Offset Printing means efficiency and economy
Making it big in the retail and manufacturing industries needs more than just selling a durable product – customers are drawn to the product’s appearance, whether on print, display, or social media outlets and some make purchases solely based on packaging. These make Offset Printing a widely used method in the industry.
What is Offset Printing?
Offset Printing is also known as Offset Lithography and is a service offered at good quality printers such as Jennings Print, in Newcastle NSW. It’s touted as the best method to print multiple colours for full-scale photographic advertisements. Offset Printing uses one metal plate for every colour – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is transferred, or Offset, to rubber blankets or rollers before going to the print media. The process is done repeatedly for each ink colour.
Types of Offset Printing
There are 2 types of Offset Printing:
- Heatset – the printed printer is placed in an oven to let the ink dry out. It is used for catalogues, magazines, and other high upscale printed materials.
- Coldset – the ink dries slowly through absorption and evaporation. It is usually used for newspapers and is considered one of the most cost-effective printing methods.
6 benefits of Offset Printing
The team here at Jennings Print have drawn up a list of the main benefits of Offset Printing (click on each one to find out more):
- Excellent output
- Print on most surfaces and shapes
- Inexpensive parts
- High quantity, efficient projects
- Cheaper
- Good Pantone colour matching.
1. Excellent output
Offset Printing never fails to produce high-quality printed images. This is because the operator can manage the ink flow of the four colour plates. In old machines, screws are manually adjusted to change the gap between the fountain roller and blade. With Offset Printing, this task is done electronically, leading to a flawless, precise result, that reduces the number of wasted prints and problems in contrast.
2. Print on most surfaces and shapes
This technique uses a flexible rubber blanket that easily adapts to different shapes and surfaces. Images can be printed on round containers, sleeves, print labels, and wrappers. It also works well on several materials like fabric, metal, plastic, canvas, wood, and all paper grades.
3. Inexpensive parts
Every printing job needs a customised printing plate. The plates used for Offset Printing are now cheaper because of improvements in technology and they’re also simple to make, have longevity and can be reused up to a million times or mor, due to the lack of physical contact between the printing surface and the plate.
High-quality plates used with optimised inks and fountain solutions also contribute to its long life. As a result, production costs become lower – it’s less expensive per piece as compared to direct printing, in addition to better quality.
4. High quantity, efficient projects
An additional cost is incurred to produce metal plates and equipment installation, but the expense is worth it because of the improvement of speed for high quantity projects.
Some modern Offset Printing methods have a computer programmed to make the printing plates, which saves more time as compared to sending the image to a film, then to a plate. Ask a member of the team at Jennings Print for more info.
Standard printers tend to run out of ink or paper during the printing cycle. The image also becomes faded once the ink supply runs low. Offset Printing allows the operator to change the ink flow to maintain the image’s high quality.
The printing job will not be interrupted, which means it will also finish on time. However, a direct printer may take longer with questionable results.
5. Cheaper
This is one of the biggest advantages of Offset Printing. It’s less expensive than photogravure or rotogravure methods. As a result, high-quality prints are now more affordable, especially when produced in large quantities. In addition, projects that only need the black and white colour are also cheaper.
6. Good Pantone colour matching
Some projects may require the use of the Pantone Machine System. Offset Printing gives the most accurate match because it uses actual Pantone ink. Fluorescent, metallic, and other custom inks are also available.
7. Examples of products made with Offset Printing
Offset Printing is utilised to make glossy brochures, magazines, catalogues and newspapers, and the process of thermography can also be added to make finished pieces that have elevated text or imaging.
How does Offset Printing differ from digital printing?
The main difference between the two techniques is the manner in which images are transferred to paper. Digital printing doesn’t use plates like Offset Printing does, which is more useful for printing lower quantities.
Is Offset Printing the right choice for your project?
If you are unsure what this technique has to offer, here is a basic rundown:
- Quantity: This technique has a front-end cost load. Short runs possibly have a high unit cost. The unit cost will decrease as quantities increase with OP.
- Printing medium flexibility – OP provides the most flexibility when it comes to printing mediums that can be used.
- Colour – OP is a more cost-effective method for projects that only need one or two ink colours. However, digital printing has an edge for projects that need four-colour printing in terms of up-front costs.
Projects that use the Pantone Matching System will do better with OP. Digital printing only reproduces the colour with a four-colour matching process and some digital printers are less accurate in terms of colour matching.
- Turnaround – Digital printing typically offers faster turnaround times, good for projects with a tight deadline.
- Proofing – Digital printing has more accurate proofs, so the customer can see an actual sample of the printed material, but accurate colour proofing for OP tends to be more expensive.
Nobody does Offset Printing better than Jennings Print
Offset Printing is the top choice when it comes to huge volume orders. We ensure that the images reproduced have excellent quality, crisp transfer and professional-grade results. When it comes to cost-efficiency, functionality, and versatility, the technique stands out from the rest.
The Jennings Print Team is knowledgeable in using this technique in various projects. Our 45 years of experience make us highly trusted by our clients. Do you need Offset Printing for your Newcastle business and would like to know more about it? Feel free to call us on 02 4933 5735 or send an email to admin@jenningsprint.com.au for enquiries. Alternatively, click here to send us an online message and we will contact you right back.