Modern newspaper printing technology
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With the vigorous development of the news publishing industry, newspapers and other media have formed a new situation of competition and complement each other. For example, how to make use of its own advantages, make up for the relatively long period of newspaper publishing, and the lags behind the lack of broadcasting, television and network, the development and application of new printing technology has played a big role. At present, in order to shorten the printing time of newspapers and improve the competitiveness of newspapers, the world's peer newspaper printer manufacturers pay great attention to the research and development of new technologies and new products. Below I will give a brief introduction to these new technologies.
Waterless offset printing technology
The traditional offset printing technology uses the principle of ink repelling and non-ink balance to realize the transfer of dots. The technical difficulty in offset printing is to control the balance of ink and water, because this is the key to restricting the quality of offset printing. There are many factors that affect the balance of ink and wash, such as temperature and humidity in the production hall, printing speed, paper properties, and printing machine performance. The waterless offset printing technology can ensure the smooth progress of the printing process without using the fountain solution. The blank part of the printing plate is the silicone rubber layer which is ink repellent, and the ink used for printing is a special waterless offset printing ink.
Since waterless offset printing does not have ink balance problems, it has many advantages.
1. It eliminates the troubles caused by controlling the balance of ink and water, eliminates the complicated adjustment work of water and ink balance, and the water supply, water delivery part and related control parts, eradicating the paper deformation and the change of paper strip tension caused by the presence of water. Equipment that compensates for paper deformation is eliminated.
2. The waste of paper is reduced, and the waste paper rate is greatly reduced, thereby reducing the printing cost.
3. By controlling the ink temperature through the operation window, the ink performance is improved, so that the image color is clear, the quality of the print is high, and the auxiliary time is shortened.
4. Problems such as ink emulsification, dirty plate, mechanical corrosion, and environmental pollution caused by the wetting fluid no longer exist.
The practical waterless offset printing solution was launched by Japan's TORAY (Dolly) in Drupa 1977. On the subsequent Drupa 2000, TORAY and KPG introduced thermal CTP waterless offset printing plates, while Presstek, Adast and Xerox collaborated. Introduced thermal PAX waterless offset printing plate. The first application of water-free offset printing technology in the field of newspaper printing was the German KBA company. On Drupa 2000, KBA launched the Cortina newspaper press.
At present, waterless offset printing technology is just getting started in China. The plate and ink are still imported, so the price has been high, which has affected the development of waterless offset printing technology in China, but the advantages of this technology have already shown its Good application prospects.
No ink key technology
The inkless key technology eliminates the traditional inking method and replaces it with a digital ink supply control system controlled by a stepper motor. This technology is the key to implementing a digital process that enables remote control and regulation. The inkless key technology eliminates the ink color adjustment work for color newspaper printing, and the waste report rate is greatly reduced. A qualified color report can be obtained within 10 parts of the clutch pressure, which greatly saves paper compared with 300 to 500 copies of the waste in the conventional production.
No main drive shaft technology
From the point of view of users purchasing equipment, they are mainly concerned with the production speed, automation, stability and expandability of newspaper presses. In addition, simple maintenance, low noise, and low waste rate are also important considerations for users. It is based on this that the shaftless newspaper presses introduced in the mid-1990s were accepted and adopted by most users. According to statistics, 70% of the purchase contracts signed by the domestic newspapers in 2000 were shaftless newspaper presses. At present, 90% of the equipment produced by several major newspaper printing equipment manufacturers in the world adopts shaftless technology.
The main drive shaft technology is referred to as the shaftless drive technology. Compared with the shaft drive, the power drive of each unit, even each drum or roller, is independent of each other. They are controlled by a separate motor according to the program. Drive to meet specific operating speeds, operating accuracy and printing process requirements. This technology replaces the traditional mechanical shaft with an electronic shaft, and is therefore often referred to as an independent drive, a vertical motor drive, a mechanical drive, an electronic shaft drive, and the like. The form of the shaftless transmission is varied, and the shaftless transmission can be used from the unit to each drum and the main drive roller. The shaftless drive is built on a separate drive and is therefore sometimes referred to as a direct drive. It must be independently adjustable for the specific transmission mechanism (roller, roller), with high balance (speed matching), which can improve production flexibility, drive system simplicity and ease of operation.
Compared with the shaft drive, the advantages of the shaftless drive are mainly reflected in the following aspects.
1. Accurate transmission, mechanical wear, playground and mechanical vibration, eliminating the maintenance work of the various transmission components in the shaft drive, is conducive to the improvement of printing quality, reducing the false reporting rate.
2. It is convenient to realize computer console control and remote control of the printing press.
3. The unit is flexible in combination, which improves the utilization rate of the equipment and increases the flexibility of production. It is especially suitable for flexible and short-run printing.
4. Each part can be separately prepared and adjusted, saving production preparation time and installing adjustment time, saving valuable time for ensuring publication.
5. In the production process, the failure repair of any unit will not affect the normal production of other units, ensuring the continuity of printing and the stability of quality.
