Defining the Buzz
Digital printing means many things to many people. Just what does “digital printing” mean?
March 2007 by Chris Mc Loone
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No business serious about its commitment to its customers would shy away from enhancing its product offerings. Current trends in the package-printing industry reflect just that, especially the trend toward short-run printing. One such enhancement is adding digital printing capabilities for your existing product lines. But just what is digital printing? When people say “digital printing” what do they mean?
Defining digital printing
“It really depends on what aspect you’re looking at,” says Dan Briley, North American category manager, industrial products, HP Indigo Digital Press. “In general, when you’re talking about the packaging application, digital printing refers to the fact that every single package, whether it be a label, folding carton, or flexible package, can be different.” With digital printing, he says, there are no plates, no dies, nothing that is physiclally made to do the printing because every single image is generated electronically.
Mark Strobel, VP of sales and marketing, Primera Technology offers a technical definition of digital printing. He states that digital printing is a method of putting ink onto a substrate without the use of an analog intermediate such as a printing plate. “It allows variable data to be directly imprinted for lot coding, serial numbers, private labeling, and more,” he says. According to Mac Rosenbaum, VP, Aquaflex/F.L. Smithe, digital printing is a common name for a multitude of printing processes including toner-based, inkjet, thermal transfer, and sublimation. Each of these processes, according to Rosenbaum, has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. “For some,” he says, “digital printing suggests the entire printing process is digital. For others, it suggests variable data printing such as bar codes and text combined with traditional print processes.”
There are a number of technologies available for digital printing. They include toner-based, inkjet-based, and electrophotography/LED laser. Inkjet-based technologies can use UV inks for instant curing on a wide range of substrates. “This system is more practical for packaging and it is especially good for printing on heat-sensitive substrates that cannot tolerate the high temperatures generated when fusing the toner,” says Rosenbaum.
Inkjet is used predominately for variable content and/or for lot coding, serialization, other additive information, or for imprinting of a static package, according to Briley. He also cites thermal transfer, which is often used to print small labels, monochrome labels, and sometimes color. Generally though, it is used for “monochrome labels for shipment information or logistics information—again, bar code serialization and/or small labels that might identify a product or lot number.”
Defining digital printing
“It really depends on what aspect you’re looking at,” says Dan Briley, North American category manager, industrial products, HP Indigo Digital Press. “In general, when you’re talking about the packaging application, digital printing refers to the fact that every single package, whether it be a label, folding carton, or flexible package, can be different.” With digital printing, he says, there are no plates, no dies, nothing that is physiclally made to do the printing because every single image is generated electronically.
Mark Strobel, VP of sales and marketing, Primera Technology offers a technical definition of digital printing. He states that digital printing is a method of putting ink onto a substrate without the use of an analog intermediate such as a printing plate. “It allows variable data to be directly imprinted for lot coding, serial numbers, private labeling, and more,” he says. According to Mac Rosenbaum, VP, Aquaflex/F.L. Smithe, digital printing is a common name for a multitude of printing processes including toner-based, inkjet, thermal transfer, and sublimation. Each of these processes, according to Rosenbaum, has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. “For some,” he says, “digital printing suggests the entire printing process is digital. For others, it suggests variable data printing such as bar codes and text combined with traditional print processes.”
There are a number of technologies available for digital printing. They include toner-based, inkjet-based, and electrophotography/LED laser. Inkjet-based technologies can use UV inks for instant curing on a wide range of substrates. “This system is more practical for packaging and it is especially good for printing on heat-sensitive substrates that cannot tolerate the high temperatures generated when fusing the toner,” says Rosenbaum.
Inkjet is used predominately for variable content and/or for lot coding, serialization, other additive information, or for imprinting of a static package, according to Briley. He also cites thermal transfer, which is often used to print small labels, monochrome labels, and sometimes color. Generally though, it is used for “monochrome labels for shipment information or logistics information—again, bar code serialization and/or small labels that might identify a product or lot number.”
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