Digital Printing Observations — The Technology Race Is On

The commercial printer’s growing interest in digital printing was evident at Graph Expo ’07 where, for the first time, there were more digital presses on the show floor than offset units.

Color digital printing circa 2008 is well beyond the digital color capabilities of the turn of the century color digital technology. It is faster, more reliable and less costly. Quality is not an issue. Digital color has a wider gamut than offset, and most digital presses have more built-in color controls than the typical offset press. Digital color has/is replacing offset at increasingly longer run lengths and, with variable imaging capability, creates new applications not possible with other processes.