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Few people in the printing industry today have heard of CTP (computer-to-plate) technology. Some people think that CTP is not a mature technology in the printing industry. As a developing technology, it brings less benefits to printers. For the CTP system itself, a reliable imaging system, Uniform and accurate prints and powerful RIPs are sufficient for printers to meet print production speed requirements. However, printing companies that install CTP systems in practice account for only a small percentage. People can't help but ask, where is the problem?
Is CTP really a chicken rib?
The answer is simple. CTP producers have not used actual actions to refute the arguments held by CTP opponents: digital proofing technology is not guaranteed; CTP plates are expensive; CTP has poor flexibility and can only handle all-digital printing services; The last trump card played by the opponent is that the price of the CTP system is simply astronomical for the printer! So they came to the conclusion that using CTP technology is not worth the candle! However, this conclusion has not been widely recognized by the industry, nor has it prevented CTP producers from continuing to develop CTP imaging systems and CTP plates. The reason is that they are optimistic about the CTP market, which has broad prospects for development. It is estimated that due to many unsatisfactory factors such as environmental pollution, cost, quality and film processing speed in photographic film processing, more than 50,000 users using imagesetter output film will be turned to computer-to-plate technology in the future. Traditional film-making to computer-to-plate is just around the corner. Of course, CTP is a profitable market. At present, CTP products are on the market, and each product has its own characteristics. This situation makes CTP manufacturers have a lot of room for price positioning. Market competition such as fire scanners, imagesetters, RIP and other products due to the performance of the products of various businesses are similar, so manufacturers do not hesitate to fight the price war. As long as the time is ripe, CTP products such as scanners, imagesetters, RIPs, etc., are only a matter of time. It is appropriate to use the phrase in the CTP market. In the past, some insignificant and unrecognizable companies became famous for developing CTP products. Have you heard of Creo and Gerber before? Today these two companies have established a place in the CTP field! Cymbolic Sciences, ICG and Highwater have not previously produced laser imagesetters, and there are already many CTP products in these markets. The big brothers in the field of laser imagesetters – Linuo Haier, Dawangping, Sai Angel and Agfa are also currently engaged in the development of computer-to-plate systems. Since Linno Haier was taken over by Heidelberg, the situation in Linnorheer has changed a lot. Heidelberg has reached an agreement with Creo to stop production of Gutenberg. Based on future development strategies, Heidelberg is ready to open the commercial printing market with a variety of CTP systems. It has been reported that Heidelberg does not intend to redevelop the new imagesetter, because Heidelberg believes that the future development trend is CTP. In the near future, Big Screen, Sai Angel and Aike will launch many new products to open the market. Large Screen Company's PlateRite The 2080 is a 1080 (eight-page CTP) upgrade. In the UK, its sales have been high. The wide application of the large screen TaigaSpace system in the UK printing company has laid a good foundation for the large screen CTP. The big screen's fist product is also the FlatRite1050 launched by Imprinta. A British company has ordered 1050 and put it into commercial operation three months later. It is a B2 format CTP product, which is available to CTP opponents. A powerful counterattack. Because the 1050 is only priced at 100,000 pounds, it is not much more expensive than the photo format machine of the same format. The FlatRite 1050 is a platform-based CTP that uses the imaging technology of a large screen laser imagesetter and the automatic plate processing technology of the PlateRite2080. 1050 is used to process CTP plates that are sensitive to red light. Whether it's a CTP that moves a laser to a stationary plate or a CTP that moves the exposure image under a laser, manufacturers are now hoping to design CTP as a platform model. For example, Big Screen's products, Agfa's Polaris and Polaroid's Versitec are all platform-based CTP systems; Misomex, Highwater, Barco and ICG's CTP are part of the laser beam movement for stationary plate exposure imaging. Platform CTP.
