HYBRID PRESS DESIGN TECHNOLOGY Mark Bohan, Vice President, Center for Technology and Research, Printing Industries of America The Magazine 8 9.2015


There are many different printing press that are used to produce the print and packaging that we use and interact with on a daily basis. The selection of printing process is defined by many factors, which include the economics of manufacturing, the quantity needed of the product, the functionality of the product, and the necessity for variable data. Of the five main printing types that we see in use today, the four traditional printing processes of offset, flexographic, rotogravure, and screen are primarily differentiated technically by the image carrier, the ink type, press speed, and substrate capabilities. Each has unique benefits related to the ink, substrate compatibility, materials handling, and print quality.


Digital printing has the capability to produce variable content using either electrophotographic or inkjet printing. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of high-speed inkjet presses. In addition, the economics of each of the different processes vary on the run length, substrate, consumables, and job complexity.


An Exercise in Optimization With such a wide range of capabilities available, why would there be a requirement or necessity to combine multiple processes into one printing press? This is needed to increase product flexibility, maximize perfor- mance, and optimize the costs of manufacturing by selecting the best from each of the different printing processes.


By taking the strengths of each and combining them to produce a composite press allows these products to be produced in a single run without additional manufacturing steps. This concept has been used for many years in the packaging industry, but we are now seeing an increase in these across a wider range of printed products. When deciding the optimal route to follow using these solutions, the finishing of the final product forms an important part of the decision-making process.


Roots in Packaging In the packaging arena there have been combination presses for many years, notably with the narrow web label presses. These consist of press that have many flexographic printing press units, incorporated into the


design then will be rotary screen printing units. These are used for large- area coverage of solid inks or coatings. They started in many cases with the printing of white ink for packaging where the screen unit would be capable of replacing two or three flexographic print units to obtain the same white opacity. They can also provide a more effective ink laydown and uniformity.


These presses have often included finishing options that are utilized in line, such as diecutting, embossing, and lamination. In recent years we have seen the introduction of digital heads on the press to be able to print variable data, be these text-specific or variable images. The majority of the print is produced using the cost-effective flexographic printing process, while the high value personalization is used in only a localized area.


Branching Out The introduction of high-speed inkjet has opened up the opportunities and applications for in many offset applications. In the newspaper industry, inkjet has been incorporated in line on the presses to add items such as gaming, personalization, coupons, QR codes, links to online content, and geocoded maps. This has been used successfully in linking to premium digital content and allowing the publisher to obtain additional demographic information regarding their readership while driving the benefits of the premium value content.


The use of digital imprinting for lottery and gaming applications has offered new opportunities and driven sales across several continents.


Offset web presses have also incorporated digital print heads to facil- itate direct mail, transactional, and general commercial applications. These have often been after-market installations from different man- ufacturers. This has allowed high-quality variable data to be incorpo- rated into direct mail and general commercial printing, with the heads being positioned at strategic locations across the web, the majority of the image being produced uses the more cost-effective web offset. The inkjet is also included in transactional presses to eliminate having to print offset shells and then pass them through a second press for the variable data.

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