Offset and Beyond — Great Technologies, But Tough Times

Overall, today’s digital presses still have quality control issues, he adds. “There are gradation problems; color is inconsistent and has to be constantly monitored just to maintain consistency.”

Lamparter describes the competition between the two processes as “evolving, innovative improvements in offset litho vs. emerging, high-speed full-color ink-jet technology with improved quality.” As ink-jet moves closer to offset speeds—and has “achieved arguably commercial quality” for most applications—“primary differentiators are offset’s more favorable economics for long runs of static printing and digital’s ability to print full-color personalization or individualized products, as well as very short runs.”