Creo's first-generation CTP system is primarily used for monochrome or spot-color prints that are rare in color and have a small number of prints. In the UK, almost all book printers have chosen CTP technology. For example, Clays uses Barco's CTP; Caledonian uses Krause's products; Mackays uses Misomex's CTP system... Mackays' bosses believe that CTP's advantages for book printing are threefold: first, CTP plates are very clean; Second, the content of the CTP backup is very accurate; third, the press preparation time is reduced. However, color printing still occupies a large proportion in today's printing market, and the cost and flexibility of work influence whether printers choose CTP technology. Highwater and ICG have contributed to improving the flexibility of CTP. The two companies point out that their CTP system can image both on the plate and on the film. They used actual products to refute the view that "the flexibility of CTP is poor and the printing of non-digital workflows is unpredictable." Other companies have pointed out that both analog and digital manuscripts can be integrated into the direct platemaking workflow, and it is clear that the flexibility of CTP is improving. In terms of improving the flexibility of CTP, Sai Angel has made great achievements. The company's new product is a fully automatic multi-beam laser external drum thermal CTP system Lotem 800V. Its design is simple and practical, and the price is suitable. It adopts the Brisque workflow of Sai Angel Company. Although there are some difficulties at present, Sai Angel believes that the future of Lotem using Brisque workflow is bright. Lotem's flexibility in handling different types of manuscripts has improved, but it's relatively closed, it only supports the company's Brisque workflow. Agfa's Galileo CTP system supports PostSript and PDF workflows. The Galileo system itself is relatively large and expensive, which limits the promotion and application of the Galileo system in commercial printing. In the printing industry, people like manual or semi-automatic systems with low equipment investment and easy operation. For the printers, Agfa will adjust the product structure to introduce manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic Calileo. CTP products. The Calileo CTP supports two- or eight-page plates, and the imaging device uses FD-YAG lasers, and imaging devices are expected to be improved in the future. Of course, improvements to imaging devices generally tend to result in thermal imaging of the plates.
Thermal CTP is really "hot"
The first generation of visible light CTP plates have achieved good results and will have an effect in the future, especially DuPont's Silvelith. SDB plate, however, the future development trend is thermal imaging, this is unquestionable! The thermal CTP utilizes a large amount of heat generated by the laser beam to react the coating that is visible on the surface of the aluminum plate to form an image area suitable for offset printing on the printing plate. The laser energy used by thermal CTP is the largest in the printing industry. The price printers of some thermal CTP systems are now affordable. In a nutshell, the timing of the development of thermal CTP has matured and the technical conditions are already in place. Polaroid's lasers produced by optical fibers are low-cost, high-energy, reliable, and have very small laser spots. They are suitable for multi-computer direct plate-making systems, especially for single-beam lasers and rotating lenses to form images of CTP systems. Polaroid is targeting companies that produce plate thermal imaging, film thermal imaging, and thermal imaging of proofing materials. The development of fiber lasers has injected a needle "cardiotonic agent" into thermal CTP, and it is expected that many CTPs for thermal imaging will be seen in the future.