However, the shaftless transmission technology is not perfect. It requires a large investment. The increase of the control equipment of the alliance and the improvement of the system complexity put forward higher requirements for the equipment manufacturing, maintenance personnel and the skill and experience of the operators. On the basis of mastering the traditional printing process, the operator must have certain electronic technology and English foundation in order to make this new technology play a greater role.
Seamless technology
When the interface of the conventional printing machine meets when the interface meets, it will easily cause the ink stick due to the vibration of the seam collision. In 1993, Heidelberg invented a seamless cylinder blanket that eliminates the vibration of the drum and ensures the quality of the newspaper prints because there are no seams. This seamless blanket has dynamic stability and produces high quality prints even at high speeds of 80,000 copies per hour. Compared to traditional blankets of the same circumference, the use of a seamless blanket increases the effective print area and reduces the size of the cut, which significantly reduces paper waste. Another distinguishing feature is that the replacement is extremely convenient and can usually be replaced in less than 1 minute without the need to disconnect the web.
Seamless technology has further increased the speed of newspaper presses, making future newspaper presses more competitive in terms of printing capabilities, productivity and economic efficiency.
CTP technology
CTP technology is a general term for offline direct plate making, direct plate making, and direct printing and packaging technology. Because it simplifies the plate making process, no data is lost, and the dot is sharp, the dot reproducibility is good, the plate making cycle is short, the plate loading time is small, the entire production cycle of the printed product is shortened, and the printing quality is excellent.
The rapid development of CTP technology in the field of newspaper printing is mainly due to its high speed and high quality, which is very suitable for the high timeliness required for newspaper printing. Although the CTP system requires huge investment, the large newspaper group generally has strong bonuses and strong technical force, and can actively accept and adopt new technologies. Therefore, CTP technology has been rapidly developed and applied in some large domestic newspaper groups. According to incomplete statistics, at present, the installed capacity of CTP systems in China's newspaper industry exceeds 40 units.
In the traditional plate making process, the time required for printing and proofing is long. Only the proofs can be printed and printed after being approved by the customer, and the transportation and management of the film may also adversely affect the printing quality. For newspapers with strong timeliness and need to print off-site, these defects of traditional crafts have become an important factor restricting the development of newspaper printing.
The whole process of CTP process processing and transmission is digital information, and digital proofing technology is also applied. Therefore, the advantages of CTP technology replacing traditional plate making process are obvious, which simplifies the process, saves publishing time and improves the quality of printed products. The personnel and the site reduce the complexity of equipment maintenance and reduce environmental pollution. According to estimates, CTP technology can save about 70% of prepress working time, and the plate making time can be shortened by nearly one hour. At the same time, due to the vitality of the film, the overprinting accuracy and dot quality of the color printing products are reliably guaranteed, and the alignment error is only about 0.002 mm, which solves the problem of manual extraction of time and accuracy, and reduces the preparation time for starting the machine. From the printing effect point of view, the traditional plate making process can only reproduce 5%~95% of the outlets, while the CTP process can reproduce 2%~99% of the outlets; the newspapers printed by CTP technology are more delicate, richer and more vivid; Due to the reduction of the intermediate links, the accumulation of quality errors is significantly reduced, and the controllability of quality is significantly enhanced. Because CTP technology reduces the loss of dots on exposed film and plates, it also makes the application of FM networks possible.
CIP3 digital workflow
Printing technology has experienced the development process of lead typesetting → photoengraving → electronic color separation plate → laser phototype plate (CTF system) → computer direct plate making technology (CTP) → CIP3 technology. Among them, electronic color separation plate making and DTP system are widely used in printing field, and the digitalization of prepress graphic processing has been realized initially; the CTP technology being used and developed is the key link to realize the comprehensive digitization of plate making and printing; and the latest in the field of printing The concept of CIP3 is to achieve the full digitization and information sharing of pre-press, printing and post-press before pre-press and digital printing. It is the goal pursued by printing technology in the new century. In the modern printing field, digital technology has been mainly used in the prepress processing stage. With the development of CTP technology, digital technology has begun to enter the printing field, and postpress digitalization is still in the untapped stage in China. With the further development and application of new technologies. The concept of diversification, networking and comprehensive digitalization has emerged in the printing field, and CIP3 is a brand new printing technology under this big concept.
The CIP3 digital workflow has the characteristics of inputting data information of all relevant departments and production stages at one time and sharing the parts. This avoids repeated input and double counting of print production data, thus shortening the work cycle and reducing the failure rate. In addition, data information can be transferred to the printing and finishing shop during the prepress phase so that the operator can prepare early.
With the continuous improvement of the level of printing automation, the trend of newspaper printing pursuit of time and efficiency is more obvious. The CIP3 digital workflow has the characteristics of lowering production costs, shortening the printing time, and reducing the rate of printing waste, making it ideal for use in newspaper printing. However, at present, domestic enterprises still have a certain distance in terms of capital, technology, and concepts, so it is still difficult to widely use CIP3. In addition, because the newspaper itself is not very demanding on the quality of printing, the post-press processing is relatively simple and fixed, which also makes the advantages of CIP3 not fully utilized. However, with the development of technology and the change of concept, CIP3 is still very optimistic in the future of the newspaper industry.
