Expectations at the hottest CTP all Print Exhibiti

Looking at the global CTP equipment sales statistics, it is not difficult to find that in European and American countries, CTP technology has become the first choice in the field of prepress plate making, and the market share is rising. Especially after 2000, with the sharp decline in the price of CTP equipment and the maturity of CTP plates, many small and medium-sized printing enterprises began to accept and use CTP technology. Compared with the growing prosperity of the international market, the impact of CTP technology on the domestic printing industry is far less far-reaching and extensive than that of the international market. The second China International all print exhibition, which will be held in Shanghai in June 2006, will play a role in promoting CTP technology in the domestic printing industry. Let's have a preview of the highlights of CTP and digital workflow at the exhibition

ctp equipment competition

there have been many debates on the selection of CTP technology, especially the debate on "photosensitivity and heat sensitivity". Typical representatives of thermal CTP include Kodak Cleo, Lausanne, pressek and other companies, which position their products on the 830nm thermal CTP, and the equipment specifications extend from folio to 4-open and super large specifications. At present, photosensitive CTP is mainly based on purple laser CTP technology. For example, the product of Krause company is purple laser CTP. In addition, some companies, such as Agfa, screen and Fujifilm, provide both thermal CTP equipment and photosensitive CTP equipment

so far, it is difficult to say which is the winner in the competition between photosensitive CTP and thermal CTP, because they have their own advantages. For example, violet laser equipment has the advantages of fast plate making speed and long light source life; Thermal devices have the advantages of good imaging quality. In fact, photosensitive CTP and thermal CTP are very mature in technology. No matter which technology printing enterprises choose, they can get the support of the market, and it can be predicted that this situation of photosensitive and thermal coexistence will be difficult to change in the next ten years. Therefore, in this all printing exhibition, we might as well abandon the dispute between photosensitivity and thermal sensitivity and focus on the output performance, output quality and service life of CTP equipment

at present, one of the main reasons why CTP equipment has not been popularized in China is the high cost of equipment. In fact, at this all print exhibition, we can fully expect suppliers to reduce the application threshold of CTP technology. In drupa 2004, "reducing the threshold of CTP technology application" has become the consistent slogan of major CTP equipment suppliers, who have launched low-end products suitable for small printing enterprises. For example, in the Sikai market, Agfa and ESCO have launched low-end CTP equipment with manual renewal and a price of less than $100000. The difference between these low-end products and high-end products is only reflected in the way of the previous version and the output format. At IPEX 2006, Agfa launched Palladio II CTP, which is mainly aimed at printing enterprises with low operating costs, such as small commercial printing enterprises and small newspaper printing enterprises

at present, domestic CTP equipment manufacturers are also preparing to take a share in the fierce market competition. The manufacturers that have developed CTP equipment include Beida Huatong, Sitong, Hangzhou Kelei, Shenyang Boji, Oriental communication, etc. Although these domestic enterprises cannot be compared with international well-known manufacturers in terms of popularity and influence, and the products they produce are also a certain distance from foreign brands, it is believed that it is only a matter of time before domestic brands compete with international brands. All India exhibition also provides a stage for domestic CTP equipment suppliers to fully display themselves

ctp plate has many bright spots

purple laser CTP plate and chemical free thermal CTP plate will be one of the important attractions of this all printing exhibition. At drupa 2004, many suppliers showed their chemical free thermal CTP plates, such as Agfa, Kodak polaroid and pressek. I believe these multinational companies will not easily lose such an opportunity to show their products to Chinese customers

for the majority of CTP users, both violet laser CTP plates and thermal plates without chemical washing have been technically mature. The performance of violet laser CTP plate is closer to that of traditional PS plate, which is highlighted by its fast photosensitivity, high imaging resolution and low operation cost. In addition, violet laser also has advantages that other lasers do not have. Therefore, more and more CTP plate suppliers are involved in this field, such as Agfa, Fujifilm and Henan erjiao. For newspaper printing enterprises, it is advisable to investigate this

