Hong Kong printing company CTP experience
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The pace of adoption of computer-to-plate (CTP) printing companies in Hong Kong is accelerating. In mid-1998, there were only five installations of CTP in Hong Kong. However, as of February 2002, the number had reached 40, an increase of more than 8 times, and about half of them were installed in 2001. Although during this period, Hong Kong was hit by the financial turmoil, the economy has not improved, and the operating environment is still very difficult. However, the price of CTP plates continues to decline, the effect of digital drafting is becoming more mature, and the printing companies that have installed CTP have made positive comments on cost-effectiveness. Various factors have made the benefits of adopting CTP more than the cost. Less printing companies have included the installation of CTP into the agenda of the development plan.
Greatly improved productivity
Almost all printing companies that have used CTP have agreed to use CTP to increase productivity. Mr. Ma Shifang of Yuntong Plate Printing Co., Ltd. said: "The time for registration and coloring before CTP is about 15 to 20 minutes per print. Therefore, the loss of paper is about 100 to 100. 200 sheets, this is the basic loss of time and paper for each print. Now with CTP zinc plate, the first paper can be completely set. The Heidelberg CTP production system we use can output CIP3 PPF.
The ink control file requires only 20 to 30 sheets of color to be toned, which is much less in terms of loss and more cost-competitive. Expenditure on factory expenses, machine depreciation, and employee salaries are relatively fixed. Therefore, time savings can make us print one or two more jobs a day. Equal to the efficiency of the printing press increased by 30%, naturally bring more benefits. "
The original business of Express was color separation plate making, film output and traditional drafting. He bought Heidelberg's presses and CTP lines in mid-2001. CTP uses Delta technology workflows, including Delta Prepserver, responsible for RIP and file management, Signastation imposition workstations, CPC 32 ink computing workstations, and a Trendsetter thermal zinc output. Machine, and 3 large-format inkjet digital drafters, ICC profiles are calculated and generated by Print Open software, and the color management staff will update the ICC profile regularly. This is a very advanced CTP production line, and the digital drafting uses the ROOM concept to ensure consistency with the output on the zinc plate. Due to the rich experience of the company before the press, the CTP was fully operational after only two weeks of training. Although their printing is a new development business, most of the customers are satisfied with the output of the CTP zinc plate, and the printing is also handled by the Express, so that they are busy from morning till night.
In fact, CTP is not a patent for large companies. Some small and medium-sized printing companies in Hong Kong are also considering the application of CTP in parts and short-run markets. For example, the printing service for express parts can promise to complete 1000 copies of A4 color sheets in two hours. . This is equivalent to printing 250 sheets of paper on a four-open press. If it is smooth, 4 to 5 such jobs can be completed in one hour. This kind of delivery speed is difficult to achieve before CTP, and CTP will gradually change the service and competition mode of short-run printing.
Whether the CTP system is easy to use and whether it can effectively prevent problematic manuscripts from entering the production line has always been the key to smooth CTP operation. Generally, the output company relies on manual inspection of manuscripts, which is time-consuming and error-prone, and inefficient, and easily causes bottlenecks. Therefore, PDF is the ideal format for CTP production. The reason is that in the process of forming a PDF file, the system has checked the integrity and correctness of the manuscript, which can prevent the manuscript with problems from entering the system. Lego Printing Co., Ltd. uses Agfa's Apogee Series 2 workflow because of the flexible support of the process for PDF, which can produce optimized PDF files on the client side, PDF conversion in the background, and easy system learning. According to Mr. Wu Liesheng, a partner of Ligao, "We didn't have any prepress experience before installing CTP. All the software and computers related to prepress were purchased together when installing CTP. We have two employees responsible. CTP production, when the CTP system was just installed, one employee just graduated from the college and the other was transferred by the customer service team. Since Apogee is easy to operate, it only takes 3 months to train 2 people, and it can be fully put into production. Our system has been in operation for nearly a year, during which no one has made any mistakes in printing, nor has it turned to Agfa's support services. At present, about 20% of the printed copies are sent to the CTP system for zinc output. Initially there are only some customers. Because of cost reasons, CTP has been tried, and now even the most demanding customers are willing to adopt it. Some customers' submissions are already in PDF format, which can be impositioned immediately, greatly improving the throughput of the system and speeding up the production cycle. The master also likes CTP very much, because the zinc plate of CTP is easier to register, easier to print, and the production efficiency is significantly improved than before. Their printing technology is also Can play better."
