Offset Still the Choice For Quality
The print shop dynamic is generally driven by the conflicting demands of cost, speed and quality. Today's copiers and digital printers are the kings of speed, for example, yet the payment plans imposed by manufacturers might drive the cost so high on large jobs that printers must turn elsewhere.
That's where offset presses still shine. Despite all the hype from printer and copier manufacturers, offset presses still provide benefits that can't be found any other way. Print shop managers recognize this and are resisting the call to overthrow their old print regime in favor of an all-digital environment.
Why are offset presses still essential in the 21st century? A handful of in-plant managers offer their reasons and explain why offset is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
Offset Printing Translates Into Lower Costs
Renn: "My customers would keel over when they saw the bill if I ran their long-run [jobs] on my color copier. The cost per copy is effective only for shorter runs. I use offset because I can drop the bottom out of the price and allow customers to do more with less, which builds customer loyalty. My presses are fully depreciated now, so the only things I pay for are the operator, ink, paper and the rare service call. Presses rarely go down in the middle of the job, and they're relatively inexpensive to purchase compared to digital devices. Copiers are more demanding, and often managers find themselves working for the copier versus the customer, trying to push volume at these hungry digital devices just to cover lease costs. This doesn't always end up doing their customers justice."
Criswell: "All of the presses are between 25 and 30 years old, yet I still do 60 to 70 percent of the impressions on offset, including forms of any volume, letterhead and business cards. All of my color printing is short run and done on the press. Most people don't do four-color work on single-color presses because of the added drying time and potential register problems, but for financial reasons we haven't upgraded. It's not as efficient, but it works and the machines were paid for long ago."
Some Jobs Can't Be Handled Any Other Way
Kalstein: We still do an amazing amount of black-and-white work on presses, mostly things that you can't run back through a laser copier, such as letterhead and business envelopes. We still do a fair number of carbonless forms and the longer runs, 500 to 1,000 copies and over, are on the presses.
The Quality Can't Be Beat
Sicklesteel: "Ink has definite benefits over toner in that there's no cracking of the image when you're folding pieces for mail. Offset presses also allow for continuous PMS matching and better registration."
Kalstein: "People always say they're willing to sacrifice quality for time and need, as in 'I need this tomorrow afternoon, so it's okay to run it on a color copier.' But when you show them the proof, they change their minds and say, 'I'll wait.' If the quality isn't there, they'll go where it is. If they're trying to match a PMS color, it's much easier on the press."
Renn: "Although the quality from digital machines is amazingly offset-like, it isn't offset. My manager laughs when copier reps tell him every year that the toner particles are smaller and smaller. He quips that the particles must be at the sub-atomic level by now. Marketing material and newsletters can run faster and cheaper on offset and still look a lot slicker than the work coming off highly touted digital devices."
Offset Isn't Going Away Any Time Soon
Castro: "I don't see offset going away in the next two to three years, but I have seen significant changes from when most of the meat and butter of the shop was on offset. A year ago I'd have put a 5,000-piece job on the press because it was more cost-effective. Now I'll debate between digital and press for a job that size, particularly if I can, say, print an 81⁄2x11˝ piece two-up on the Xerox and cut the number of clicks in half. Still, give me a four-color job and ask for 20,000 copies, there's no choice but offset."
Kalstein: "I'd like to say, yes, it will be possible to do cost-effective 20,000 runs on digital in the future, but I don't see that happening in the next three to five years. As long as pricing on digital machines is based on click charges, it's going to be hard for them to compete with presses."
Renn: "According to industry experts, the demand for variable data and short-run printing has ushered out the age of offset. Fortunately, my customers haven't been notified yet. My offset presses actually give me the edge against a very homogenous field of competitors."
