Digital and Offset Printing: Seeking Workflow Oneness

HYBRID PRODUCTION was originally defined as combining digital and offset printing to produce a finished piece. Common examples include color shells pre-printed via offset and imprinted digitally, and pieces bound together, such as offset covers for digital books or customized/variable digital inserts for static offset pieces.
Advances in technology and greater adoption of digital printing by previously offset-only shops led to a broadening of the term to include the ability to drive both production platforms from a single workflow. The goal is to increase the efficiency of job processing, but also provide the flexibility to more easily direct jobs to one printing process or the other in response to customer demands or pressroom status.