Offset and Beyond — Great Technologies, But Tough Times

Across the board, all manufacturing industries are struggling. Printing is one of many. Minus the current economic crisis, however, both sheetfed and web offset printers would most likely be holding their own, according to industry experts.

Ray Prince, NAPL vice president and senior consultant, operations management, has observed dramatic changes in the offset market in the past four to five years, and believes that the process is now capable of competing with digital’s short run lengths and low prices. “Litho makereadies only take five to seven minutes, and washup times are much faster, so the process is now capable of cost-effective, short-run production. Mostly, offset is still going strong because litho offers very high quality and consistency, which digital production presses cannot offer yet.”