CTP plates are an important part of CTP. Compared with the photosensitive CTP plate, the thermal CTP plate material has a "sensitivity" (in fact, heat sensitivity) that is slightly worse than that of the photosensitive CTP plate. However, the coating thickness of the thermal plate is not as high as that of the photosensitive plate. Gerber believes that the sand on the aluminum plate does not have any effect on the coating thickness of the thermal plate. DuPont's Silverlith SDT belongs to the category of thermal CTP plates. Gerbet's CTP system has a laser energy of 100 mJ/cm2, which completely evaporates the visible portion of the coating. In thermal imaging, the laser beam spot is small and the exposure speed is very fast, so there is no photo-heat that affects the image quality (that is, the heat is not formed in the un-lighted portion, and the image is not deformed). However, the coating residue remaining on the plate will affect the printing suitability of the plate, and the plate processing must be completely cleaned. DuPont's SDT plates make long-awaited direct thermal imaging with completely free processing a reality. The advent of SDT media promotes the launch of Optronics' thermal CTP system. The SDT plate has a resolution of 350 lpi and an offset of 500,000 impressions. Other companies have also introduced their own thermal CTP plates, some of which are already in commercial use, and some are undergoing final trials. Presstek's plates are unique, and they use a different approach. The company is called a process-free thermal CTP plate. The reaction residue on the new product Gold plate can be completely rinsed off with the ink and water fountain on the press, while the residue on the SDT plate is pumped through a pump on Gerber's CTP system. In terms of thermal technology innovation, Gerber is pleased with its progress. In the past, it was thought that thermal CTP could only use external drum exposure. For example, Creo's products belong to external drum thermal CTP. But Gerber's successful internal drum thermal CTP is refreshing. The inner drum type thermal CTP laser beam reaches the plate with a shorter path, and the multi-beam laser exposure imaging can compensate for the exposure speed, so the exposure speed is not inferior to the outer drum CTP. Gerber's practice proves that internal drum CTP is feasible for imaging thermal plates. In the thermal plate processing, some businesses are working hard to simplify the processing of the plate. Kodak's first generation of IR (infrared laser) plates require "preheating" prior to exposure to ensure that the plate's thermal response is carried out thoroughly. Today, thermal plates from companies such as Kodak, Polaroid, and Horsell do not require "preheating" of the plates. Horsell says its new Elektra plate will be treated the same way as the positive PS version. At the same time, Quantum's Quantum NPH (NO PreHeat) plates have been put into commercial use. The company's chief executive, Bob, looks forward to the future: "In the long-term development perspective, inkjet printing plates have great potential for development because it is a true green environmental protection plate. The working principle is Spray the coating with image information onto the blank plate with inkjet."
In fact, all thermal CTP plates are not cheap, and are generally more expensive than photosensitive CTP plates. Why do printers love thermal CTP so much? It's not surprising that thermal CTP is expensive, because the film removed in the workflow will undoubtedly save you money. From another perspective, thermal CTP is indeed profitable. Now some printers are investing in CTP, which is the intermediate medium that no longer needs film in the fancy workflow.
People’s attitude towards CTP is changing
Today, the arguments of those who favor CTP technology have undergone subtle changes. Although their argument is that CTP saves the material needed for prepress processing, they now emphasize the impact of CTP technology on the print shop. Laser imaging is a clean imaging method, and the accuracy of the printing plate is very high. Thermal CTP plates are completely non-existent with "underexposure" and "overexposure", and other CTP plates rarely suffer from exposure quality problems. In addition, the suitability of the plate on the press is very stable. Presses with automatic transport plates are easier to operate, so CTP is called the best partner for automatic presses (with transfer plates). Printers using the CTP system will say that CTP reduces the preparation and control time of the press. In today's printing business, which is becoming more and more short-lived and with faster delivery times, the press preparation time is reduced. Printers are very meaningful. We might as well calculate: If a batch of prints takes 4 hours to print, it will not be obvious that the press's work preparation time is reduced from 45 minutes to 20 minutes; if a batch of prints can be printed in one hour, it will be printed. After that, the second batch of activities will be put into operation immediately. At this time, the positive effect of the accelerated work preparation speed cannot be underestimated. The fewer the number of impressions, the more the advantages of CTP are reflected.
Printers using CTP will also say that CTP plates are more uniform in quality, more accurate in imaging, faster in preparation for presses, and more consistent in their work. In short, CTP technology reduces the press preparation time. Using CTP technology, printers can achieve macro-control of the printing production process, and printers can predict, plan, and control production tasks, enabling printing companies to achieve a managed industrial production model. Of course, the printing company can do a good job planning production, and after understanding the company's production capacity, it can take over more printing business.
The future of CTP is no longer a dream. It is necessary for printers to seize every opportunity to know and understand CTP technology.