Moving to Digital Printing on Your Own Terms

What is a retrofit press?

A retrofit press can give printers many of the benefits of inkjet, while reducing the costs, risks, and challenges that can come with adopting a stand-alone inkjet press.

But what is a retrofit press?

A “retrofit” printing system entails adding an inkjet-powered print engine onto an existing analog printing press. This combined use of inkjet and analog production processes within one printing system is often referred to as “hybrid printing.”

This combined system gives printers much greater production efficiency and flexibility than purchasing a stand-alone inkjet press. The printer can choose the right printing method to suit the job at hand—offset for long runs, digital for short runs, or a mixture of both.

For example, when printers choose to retrofit an offset press, they can also leverage the on-board finishing tools of the existing press, instead of purchasing all new finishing equipment. Retrofitting an existing asset also lets printers utilize much of their existing workflow and processes.

A printer’s existing team of employees can often operate the retrofit press. With minimal training, press operators and other skilled personnel can run hybrid print jobs on these retrofit presses.

Printers can use the inkjet engines of their retrofit press to produce high-quality, full-color digital printing with near-offset quality.

This enhanced quality comes from the inkjet technology developed by Memjet (Booth 3822). The Memjet-powered engines use water-based inks to create some of the smallest droplets of ink used in any inkjet printing process. This level of quality gives printers more options during the production process.