Digitize on-demand printing for a bright future

Digital printing technology has promoted the development of on-demand printing. It makes high-quality, full-color, personalized prints possible, and the concept of on-demand printing has successfully entered the market. On-demand printing is printed according to the needs of consumers, referred to as POD (Print-on-Demand). It is based on the digital information long-distance transmission and digital information high-density storage. It uses a computer to directly print digital documents into salt prints. Technology.

Short print

Short-run printing has always been an indication of the advantages of on-demand printing. Digital printing reduces the cost of printing, eliminates the limitation of the minimum number of prints, and makes the print unit price and print number no longer relevant. Short-run printing usually has 50-5000 copies, and there is also an ultra-short-run version with only 1 copy, which makes it possible to efficiently obtain short-run prints at a low cost, and commercialize on-demand printing.

Variable Data Printing is the process of printing, by creating a database containing predetermined content and personal data, using an intelligent process management system, the image or text to be printed according to preset contents, from the first to the last Each piece of print has a different style, and each print can be individually designed for the issue object.

On-demand printing status

The United States is a pioneer in the application of on-demand printing technology. On-demand printing is more common in the United States publishing industry, and its proportion is increasing. By 2010, it will increase to 20%. It is predicted that by 2006, Japan's on-demand printing market will reach 350 billion yen. In Europe alone, the total value of print-on-demand is expected to more than double on the basis of €16.6 billion in 2001, reaching €34.1 billion in 2006. Fuji Xerox sold less than 150 digital presses in 2003, but in 2004 it had sold 400-500 sets of high-end color digital printing systems. These data all indicate that there is a large demand for on-demand printing and the application prospects are very impressive.

Need to solve the problem of developing on-demand printing

1. Digital content

    The variety and quantity of digital content and the development of on-demand printing are mutually reinforcing, because what consumers really need is the information content itself, and all technologies and equipment are the means to serve the information content. Therefore, if there is a shortage of digital resources available for on-demand printing, consumers will lose interest in on-demand printing, which will affect technology research and development and market operations. Therefore, digitizing the content of paper information, establishing a powerful electronic document database, and providing sufficient digital content for on-demand printing are the primary issues to be solved.

2. Effective Digital Resource Management System

Personalized printing involves a large amount of different data. It is necessary to establish an effective digital resource management system. The system contains the following three aspects.

(1) Collect and analyze customer data

Ensure that the data is accurate, no spelling errors; determine how to organize data, graphics, text to form a usable layout; solve the problem of data loss caused by the connection of different databases.

(2) Data format conversion

Data is transferred between different systems, and it is best to convert it to a standard language format to solve the problem of compatibility between different vendors' hardware and software.

(3) Form a complete workflow

When dealing with a large amount of data related to customers, digital documents are effectively managed and technical support is provided for the printing production system within the company.

3. Data security

On-demand printing databases contain important information for many companies or individuals, which involves data security issues. The current solution is to create a database and check, proof, and send PDF files to the printer. This method protects the security of information to a certain extent, but the workload of the enterprise itself is very large. Therefore, establishing a restriction mechanism between the printer and the enterprise and ensuring the security of the data will also become a solution.

4. Copyright Protection

On-demand printing also involves copyright protection issues. Because the digitalization of the manuscript requires the consent of the author, the transmission of the digital file to the user via the network also requires a license.

5. On-demand printing

On-demand printing emphasizes flexibility, individuation, short version, and efficient and fast delivery methods to promote rapid development of on-demand post-press processing. Old-fashioned folding machines, sewing machines and inserters can only accomplish simple operations. Therefore, efficient and automated on-demand post-press processing equipment has become a common expectation.

6. Paper requirements

On-demand printing of paper requires a lot of performance. Good dimensional stability, low warpage and low wrinkling; proper frictional resistance and surface conductivity, sufficient stiffness; suitable paper properties for product form, research and development of paper can not be ignored.

7. staff training

The development of on-demand printing is inseparable from education and training. The training target includes not only management personnel, sales personnel, and operating personnel, but also customers. It is necessary to improve the level of technology and management, but also to train customers and actively explore and develop the market.