Color on-demand printing characteristics and applications

In 1994, when digital color printers appeared, their main goal was to replace offset printing in the strong short-lived printing market. Many very strong printing companies believe that on-demand digital color printing (POD) will It soon took a dominant position in the commercial printing market for magazines, reprints, books, catalogs, and brochures, and made great investments in this technology. Soon, the innovation of color digital printing absorbed market research companies and some industry promoters, and they began to observe this market. For example, in 1996, CAP Ventures (a U.S. market research and venture capital company) predicted that the output value of colored POD to print in 2000 would reach $13.6 million.

The ideas of these pioneers are not wrong at all, but they are a few years ahead of their time. Initially this technology was expensive and the production capacity was not high. Direct printing costs about 50 cents per A3 size print. Therefore, digital printing is only suitable for ultra-short printing methods (250 sheets or less), mainly for the printing of high-value products such as bids or proofs, and therefore can hardly be regarded as the mainstream of on-demand printing.

Realizing that the initial cost was too high, suppliers turned the POD (on-demand printing) model concept into a variable printing model. Because digital color printing has a great advantage in this high-value area (such as trademark, packaging, direct mail market), and color products can make the value of the product grow. Moreover, the technical propulsion staff are also optimistic about the prospects for digital printing, and the prospects of these variable print products further increase their hope index.

For digital printing is currently in this high value dilemma, it is not actually a fatal problem. Because digital printing technology tends to mature, its cost will drop dramatically. The chart below shows the performance of the digital printing market in recent years.

According to the current situation, for example: using Xeikon digital printers to print an A3 format color sheet, if it is a large number of printing, the direct cost is less than 10 cents. This price point has been low enough that digital color printing can capture mainstream print jobs. This trend is a bit like what black and white digital printing can achieve a few years ago.

Moreover, digital printing has better productivity than direct printing offset presses printed on 1500-3000 sheets. POD (Print on Demand) appeared in the monochrome digital printing industry 10 years ago. At that time, almost no one would recall the word color digital printing. But now the situation is different. The era of digital printing is coming.

What is POD?
POD is the meaning of on-demand printing. The English name is “Printing on-Demand”. The current industry advocacy staff places great emphasis on the scale of POD development in the printing industry, so this term has also experienced various forms of digital and short-run offset printing processes. . It is not only used in the field of publishing and commercial printing, but it also exists in large products such as logos, decorative materials, and other documents such as reports, bills, and general mailings.

The above-mentioned investigation company, CAP Ventures, set the POD to less than 5,000 short prints. On the other hand, printers more fundamentally define on-demand printing as a form of service: a type of printing that occurs when the customer needs it.

In order to define the size, scope and meaning of POD, it is distinguished from ordinary short-run printing. We define POD here as a publication based on the requirements of the end-user on the actual number of products and the production cycle. The production and distribution of commercial printing products. This definition is mainly for market demand, not for the production process, and emphasizes the differences between POD and simple short-run printing.

The printing provider can freely perform the corresponding amount of production according to the actual requirements of the user. When the number of prints falls below 5000 marks, it is customarily called "short-run printing." However, in order to make the value of POD better understood in the market, the printing length should be closer to the customer's requirements. As a result of this, it is necessary to further reduce the number of orders, and the frequency of orders will increase. According to statistics, in the United States, more than half of the orders for short-run printing jobs produced using direct presses or digital presses are smaller than 1,000 prints. In fact, POD has developed to print at the cost of long live printing. This change is reflected most fully in the monochrome printing section. Digital presses dominated by Xerox DocuTech have taken up 85% of the previous jobs in the United States on small presses and copiers. This trend is beginning to shift to color presses.

Economic conditions <br> For the printing sector, one potential problem of demand-oriented transfer in the market is the reduction in long-lived activity in commercial jobs. This competitive area will shift to short-lived and higher-order printing. When offset press manufacturers tried to maintain their core position in the long live market, more and more printing companies turned to the short-run market and profited from this opportunity.

