng Evening News Group stated that when purchasing CTP, it is necessary to examine the strength of the supplier. Do not consider only the price of the stand-alone machine, and must take into account the maintenance and operating costs of the later period. In addition, when the machine arrives at the installation, it is best for one or two technicians to follow suit from the time of installation to commissioning. In the future, some minor problems can be resolved. General Manager Zhang Zhongming specifically mentioned that not only quality and service should be considered when purchasing, but also whether the selected equipment meets the requirements of environmental protection, because in the future, the state will pay more and more attention to the issue of environmental protection.

Fourth, the selection of processes is mainly application-oriented, and none of the selected software can be less. Bai Qi, the deputy general manager of Qiliang Hyde, emphasized that the selection of CTP processes and equipment should be based on practicality and stability, and should not only pursue the latest and best in technology. Originally, after Qiliang Hyder had won the top CTP, they chose a mature Delta process. They did not choose to talk about the latest process at that time, but after actual use, they proved that the process was very stable. In addition, although some of the software's original price is not low, but they think they need to buy, such as imposition software, trapping software. Practice has proved that the original decision was correct. The use of these software not only eliminated some of the pre-press errors that had occurred in the past, but also helped improve the precision of spot-print printing.

There is no doubt that the application of CTP is becoming increasingly widespread and CTP is becoming more and more important to printing companies. Please carefully evaluate your needs and take steps to adopt CTP and digital workflow. Once you do, you will regret why there is no morning CTP? Why have you delayed so much time?

Source: CorinMedia