What is offset printing?
Offset printing is one of the most common printing systems in the world of advertising and packaging. Offset is a type of printing that is widely used today to print a variety of books, magazines, brochures and catalogs, posters and anything that is going to be printed with high quality and circulation on paper.
Offset printing, also called lithography, is a method of mass printing in which images and colors move through marked rollers on metal sheets, resulting in quality printing on a variety of paper. This method is known as the most cost-effective printing method for printing large amounts of pages.
Offset printing applications
Offset printing is used in the production of books, magazines, and other readable content to introduce products through packaging and other types of business advertising requirements. Offset printing has made it possible to produce newspapers, books, product packaging, and advertisements at an affordable amount of money and better quality. You can see some of the most important advantages and disadvantages of offset in the list below.
Advantages of offset printing
1. Very high print quality
2. Ability to use a variety of papers
3. High circulation printing and low cost
Disadvantages of offset printing
1. It is not economical to print low-volume products.
2. Due to the need to prepare zinc and plates, printing will be time-consuming.
3. After the operator defines the information for the printing machine and the machine starts working, it will be no longer possible to change the information until the end of the work, so the initial information will be printed in the same way they were defined.
Offset printing process
In the process of offset printing, first in the lithography section, based on the initial design, aluminum sheets are made in the form of plates. Due to the fact that this printing method uses the CMYK color system, four separate plates for each color are usually made for the designs. Of course, in some cases, another plate is prepared by hand to combine a specific color.
After preparing each of these plates, they should be placed separately in the colored towers of the printing machine. In this case, each plate is fed by one of the four CMYK colors. while the papers
pass through the paint-impregnated rolls in each part, the corresponding color in proportion to the color percentages of the original design is transferred to the paper to obtain the final image in the last part.
Effective items in print
In addition to the raw materials, such as the type of paper and ink used, other factors directly affect offset printing. Some of these effects are listed below.
Prepress
• Scanning
• Color Separation
• Color Management and Calibration
Print
• Printing method and printing Technology
• Ink & Material Transportation Flow
Post-press
• Type of coating
• Folding
• Binding
Choosing between offset printing and digital printing
Ultimately, the use that you can make of offset printing depends on the needs and type of your organization. If your project size and the print run are low, it is best to use digital printing. On the other hand, if you want to print on any material, using offset printing gives you more options. In terms of cost, if your printing is bulky, offset printing has a big advantage over digital.
Having all the necessary facilities to produce an offset printing order in design printing makes quality control suitably and acceptably possible in all stages. Due to the fact that the colors are printed separately in the offset printing system, the exact matching of the colors is one of the most important issues in print quality.
Accuracy in file preparation, plate preparation, and printing supervision will have a direct and improved effect on the result, and taking advantage of the good facilities of complementary operations in the Toorang printing complex, will accelerate the delivery of high-quality orders to customers.