Say goodbye to film

(Saying Goodbye To Film, Or At Least Thinking About It) CTP is the hottest topic in the industry right now. If you haven't noticed it yet, then you have a feeling of being left behind. Some CTP users think that CTP should be used early. Others think that it should be considered again. A few people even think that CTP is a wrong choice. At this stage, most printing companies are on the "waiting, waiting to see" level. They are eager to cross this line, but at the same time they hope that some problems can be solved. Frequently asked questions include: What kind of CTP platesetter is best in the market? What is the biggest obstacle to the application of CTP? • Do you need an annual warranty contract when purchasing a CTP device? ·What factors affect the use of metal plates after CTP? What is the difference between a toner-based system and other CTP systems? · How to use CTP to process hardcopy jobs provided by customers? Whether you listen to vendors, read related publications, or discuss with peers, the conclusions will be the same, that is, CTP technology will not stop. According to various reports, CTP is the fastest growing technology in the industry. The number of printers adopting CTP technology has increased from 8% in 1997 to 28% in 2000. It is estimated that by the end of 2001, 50% of companies in this industry will use CTP technology as the main mode of offset printing, and they will obtain it from them. More profit. According to reports, manufacturers who intend to purchase CTP equipment are increasingly inclined to select dedicated CTP platesetters (Dedicated Platesetters), especially if they do not consider annual sales and investment costs. At the same time, the number of CTP systems using a toner-based laser printer has significantly decreased. Although the cost of dedicated CTP platesetters is quite high, the "satisfaction level" ratio for them is unmatched by other devices. How to use CTP equipment to make "spot color", "precise positioning register", "four-color printing" printing plate is the most asked question. More and more signs indicate that the complexity and price of CTP equipment are constantly improving, mainly because more and more companies want them to have “positioning and registration”, “four-color printing” and the more common function of spot color printing. . The following table shows the rate at which a company relies on various different CTP systems to accomplish different tasks. The comparison is as follows. More advanced and complex systems are more likely to be applied in complex areas. CTP toner-based Laser Printing System Percentage Spot Color 71% Positioning Registration 20% Four-color Printing 9% CTP: Conversion Laser Imagesetter Spot Color 61% Positioning Registration 29% Four-Color Printing 10% CTP: Dedicated CTP Plates Imagesetters spot color 56% Positioning register 31% Four-color printing 13% Interestingly, when we analyze companies with different annual sales and ask them about what products are mainly produced with CTP equipment, we find that companies have more Use a dedicated CTP device to complete more complex, more costly jobs. CTP technology enables early adopters to significantly increase sales. This may be like a "chicken and egg" script. The higher the sales, the more companies have the ability to purchase equipment that is more expensive and more versatile; more expensive and more versatile equipment is usually able to complete high-quality prints. In turn, it can bring higher annual sales. CTP Uses - Corporate Spot Colors with Revenues Less than $500,000 USD 68% Positioning Registers 26% Four-Color Printing 6% CTP Uses - Company Spot Colors with Revenue Less than $2,000,000 53% Positioning Registers 26% Four-Color Printing 21% When asked about the biggest advancement of companies using CTP equipment after turning to CTP, it is surprising that the "cost savings" is less frequently mentioned than other options. Below are the various options and their corresponding "best benefits" percentages. The “other” reasons in the table may be the following: Photocopying is much better, and the time saved by productivity increases can be used in sales, reducing the time to prepare for printing, eliminating the need for an output center. CTP's greatest benefits Increased productivity 25.4% Cost savings 7.7% Increased quality 30.2% Performance expanded 11.2% Other 25.4CTP biggest deficiency The companies surveyed believe that the biggest deficiencies of CTP technology are the following 8 points, which account for the largest proportion It is a proofing problem. According to the survey, 52% of companies with annual sales of more than 2 million will use "proofing" as the biggest drawback of CTP. Each of the following disadvantages is almost directly related to the use of the CTP system. For example, 42% of the companies using a toner-based system believe that unstable quality is the biggest drawback. In contrast, only 2.3% of users who use proprietary platesetters have unstable quality as the main issue. CTP's maximum under-percentage Cost High 12.2% Training 8% Service & Technical Issues 11% Consumables 3.1% Proofing 28.3% Unstable Quality 8.4% Printing Machine Installation 9.7% Other 9.3% From the information collected it can be clearly seen when When CTP becomes the main platemaking method, it also solves some of the major difficulties that were often raised in the past. We asked respondents to rank from 1 to 5 on seven different types of questions. 1 indicates little or no problem, 3 indicates a moderate problem, and 5 indicates a major problem. The following are seven types of questions and scores. Type or subject rate establishment scheduler 2.2 Get retailer assistance and training 2.8 Train CTP machine operators 2.7 Adapt customer to CTP 7.7 Integrate with existing equipment 2.6 Color proofing 3.3 Costs 3.2 This survey compares to the 1999 report , with some changes. The previous training of machine operators was the biggest problem pointed out by all users. Followed by integration with existing equipment and lack of help and professional information. Many data indicate that the printing industry is experiencing a shift to more complex and expensive CPT equipment. Followed by completing more complex work, including a considerable amount of work. All of these factors or trends help explain why color proofing and costing will top the list. As more and more devices (and users) begin to adapt to CTP technology, these issues will begin to become less important. Because of the increasing importance of color proofing equipment for color proofing, which is related to the use of CTP technology, a comprehensive evaluation of proofing equipment and evaluation of individual equipment (based on different proofing equipment) is given here. The following is a comprehensive evaluation. (Divided into 10 levels, 1 is the lowest level, and 10 is the highest level.) With the emphasis on large-scale commercial production and high-grade proofing equipment, small-scale printing companies like to use document RIP on various types of color copiers as The method of proofing. Nonetheless, some color reproduction machines work better when accurately reproducing the expected colors. Proofing Equipment Evaluation Value Laser Printer 5.6 Inkjet Printer 5.4 RIP to Color Copier 6.8 Hot Wax Equipment 6.3 Thermal Sublimation Equipment 3.7 How to Process a Customer's Original When deciding to purchase a CTP device, there is another problem to consider. How to make a plate for a job where a customer provides a copy of a hard disk copy or is recovered from an old customer file. Although buyers of CTP equipment often require the purchase of "universal" equipment, such requirements are independent of the type of equipment chosen, and a spare optical camera or direct phase-to-origin platemaking machine should be selected. The following lists the several options provided by the CTP users and their preferences. How to deal with hard-copy manuscripts Degree of preference for optical cameras or platesetters 56.8% Pre-press desktop scanners 30% Scanners integrated with CTP devices* 9.5% External processing 1.6% Others 2.1% * Typical devices of the ABDick series of CTP devices, eg DPM 2000. Conclusion Before deciding whether or not your company should purchase CTP equipment, it is important to conduct a detailed evaluation and review of this area. You can subscribe to a 2001 CTP Report, which includes more than 65 facts, figures, forms, and will give you very good advice, at least to refer to the opinions of those who have used CTP. If you want to order, you can visit the website or send e-mail orders. E-mail address:. You can also visit publisher QP Consulting Inc.'s web site order. The web site is:. E-mail:.