Cost and technology maturity are still the development problems of waterless offset printing

Cost proposition

A plate industry practitioner told reporters that waterless offset printing requires the use of matching special plates and inks, and the price of waterless offset printing materials is about 20% higher than that of ordinary offset printing materials. The waterless offset printing ink is more expensive than ordinary offset printing Ink prices are also about 10% higher. At a time when the operating profits of printing companies are generally declining, many printing companies are suddenly able to spend high funds to purchase water-free offset printing consumables.

Of course, the printing production process is a whole. The single cost of consumables is obviously not comprehensive. It is more rational to compare the comprehensive cost of waterless offset printing and water offset printing. An interviewee gave his company's comprehensive application cost accounting for waterless offset printing technology, based on 21 days per month, 8 hours of work per day, 1,000 printed plates, and 1 million printed products: under normal printing conditions Next, from the whole production link, compared with water-based offset printing, water-less offset printing can save the cost of chemicals such as developer, waste liquid treatment costs, and machine maintenance costs (mainly referring to the maintenance costs of water rollers and water roller-related equipment). Thousand yuan, the replacement time and preparation time of each single printing job are reduced by 20% to 50%, the effective working time is increased by 16%, the consumption of overprinting of each device is reduced by 30%, and 150kg of paper is saved every month. But he also said that this does not completely offset the cost increase caused by the rising cost of waterless offset printing supplies.

Technical considerations

In addition to cost considerations, technology maturity is also a problem in promoting waterless offset printing technology. A Shenzhen-based printing company with leading technology in the industry has been using waterless offset printing technology for many years, but it still faces many problems in the application process. For example: because the ink repellent part of the waterless offset printing plate is a silicone layer, it is very easy Being scratched, therefore, the rate of waterless offset printing plates is higher. During the same test, the completion rate of waterless offset printing is reduced by about 35% compared to water based offset printing; due to the high viscosity of waterless offset printing ink and Due to the printing pressure, the printing registration is still difficult, especially for long grain paper registration. In addition, a representative of a printing company in Beijing that uses waterless offset printing technology to produce safety printing products also told reporters: "The operator's mastery of waterless offset printing technology is also the reason for restricting the widespread application of waterless offset printing technology. Although waterless offset printing has more Water offset printing is easier to operate, but if the operator does not understand the technology of waterless offset printing, and is not familiar with the difference between waterless offset printing and water offset printing, it will cause frequent failures. "For example, the operator must pay attention to the amount of waterless offset printing ink Less than water-based offset printing, otherwise it is easy to stick to the blanket, resulting in paste phenomenon; special publication curve must be made for waterless offset printing; the plate cylinder and blanket cylinder of the printing equipment should be very flat, otherwise the plate will be easily damaged.

Overall, waterless offset printing is gaining more attention and the technology is maturing, but it will take time to be fully promoted. On the one hand, suppliers should further improve the level of waterless offset printing technology, develop low viscosity, high flow waterless offset printing inks, improve the abrasion resistance and stain resistance of waterless offset printing plates, and further reduce waterless offset printing consumables Cost, to eliminate the printing companies' concerns about cost and technology; on the other hand, printing companies should also make more efforts in training the operators and accumulating their own technologies.