Presstek Europe’s sales manager for digital printing systems Simon Cosh suggests an alternative solution for those tricky run lengths between mainstream digital print and litho.

A new challenge has emerged for the print provider that is purely digital: as your business has grown, you have demand for some longer run lengths, which has meant either farming out more work and losing control of quality and lead times, or running longer runs lengths of 600 and above on your toner device, which you know is expensive but saves the inconvenience of sending work out.

What is the best solution to bridge this gap? There are many solutions out there and this depends on what your application fit is. Before we look at some possible solutions, we need the equipment to fulfil the following base criteria:

Quality- this is a given; everyone is looking to produce the highest quality print, no matter what process, as this is what customers demand.

Reliability- as you will intend to generate a good volume of work through your new press you need a high percentage of uptime.

Fast turnaround- production schedules are squeezed: it could be delays in the approval process or just a last minute requirement. Whatever the reason, it’s usually the print process that bears the brunt of the tight schedule.

Cost- whether we like it or not we all have pressure to be competitive, so cost per copy is crucial. Cost per copy needs to be looked at in the whole, including: cost of the press, jobs per shift, wastage costs, ink costs, servicing, operator costs, downtime, etc.

Flexibility- if you can invest in equipment that can print onto a wider variety of stocks and print using spot colours easily, then this could be the tipping point for you to gain that extra business.

Environmental- this has been seen in the past as being useful for marketing but we now live in a world where we are much more aware of our environmental responsibilities, and so just printing on recycled substrates is not enough. The continued rise of waste disposal costs and local waste disposal regulations requires this aspect to be looked at from a different angle.

So the challenge is to hit all of these demands without sacrificing any of the others. It’s no good turning a job around quickly in an environmentally responsible way whilst being competitive but the final product is of poor quality. Alternatively, if you have the newest technology press on the market which is the fastest but has reliability issues, then it is bound to be just when you need that quick turnaround job for your biggest customer that it breaks down.

If your applications are short run (up to 500) with a good volume of work, and you may require an element of variable data print, then there is an array of toner based devices. Quality can be great if you have the right press and substrate mix. If you have a very high volume of short run then look into the newer inkjet presses. Your volumes will have to be high as the cost of the press can be £1 million-plus. But if you need short run, quick turnaround applications of 32 page booklets with VDP, or just 100 of each, then you might be able to justify it.

If your application run lengths are between 500 and 20,000, you require quick turnaround and the highest quality print, the solution could be Direct Imaging. A DI press from Presstek is the ideal companion to toner-based digital presses of all sizes and brands. We believe that the Presstek DI solution has never been more relevant than in today’s print market, allowing companies to not only maintain their digital lifestyle, but also upgrade it.

Lost revenue can be brought back in house while creating new opportunities, and with 300 lpi printing or stochastic screening and make readies of less than 10 minutes, the DI press fits seamlessly into a digital workflow. A Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programme now offers customers a more affordable entry into this market, with CPO presses being around 50% of the cost of a new press, with full 12 month warranty.