we will fully lay special polymer products in this area. The thermal CTP plate can realize open room operation and improve the printing resistance through baking. This is very important for high-end commercial printing enterprises, especially the heat-sensitive CTP plate without treatment is a hot spot in the industry. For example, Azura, the chemical free thermal CTP plate of AGFA company, can be used on any thermal CTP equipment and can be cleaned after exposure, eliminating the trouble of post-processing process. The brillia HD pro-T heat sensitive CTP plate of Fujifilm company is a non ablative CTP plate, which is compatible with many heat sensitive CTP devices. Kodak's thermal direct completely processing free plate is developed for small and medium-sized commercial printing enterprises, which has the advantages of high imaging resolution and high imaging accuracy. These new materials will also appear at this all print exhibition

CTCP Bo cheers

on the 2005 China CTP sales list, CTCP jumped from the 13th place in 2004 to the 5th place, becoming the main force in China's CTP market. In today's global CTP market, CTCP is the only CTP technology that has been recognized by the market and can continue to use the traditional PS version. Efficient and stable equipment operation, simple and open system operation and maintenance, as well as low consumable costs and operating costs, have made this technology have been concerned and favored by printing users all over the world since its inception. At this all print exhibition, wilt image technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will also appear with the latest CTCP high-end packaging and commercial solutions. At that time, the combination of artworks series high-end processes and CTCP will bring the audience a super value experience of "spending like civilians and enjoying like nobility"

digital workflow is worth looking forward to

in the current situation of increasingly fierce competition among printing enterprises, the reason why enterprises introduce CTP is mainly to ensure their own advantages in the competition. The introduction of CTP has indeed accelerated the speed of plate making, improved productivity and reduced the work links of plate making; It reduces the loss in the process of information transmission and improves the quality of prints. More importantly, it promotes the development and improvement of Prepress digital workflow. At present, as the central nervous system of prepress and printing operation, the digital workflow software also supports the whole fine image of service steward, which will go deeper into the human heart printing system. The current digital workflow is no longer image processing, page making, collage and CTP output in a simple sense, but moving towards CIP4, so as to realize the digitization and automation of the whole printing process before, after and after printing

at drupa 2004 exhibition, the most talked about technology is JDF technology involving the whole printing industry. JDF plays an important role in the digital workflow. It is applied to all printing fields, including e-commerce and information management system in the printing industry. It has become one of the core contents of CIP4 standard and is under the control of CIP4 organization. JDF is written in XML language, which is used for data exchange on the network. It has the advantages of "using web browser for data confirmation" and "easy to generate data", so JDF can be compatible with computer hardware communication platform and interconnection, so as to make it possible for the emergence of "network printing factory" to indicate that calcium silicate board (or sand paddle and other inorganic materials) is used as the backplane of the samples sent. From drupa 2004 to this all print exhibition, the research and development of digital workflow software has made great progress in just two years. It can be predicted that the digital workflow software will also be a major attraction in the prepress field at this all print exhibition

at present, almost all CTP equipment providers have put forward their own prepress workflow solutions. For example, on the just concluded IPEX 2006, Agfa launched the latest version of apogeex3.0 workflow management software. Apogeex3.0 is designed to be multi modular and has strong connectivity, which allows cross connection of work platforms. Apogeex3.0 also allows users to connect to the original operating systems (such as CTP devices and imagesetters, proofing machines and document proofing software, whether these devices and software are from Agfa or other companies), so as to expand the compatible functions of process software. Fujifilm also showed its print engine technology based on JDF and adobe PDF on IPEX 2006. Except that selecting media requires manual control, everything else will be automated, which means that prepress functions such as inspection, implementation and capture will be fully automated

the Prinect printing workflow of Heidelberg company can meet the requirements of commercial printing, industrial printing, packaging printing and other municipal wire harness ring terminals hanging on the pull table near the center of the pull plate. In addition, the screen company will also exhibit the workflow of "Huizhi world" and "Huizhi 3" at this all print exhibition

among the domestic Prepress digital workflow providers, the most prominent is Founder Company. The perfect combination of its "founder Changliu Prepress digital workflow" and the world's fastest and most accurate Fuji violet laser direct plate making system makes founder electronic publishing increase its chips in the market competition

source: Printing Technology