Shinohara U.S.A., Inc.

The sheetfed offset printing market continues to feel pressure—be it from rival markets or outside forces such as pricing battles and shrinking run lengths. As more economical digital print runs extend, and affordable web press runs shorten, manufacturers involved in the small- and medium-format (29˝ and smaller) sheetfed space are equipping their wares with the capabilities needed to compete—and win. “The competition from the web market is becoming more noticeable, but when it comes to the short-run color market, web presses have a number of things going against them,” contends Michael Iburg, product manager, KBA North America. “On a sheetfed press, makeready time is much

In the not-so-distant past, it was easy to look at small- and medium-format sheetfed offset presses (29˝ and smaller) as the less-coordinated sibling to large-format units. While small-format machines could print with similar quality, they lacked some of the automated features and bells and whistles of their larger counterparts. Today’s generation of smaller-format presses refuse to be overshadowed—most features offered on large-format presses are now available on smaller machines. “For the past few years, equipment manufacturers of sheetfed presses have been adding the same automation that can be found on their larger 40˝ presses to their mid-size and smaller sheetfed presses,” says Thomas Goecke,