Ligao's main business is book printing. At present, there are 6 printing machines, and most of the printed products are shipped to markets such as Europe and the United States. They use the complete Apogee Series 2 production process, including the Pilot for converting PDFs and impositions, the PDF RIP for dot processing, the PrintDrive for managing output, and the large-format Galileo for the Zinc output. According to Mr. Wu, Galileo is used because the output speed is faster. Digital drafting includes two large-format Sherpa, ICC profiles calculated and produced by ColorTune Pro.
Adequate training is the key
Printing companies entering new technology fields will inevitably involve many unknown factors, especially the adoption of CTP technology, which is a capital long-term investment and will bear certain risks. The support of suppliers is very important. Good suppliers can make awkward roads. It becomes easy to walk. Therefore, the technical strength of the supplier, whether there is a complete solution, whether the training is sufficient and comprehensive, whether the market and trends are fully understood and mastered, and whether they are willing to support for a long time, these are the smooth operation of the printing company after the introduction of CTP. Elements. Lijia Paper Printing Industry Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in packaging and printing production. Before the introduction of CTP, the pre-press process is issued out. After the introduction of CTP, it can provide one-stop design from pre-press, printing and post-press binding. Complete service. According to Li Jiazhen, Director of Lijia, “We chose the screen because they promised to give us the greatest support. Finally, they also fulfilled their commitment. When the CTP was first installed, the screen was sent to the site every day to give instructions to our employees. Technical questions to solve the difficulties encountered in production. Because we also installed scanners, film output machines, zinc plate output machines, digital proofing and other equipment, plus employees have no previous experience in printing color separation, and we except Ke Printing, as well as flexographic printing, there are more problems encountered, screens help us overcome one by one, can build a production team in a short time, CTP is about to put into production for a year, customers appreciate the quality of CTP, Some customers have specified to use CTP zinc plate printing."
Lijia is a heavyweight printing company. In addition to 12 offset presses, it also has multiple flexo machines and complete post-press processing facilities. CTP uses a screen TrueFlow workflow, and its core is PDF data processing. The zinc plate uses the PlateRite thermal output machine, the film uses the "Knife" output machine, the scanner uses the color fairy, and the digital proof uses the LabProof system. This system supports 1-bit TIFF proofing, and the ICC profile is calculated and generated by LabFit.
Improve the quality of technology and improve naturally
The rotary machine has always been the main way to handle a large number of printing. Due to its high speed, its control is generally more difficult than the basic one. It is natural to encounter many problems when using CTP with rotary printing. Mr. Chen Yicai, Assistant Vice President of Taiye (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., agrees very much. He said: "So we spent two years to prepare for CTP. We will use the film simulation process of CTP in two years to find out all the problems we may encounter and come up with a solution. At the same time, we also establish production standards and quality specifications, and test various contingency plans, so that when it comes to real CTP production, it is naturally familiar. It turns out that this strategy is very successful, we installed the zinc plate output machine, the next day In full production, all processes operate as usual, and for employees, the output zinc version only adds an option to the output, nothing special. CTP The system has been in production for about two years, and there have been no errors. At present, about 60% of the zinc plate is processed by the CTP system. Since many of our clients are publishers of international magazines, they must meet their quality requirements before they have a business. If the quality is not in place, there may even be compensation. Therefore, we have higher requirements on color. According to the characteristics of our own rotary machine, paper and ink combination, etc., different ICC profiles are established, and the stability of color is checked every time. Our goal is to match the quality of the world's top printing companies. Currently, we are experimenting with the application of FM networks on the rotary machine. The initial results are ideal. "
Taiye currently has 5 rotary machine production lines and two flat-sheet offset printing machines. The CTP system is Creo's workflow. The zinc version output machine includes two Trendsetters, and another Renaissance is used to copy the film outlets because There are still 90% of advertisements submitted in the form of film, digital drafting has both large-format spray printers and color laser printers. Taiye's CTP process is carried out separately in two workplaces. The first workshop is responsible for manuscript inspection, image separation and digital drafting. The second workshop is responsible for zinc plate output, dot copy and actual printing management. The two places are separated by about one hour, and the center is connected by a special line. The production standards are the key to smooth system operation.
Master new knowledge and take advantage of CTP
Some printing companies think that purchasing CTP means purchasing a batch of computer servers, zinc output machines, digital copying machines, etc., and the results of cost-effective calculations are concentrated in hardware and software facilities. In fact, the essence of CTP adopted by printing companies is to master new production knowledge and use new knowledge to innovate printing technology. Therefore, the cost of acquiring new knowledge, the breadth and depth of new knowledge, and the ability to use new knowledge to increase efficiency are all factors that must be carefully measured. After some printing companies installed CTP, the quality and business volume increased simultaneously. Some printing companies failed to increase their competitive advantage after installing CTP. The difference is that the quality of knowledge is different.