Offset printing help: Comparison of printing costs on digital press and offset press

What's New
iGen Digital Press
Dramatically increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Economical full color, short run press with variable data.
Use Word, PowerPoint, Publisher with Confidence
Create print-ready PDF's on-line for free.
New Services!
We now offer high-quality hot-leaf stamping, die cutting, embossing & thermography
MetalFX
Create over 1,000,000 metallic colors using CMYK and silver.
Spot UV
The most dramatic contrast between gloss and dull available on a printed piece.
Co-Res Screening
300 LPI printing and new screens come closer to continuous tone than ever possible before.
Remote Proofing
Now available in two-page spreads so you can follow page-by-page.

When to consider running your job on a digital press

Digital presses came onto the market in the late 1980's. The presses were slow and prone to breakdowns. It was said that some press manufacturers made customers purchase two machines so that at least one was running at all times. The quality was just OK, usually looking like a photocopy.

Times have changed and the digital press industry has grown up. That's putting it mildly. With players such as Xerox, Kodak and Hewlett-Packard as industry leaders, the technology is good and getting better.

The biggest improvements have come in quality. I'm most familiar with Xerox's Igen3 press. This press prints 14 X 22 sheets with amazing quality. The sheets this press puts out aren't quite as nice as a good sheetfed press sheet, but it's not far off. Images are rich in color and ink coverage is good, even on solid areas.

The two major reasons to utilize the capabilities of a digital press are run length and a need for variable data.

Run Length
Digital presses are economical on short runs-very short. Make-ready times are very quick on a digital press and don't require a lot of paper. By contrast, make-ready times can be quite lengthy on a conventional press and use from 200 - 2,000 sheets, depending on the job. This makes short runs very economical on the digital press.

However digital presses don't run very fast. The fastest Indigo runs at 2,000 sheets per hour. Conventional offset presses run anywhere from 7,000 to 15,000 sheets per hour.

You can also print more pages (up to 16 pages, 8 ½ X 11) on a conventional offset press. Digital presses can run only 4 pages, 8 ½ X 11 on a single press sheet. That translates into higher costs on a digital press for booklet jobs.

You don't have to be a math wiz to see it doesn't take long before the digital press is no longer economical. The chart below shows some comparative pricing of jobs printed digitally and conventionally. The pricing is based on an 8½ X 11 page size printing four-color process on 80# gloss enamel text. Booklets are saddle stitched.

	200	500	1,000	2,500
2 Pages
Offset	$767	$776	$792	$839
Digital	$289	$454	$611	$1,170
4 Pages
Offset	$892	$912	$946	$1,048
Digital	$459	$693	$1,075	$2,324
8 Pages
Offset	$1,170	$1,216	$1,292	$1,522
Digital	$767	$1,325	$2,254	$4,964
16 Pages
Offset	$1,907	$1,992	$2,136	$2,567
Digital	$1,203	$2,400	$4,175	$9,342
24 Pages
Offset	$3,233	$3,332	$3,496	$3,987
Digital	$1,662	$3,427	$6,052	$13,678
32 Pages
Offset	$3,818	$3,944	$4,153	$4,780
Digital	$2,121	$4,455	$7,928	$18,014

Variable Data
Variable data printing (VDP) is the ability to change text and images on printed pieces on an individual basis. That means each piece that comes off the press can be different. The simplest example is a direct mail piece. The addressee information (name, company, address) is different on each piece. Many digital presses will print a postcard, for instance, with the address information different on each card. The pieces are taken right from the press to the post office.

However VDP can do much more. Any image or text block can be changed, based on a set of criteria. Everything is run from a database or Excel file. The press reads each record (row) of the file and determines which sets of text and/or graphics to print on that specific piece. It then moves to the next record and does the same thing. The result is custom printed pieces coming off the press at 2,000 sheets per hour.

Let's take a four-page flyer from a sporting goods store as an example. Let's say I purchased a fishing rod from them last year and my buddy, John, purchased a tennis racquet. The store wants to maximize their return so they decide to use VDP. They supply their printer a file with the name and address of each recipient. Also part of the file is the sport they want to target for each recipient. In my case that would be fishing, for my friend, it would be tennis.

When the press gets to my record, the press prints the name and address of each recipient on the piece so it's ready to drop at the post office. It will also print photos and text for the sport that I'm interested in. So for me it might print several different fishing lures and reels that are on sale. The accompanying text reads "Andy, save big money on the fishing equipment you need for the entire season! When the press gets to my buddy John's name, it prints pictures of five tennis racquets that are new this year. The accompanying text reads "John, ace your next serve with these hot new racquets!

As you can imagine, VDP is a powerful marketing tool. As digital press speeds inch up it will be used for more and more direct mail.

If you're unsure about which technology to use please contact me. I'll be happy to help you figure out which way to go.