The opportunity for on-demand printing obtained by digital printing is determined by two factors: one is the profit and loss point of the cost and production capacity between the offset printing press and the digital printing press, which determines the competitiveness of digital printing and offset printing; The point is the actual profit and loss cost level, which confirms the market's demand for digital printing.

To illustrate this issue, we can compare the production costs and production capacities of the Xeikon DCP/32D and DCP/50D printers, which can be considered as alternatives to offset presses. In this case, the selected offset presses were Heidelberg Speedmaster DI 46-4 and Speedmaster 52-4. Speedmaster DI 46-4 is a hybrid digital offset press, which is a direct imaging press; Speedmaster is a traditional offset press. In order to ensure the objectivity of the analysis results, we have specified the following conditions:

1. Include all fixed costs and time factors in the actual production environment.
2. Use the production of various products to simulate the various job problems faced by a typical printer.
3. Statistical data from actual production test and experience of printers using equipment.
4. Analyze with commonly used statistical operations and management statistics standards.

Comparison table of profit and loss balance between Speedmaster DI 46-4 and Xeikon DCP/50D

Product

Cost

productivity

postcard

>3000

>3000

Data page

1,850

2,950

manual

900

1,500

table of Contents

850

1,450

Market average

950

1,550

Note: The Speed ​​Express DI 46-4 and Xeikon DCP/50D have the same amount of printing in the table.

This result (such as table statistics) is very shocking. Many people in the industry had previously generally believed that the balance between cost and profit for digital printing and offset printing was 250 printing. Our study found that Xeikon printing can print offset printing at an average cost of 950 printing. Moreover, for paper sheets and postcards such as A4 pages, the cost loss point varies from 1,850 to as high as 3,000 prints. As for production capacity, it is defined as the ratio of the number of print jobs that can be reached on the printing press to the time of the entire job on the press. For the Xeikon DCP/50D, this point of profit and loss is compared with Heidelberg Speedmaster DI. From the 1,450 for products catalog to postcards, it is higher than 3,000, and for the market as a whole, it is about 1,550.

When the actual cost of digital printing and offset printing is compared with the income of a representative printer, which is already lower than the operating income, the Xeikon DCP/50D is an alternative to the faster-than-average DI of 1,050 printing. Offset machine more suitable equipment.

Each device has its scope of application. Of course, our goal is not to suggest a technology for a job that it does not plan to use. However, the results of this study clearly show that the profit and loss points of Xeikon equipment are much higher than those of most people, like printers. This is due in large part to the improvement in operation and costs caused by equipment manufacturers during these years. Reduced caused. However, profit and loss is only part of it. Just as important as the profit and loss point is the cost issue. The question is whether the price of digital printing has reached the level that may make it a mainstream need?

To answer this question, we examined the DocuTech press. Using the same market estimates and operational assumptions, the direct cost of printing at DocuTech is approximately 2 cents per A3 for a single color print, and 4 times for a four-color print. Cents/A3 format. Moreover, DocuTech's profit and loss points for offset printing are less than 1,000 impressions--approximately 800 impressions, equivalent to a small web press. So for A4 format printing, the cost per color is 2 cents, and the profit and loss point is less than 1,000 impressions. The DocuTech press has specified a competitive POD range and many monochrome jobs have been obtained from small offset presses. Moreover, the Xeikon DCP/50D has a higher profit and loss point than DocuTech, and its operating costs are the same as those of DocuTech, which is suitable for color jobs.

Color Field <br> In the United States, the number of digital color print jobs on demand, by 2000, will reach 54% of all printed jobs. The printed national output will rise to 21%, reaching $3.9 billion. In 1998, for the first time, digital presses threatened offset presses in the mainstream market of short-run color jobs.

Although industry insiders emphasized that the market for digital color printing is only a part of the market, the real growth in the number comes from technically dramatic cost and productivity improvements that will enable printers to realize that they can get more from digital color printing investment. With large sales and profits, current on-demand printing is active in the color field.