Flexographic printing
At present, all newspaper printing machines used and imported in China are offset printing machines, and foreign flexographic printing also accounts for a certain proportion. With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the application of flexographic printing in the newspaper printing industry will enter a practical stage and have a certain room for growth.
Flexographic printing for newspaper printing began in the United States in the mid-1970s. In 1982, the United States introduced newspaper printing and flexographic printing presses. From this, flexographic printing began to compete with offset printing in the field of newspaper printing. Today, about 30% of newspapers in the United States use flexographic printing, and about 14 major newspapers in Europe use flexographic printing, of which about 25% of newspapers in Italy use flexographic printing. Compared to offset printing, flexographic printing has the following advantages:
1. Equipment costs are lower than offset presses. Under the same conditions of printing material and printing capacity, the equipment cost of the flexographic printing press is about 1/3 lower than that of offset printing.
2. The printing speed is higher than the offset press. Since flexographic printing is a light pressure printing, a sleeve printing plate can be used, the inertia imbalance is small, the paper is not easily broken, and has good running stability, so it is suitable for high speed printing.
3. Flexographic printing can use low-quantity newsprint. Since the flexographic printing press has good running stability and there is no influence on the paper performance in the offset printing, the flexographic printing can use low-quantity newsprint (40~45g/m2), and the offset printing paper can't be too Thin, generally not less than 48g/m2. If the thick paper is changed to thin paper, according to the annual printing of 54 billion pairs, the average annual national newspaper printing paper can save 18%. For newspaper printers, the cost can be greatly reduced. For short-run newspaper printing, flexographic printing has the advantage of low cost.
4. Flexographic printing has a lower rate of waste paper. Flexographic printing has a shorter time for adjustment and trial printing, so the waste paper rate is lower, about 2%, which is 9% lower than offset printing. If you add the amount of paper saved by using thin newsprint, only paper can save about 27% of paper per year. According to reports, the US San Francisco Observer has saved about $41 million per year on paper alone because of the use of flexographic printing.
5. Easy to operate. The technical requirements for the operation of flexographic printing are not very high, and the reduction of the starting personnel also reduces the labor costs.
6. Good for the environment. Flexographic printing uses water-based inks. There is no problem of solvent evaporation and discharge. There is no solvent treatment when cleaning machines and rubber rollers. The recovery of water-based inks is easier than the ink for offset printing. In addition, the water-based ink has a fast drying property, and there is no smudging problem, so the reader does not smudge the hand or other items while reading.
7. The printing quality is good. Flexographic printing has the advantage of embossing, the graphics and art workers are clear, the picture is neat, the color is bright, and the printing quality is better than offset printing. At the same time, flexographic printing has good print repeatability, which can ensure the uniformity of printed ink color and facilitate multi-color printing.
8. The successful development of the flexographic printing CTP system and the application of the digital workflow in flexographic printing have enabled the flexographic printing technology to keep up with the development trend of printing technology and to adapt to the requirements of modern newspaper printing.
At present, the application of flexographic printing in the domestic newspaper industry is mainly restricted by factors such as concept, investment and operator. At present, the printing equipment used in the newspaper industry is an offset rotary machine. When continuing to invest, the plastic wheel transfer machine is also purchased in a relatively stable manner. In addition, since the proportion of flexographic printing in the domestic printing field is still relatively small, there is a lack of talents and technical experience, which also restricts the promotion and use of flexographic printing presses in China. However, due to its incomparable advantages in some aspects of offset printing machines, it is believed that in the near future, flexographic printing will certainly break through and develop in the field of newspaper printing in China.
Digital printing technology
Digitalization and networking, which have been used throughout the printing industry, are the foundation and theme of today's printing technology development, and are building a new production environment and technology foundation. In digital printing, the digital files formed by the prepress processing do not need to be printed immediately, but are stored in the system in digital form or transmitted to a different place through the network, and finally the print output is completed according to the customer's order requirements. Obviously, this is a brand-new production method based on “Digital Process + Digital Media + Network Transmission”, which can realize digital 100% variable information printing. Printing and publishing are not limited by time and geography. It is possible to print on-demand printing of newspapers with high speed, variety and meeting different needs.
Newspapers were introduced to Drupa 2000 with digital presses, when companies introduced digital presses for newspapers. Among them, Manroland's digital paper printing machine DICOweb uses thermal transfer imaging technology to directly image on the plate cylinder, each printing time is less than 10 minutes, and no need to replace printing, no offset; Kodak launched NexPress Digital printing system, electrostatic camera system with dry toner development; also launched the screen of TruePress 744 and Agfa's the, factory and so on.
With the printing speed and printing quality of digital printing presses greatly increasing, the price of printing materials is greatly reduced, and the use of paper is expanding, digital printing will occupy a certain market in the field of newspaper printing.