Offset Printing versus Digital Printing

Printing technology has come a long way. Until recently, offset printing was the only option available in the market. The status quo, however, was changed by the introduction of digital printing and related technology. The related technology includes short run digital printing.
The introduction of an alternative technology has left many businesses and consumers in some sort of a dilemma when choosing between the two.
Ending the quagmire
Offset printing has been around for a while now and has proved its quality for large prints. The costs associated with offset printing, however, are considered huge for many businesses. The financial meltdown has led many businesses to look for new and innovative ways of putting a cap on their spending. Printing and printing materials is one area where business can make considerable savings by adopting new technology. When you look at it from this point of view, then it becomes easier to make that decision.
Differences between Offset and Digital Printers
Traditional offset printers are huge machines which make use of static plates. In contrast digital printers are smaller and do not use static plates. This makes it to make alterations do documents using digital printers.
Before printing using an offset printer, the press has to be prepared. The preparation involves running sheet of papers on the printer until the desired quality is attained. With modern digital printers no preparations are necessary and the printer’s quality is calibrated by doing one or two trials.
Other advantages of choosing the digital printer over the offset printer for your business needs include:
Cost
The cost of printing documents using a digital printer is so little that a business does not have to print large volumes of documents in order to break even.
Less Waste
The businesses environment is very dynamic. For this reason a lot of information changes within a very short frame. This information may be contained on flyers, catalogs, business cards or brochures. For this reason, it is important to update the documents to reflect the present situation. Digital printing makes it possible to produce limited quantities of such documents economically. This reduces the risk of getting rid of large amount of materials when new ones are required.
Variable Data
Unlike offset printing, digital printing allows for changes to be incorporated into a document easily. To incorporate changes using offset printing, a new static plate has to be prepared; which in turn means higher printing costs. With digital printing each and every document can be customized individually to include unique information without impacting on the printing cost.
Eco Friendly
The material/paper and energy consumption for offset printing are far greater than for digital printing. As a result, offset printing produces more waste and hence is the less environmental friendly of the two technologies. By eliminating the static plates and trial runs which consume a lot of paper, digital printing cuts the amount of waste produced and energy consumed helping to protect the environment.
Speed
Digital printing is a fast way of printing which can be easily integrated in any business information technology network.