The hidden form of computer-to-plate (CtP)

If the printer wishes to invest in computer-to-plate (CtP), he must first select the printing plate and plate technology and then select the platesetter. Plate price, processor chemistry and maintenance costs are the most critical decision points. There is also an implicit cost avoidable here. Printers can choose the following plate

Edition Technology: Thermal, Violet, UV Contact, Polyester, and Disposable Plates.

1, thermal technology is currently the most commonly used, because this printing plate can be processed in sunlight. Printers can choose from 7 different plate imagesetters and 14 different thermal plates. Thermal plates are negative (cross-linked), positive (dissolvable) or process-free, also known as chemical-free plates.

2. Violet technology uses plates used in visible light and uses low-cost violet laser diodes to activate imaging. This allows the plates to be processed under a yellow safety light. Platesetters are substitutes for film photo imagesetters. There are currently 12 different manufacturers of platesetters, but only 4 different plates are available.

3, UV contact printing plate is the traditional, low-priced printing plate that the printing trader uses at present. Only one manufacturer developed the technology to photograph these plates, namely German manufacturer, BasysPrint, a member of the Punch Graphic Arts Group, which is the only way to invest in CtP without having to double the printing plate price.

4. The polyester plate technology can be printed with 2 or more and 4 or more. The plate is a photographic silver polyester plate that can print up to 20,000 copies and can be produced using an on-line processor at a low-cost image imagesetter.

5, free processing plate technology. Only two manufacturers can provide this type of plate, but at the Drupa 2004 event, not only seven manufacturers released the plate. Exemption from treatment, or the absence of chemical printing plates as Agfa said, requires only cleaning after exposure, and does not require chemical treatment. In addition to savings in chemicals, processors, and maintenance, there is no longer a variable between exposure and printing.

Preuss Printing of Germany has adopted Azura printing since 2004 and has not changed the exposure level of their Acento Platesetters of 4 or more. After photographing, the plate runs through the colloidal solution, which eliminates the unprinted plate area and protects the plate from oxidation.

Zurich's Neue Zurcher Zeitung NZZ using Wifag Evolution 471 press printing their newspaper, this printer can print directly to a printing plate typesetting tower in the press. As a result, the entire plate throughput of 300 plates per night is completed by the 3 Xcalibur 45XXT platesetter. The removed emulsion melts in the colloidal solution. The 20 litre cabinet only needs to be changed once a week.

Similarly, Konica Minolta also demonstrated an exemption-free plate copying system, which uses polyester plates and has been launched in the Japanese market, and is expected to enter Europe in the fall of 2005. Screen uses this plate in their TruePress 344 digital presses.

At drupa, Kodak and Fujifilm have demonstrated their disposable plates.

This is a brief introduction to five different plate technologies. But what is the real cost of using these plates? In the summer of 2003, Zarwan Partner, a US consulting company, interviewed 63 printers of different sizes. You can download research materials from the following websites:

.

These companies use 8 different types of plates, 33% of printers have 1 to 49 employees, 40% have 50 to 99 employees, and 27% employ more than 100 people. He introduced the chart, the pre-drying thermal printing plate has 5 production steps between photocopying and printing, 3 steps of the violet printing plate, 2 steps without drying the thermal printing plate, printing plate without chemical agent With only one step, only the free-handling plates actually do not require production steps.

Subsequently, Zarwan began to consider the cost of plate prices, plate processor, house area, chemicals, inventory, drying, maintenance and waste disposal.

Plate price. Plate prices range from 60% discount to 40% price increase. Depending on the size of the printer, the printer uses plates according to the printing plate consumption and the printing method.

Plate processor. Their price range is between $20,000 and $40,000, but only a handful of printers buy processors. Processors are usually provided free of charge, but are included in the plate price.

Most printers do not include the size of the housing area, but in the metropolitan area, such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc., the cost of the house may be as expensive as the chemical: approximately 5,000 to 10,000 USD per year.

The consumption of chemical agents can vary greatly from one type of plate to another. Similarly, the printing plate consumption leads to the use of different chemicals. Large printers use chemical agents better than small printers with only a few plates. The annual cost is between $17,500 and $75,000.

Plate drying requires a large amount of electricity, increasing the annual cost by about $10,000 to $60,000.

Processor maintenance costs between $2,600 and $10,500 per year. Similarly, inventory and waste disposal also increase the hidden costs of plate processing.

in conclusion.

The 63 US printers run processors at annual costs between $42,500 and $170,000!!!

Presstek Anthem's processing cost is only $5.500 per year.

Presstek Applause's processing costs are $0 per year.

Agfa Azura's processing costs are only $6,500 per year.

This is why the free-handling of plate technology will become the future of offset printing, rather than thermal or violet technology.