Close to users

Nowadays, faster, better, and cheaper are the requirements of printing customers, especially the printing of magazines and catalogs. Customers want high-speed binding without increasing costs or lower costs. This trend is determined by customer requirements for rapid, personalized and targeted. Today is an era of information explosion, information is calculated in hours, minutes or even seconds. For printers, speed (rather than format) has become the basis of competition and the key to ensuring the long-term development of the post-press processing industry.

At present, the one-to-one market is a big egg. With the development of personalized printing, post-press processing will also be affected. Post-press processing technology has not yet made revolutionary progress, but post-press processing technology has been linked to printing and mailing, which has improved the quality of printing and the speed of product placement on the market.

Revolutionary breakthrough

Drupa2000 demonstrated advanced post-press processing technology, but they are not revolutionary technologies. In fact, these technologies only improve the running speed, reliability and diagnosis ability of the equipment without becoming more intelligent.

Customers need equipment to be smarter, but installing many sensors, detection devices and other auxiliary components on the machine requires sacrificing speed, and the cost will double. This is the state of the equipment we use today. So, what kind of machines do we need in the future?

Smart devices, smart products

Existing equipment has too many processes, and plug-and-play does not have much value. Intelligent equipment should be used in intelligent systems.

To make the process smooth, we must eliminate the gap between the processes. In fact, to shorten the cycle time, the integration between the processes is necessary. For example, post-press processing has been extended to the postal part. Post-press processing is responsible for all postal information, from address inkjet or labeling to sorting and packaging and then sent to the postal department. Previously, these sorting and delivery tasks were done by humans. The sorting and delivery technology now shortens the time for the printed products to leave the printing press. If the printed products are ready to be processed directly, the work cycle will be greatly shortened.

Post-press processing

In the not-too-distant future, people will find that powerful printing technology can tolerate all post-press processing procedures now. Four-color digital printing and on-machine binding of magazines or brochures, such technology has already appeared, but has not yet moved out of the laboratory, used for high-speed actual printing. Of course, it may be that the printing is integrated into the post-press processing, and it is likely that printing is included in the process of inserting pages.

Ignoring post-press processing will leave you behind

Printers often encounter this kind of problem: delivery will be tomorrow, but they have kept up with the plan from the beginning, the finalization is too late, the customer has not confirmed the proofs for a long time, and the printing takes a little longer, but the printer promises the customer Will ship on time.

Time is pressing to promote the rapid development of post-press processing and binding. If customers have more and more personalized requirements, then binding will also be affected. Old-fashioned folding machines, thread-locking machines, and interleaving machines are capable of simple tasks, but they cannot meet the needs for on-demand printing and direct post-press processing. Customers want post-press processing based entirely on digital technology to achieve the quality of traditional printing .

Post-press processing automation

Many printers have little investment in binding, but the automation of post-press processing is really what they should not overlook.

First, automation of post-press processing can save costs. The operator only needs to adjust a few buttons on the console to control cutting, thread locking or folding.

Of course, the old machine can also do very well, but the new equipment is easier to adjust.

For example, the new folding machine has a zero adjustment function to automatically adjust the bending plate. The operator can fine-tune the printing plate by turning the knob without removing the roller as before. The numerical control of the console saves a lot of time, and some manufacturers such as Heidelberg, MBO, and Manroland have already put corresponding products on the market.

The current third-party system (TheThird-partySystem), like a product of QTI, allows printing and binding to be controlled from a console. In order to improve efficiency, the future workflow will include all printing processes, and CIP3 was born for this.

CIP4 is the next generation standard, which contains all the features of CIP3 plus Adobe's standard file format-JDF. The electronic files currently used only contain printed information. CIP4 also contains the entire workflow and feature descriptions on different platforms. Doing so can control process variables and improve quality.

The entire printing industry, especially the post-press processing department, lacks qualified and skilled workers, and the bookbinding section is trying to solve this problem. The first step is to use ergonomically designed equipment, which can increase productivity without excessive training of employees.

The cutting machine illustrates the trend of ergonomic development. The cutting system reduces the operating time, and the overall efficiency is 200% of the individual cutting machine, reducing the overall cost and stable operation. Equipment for adjusting paper, such as paper hitting machine and waste collection system, reduces the operation time and improves the control accuracy.

It should be mentioned that mobile paper feeders are now popular in Europe. The paper feed mechanism can be transferred from the printing press to other processes, such as a folding machine, without having to reload the paper on the folding machine.

On-demand processing

Some equipment has been personalized, such as Heidelberg's post-press processing equipment, which provides personalized inkjet output. Each printed sheet to be mailed is printed with a different address or even a different design.

Because each printed product is different, the binder has encountered a new problem: how to solve the waste of different printed sheets? Manufacturers try many methods, such as marking on printed sheets. There is currently no efficient solution. The current solution works well, but it is expensive.

Post-press processing will adapt to multi-function digital printing

Printing on Demand (POD) emphasizes flexible, personalized, short-run printing. Today, POD printers can usually complete product printing within 24 hours. E-base can meet complex requirements and automation problems, and quality control is also very important.

Nowadays, the binding equipment for short-version black and white soft cover books and periodicals is very complicated. Many suppliers provide highly automated online or offline solutions for binding small volumes of paperback books and periodicals. This new equipment is equipped with a book sealer and a new generation of highly automated three-sided cutting machine. This binding device can be adjusted for different spine thicknesses and is adapted to print on demand.

Short-term mailing advertisements now have a large market. Many digital printing business program binding machines produce hardcover books and periodicals. The complexity of the binding equipment, the limitation of the limited edition of hardcover books and periodicals, and the limited technology and experience have created opportunities for program binding machines. At the same time, because of the flexibility of short-run printing, many program binding machines have been oriented towards printing short-run book blocks to meet customer needs.

Publishers and agents on the market have turned to hardcover books and periodicals, which has forced suppliers to improve technology and use appropriate materials to achieve good economic benefits. In the next two to three years, it is very important to realize the on-demand printing of paperback books.

As far as the level of future on-demand printing is concerned, industry standards are important

In the past three years, the printing industry has been committed to establishing standards for pre-press, printing, and post-press communication.

Although the CIP3 action originated from pre-press and ink equipment, it has begun to have a certain impact on post-press. The multi-function digital printing machine emphasizes personalization. Nowadays, two-color and multi-color printing require that the information transmission of each production process be kept highly consistent. Sheet-fed integration technology is turning to the publishing market. Currently, several standards have been formed to ensure the accuracy of complex text page numbers and the consistency of documents.

Tunnel Support Frame

Tunnel Support Frame,Plastic Coated Tunnel Support Frame,Coated Tunnel Support Frame,Plant Cover Growth Frame

Changzhou MD International Trade Co., Ltd. , https://www.mdgarden.com