Talk about CTP application errors

In the current print production flow from manuscripts (information sources) to printed products, the key technology of the printing company's core competitiveness is how to reduce time redundancy, cost redundancy, personnel redundancy, and expand new application fields to realize products and their individuality. Revalued services. Therefore, today's printing industry has become the focus of competition from the "print quality" as the center to the "higher quality premise work efficiency" as the center.

The productivity of printing production is achieved through the entire process of digital connection control of printing factory employees, computers and users, and directly determines the price of printed products. At present, in order to speed up production and increase the number of processes, printing companies mostly rely on the management information system (MIS) that generates documents and work job tickets, and the prepress RIP system that converts computer codes into film/plate exposure control information. Universal network user document file import, processing, online proofing, CTP direct plate making, printing process control and postpress processing. Among them, CTP is a key technology node that can simultaneously shorten time, reduce costs, and reduce personnel. However, in the current CTP application, due to the idealized propaganda of CTP by the equipment supplier and the lack of understanding of the CTP technology by users, the various misunderstandings in the CTP application are summarized as follows:

1. Misunderstanding of CTP and its technology

Different from the breakthrough of local technical difficulties in the application of call extensions, laser imagesetters, and DTP systems in the printing industry in the past 20 years, the application of CTP has actually become the integration of the entire production from prepress to printing and postpress based on CTP and its technology. Links, including color management, digital workflow, and many technologies, and even extended to the distribution and sales process of production technology, so that the printing business and business systems will be integrated into a digitally controlled information system.

The rapid development of modern technology has brought a lot of formal identification factors and difficulties to the printing industry. In addition, the influence of domestic printing technology theory and research personnel on the development of industry technology is insufficient, making some domestic printing companies still follow the traditional thinking set. Introduce new technologies. Supply and technology integrators have not completely completed the localization of technology according to the actual conditions of the domestic market, but applied foreign standards and models, so that some printing companies think that the application of CTP, is to focus on buying a batch of computers, servers, direct plate-making Machines, digital proofing machines and other hardware and software facilities can obtain cost-effective results.

However, the opposite is true. The core of CTP used by printing companies is to grasp the production knowledge of organ newspapers and use the new digital knowledge to integrate traditional printing technologies and processes. Therefore, only a comprehensive system analysis of the traditional printing process, with a certain degree of access to grasp the CTP and its related technologies, in order to expand the breadth and depth of the use of new knowledge to increase efficiency. From the current analysis of the installation of CTP printing companies, it is known that the printing companies that have acquired new knowledge have improved their quality and benefits, and their competitive advantages have increased. For printing companies that do not have new knowledge, after installing CTP, they have not changed their minds. Bigger financial and ideological burdens.

In addition, the application of CTP must also do a lot of preparatory work in advance, including the establishment of a complete digital environment, front-end file system interface technology, electronic file management and data preservation and retrieval technology, color management and optimization of RIP technology and employees. Knowledge reconstruction training. At the same time, according to their actual needs, through the comparative analysis of the old technology and process flow, inheriting traditional advantages and giving play to the characteristics of the new technologies, color screening, tone transfer, digital proofing, imposition and printing Matching conditions and other key points, so that the theoretical advantages of CTP into true productivity.

2. Misunderstanding of CTP application control methods

Since the application CTP must integrate all the hardware devices, software tools, and process controls in the existing production process, the use of CTP must analyze and summarize the various control nodes of the original process, and understand the role of each node in the production quality and efficiency of the product, so that the CTP can truly Become a bridge for transmitting print information. The understanding of CTP application control methods includes four aspects:

(1) What accuracy printing information can be transmitted by CTP technology?

At present, most of the understanding of the accuracy of printed information that CTP technology can convey is limited to the advantages of CTP. For example, in terms of technical advantages, it has high quality of recording outlets, small changes in outlets, better recording of FM outlets, good reproducibility of highlights and dark outlets, large range of tone levels, and no problem of dust and film edges. The registration accuracy of the printing plate is high. In terms of time-saving advantages, the use of digital workflows shortens overall print production time, improves timeliness, and eliminates the need for manual dressing of dirty spots on the plates and film edges. Digital ink presetting technology saves the time required to adjust presses. The recording repeatability is good, and the press adjustment time is short at the time of recompiling. In terms of cost advantages, the cost of film and its development and processing are eliminated; the amount of trial printing waste paper, ink, fountain solution is reduced; the utilization rate of printing machines and post-money processing equipment is improved; and personnel costs are reduced. However, they did not pay attention to the actual printing conditions and quality levels to evaluate and select the most appropriate CTP and its control parameters.

(2) What is the best information to be passed in the printing process?

At present, the understanding of the best information to be transmitted in the printing process still only stays in the range of dots that the CTP can reproduce, how high the number of screen lines can be output, and can use FM, AM, or hybrid screening, the minimum dot value that can be reproduced, etc. The ideal output status of the platesetter and its media. It does not reflect the rules of dot-to-net transfer between pre-press plate data, printing conditions, and printed materials, nor does it take into account the adverse effects of excessive dot reproduction accuracy on the printing process, and the different transfer requirements of different types of printed materials on dot reproduction.

(3) Which aspects and processes of the traditional process have been optimized and improved by the CTP technology?

The process links and processes for CTP optimization and sending of traditional processes are less systematically analyzed. Without careful analysis of CTP in the process, the digital color management caused by digital proofing that is completely different from the traditional proofing mechanism must be adopted. The fundamental change from control to matching, as well as technical control methods and operating procedures, and new requirements for operators. Instead, it is believed that high-quality products can be obtained with high-precision instruments. In fact, integrators and users do not use a scientific method to ensure that the sample can reproduce or describe the true color characteristics of the device. As a result, the acquisition of high-precision digital control parameters, error handling, and the reliability of the set-up are reduced. It can sum up and build a modularized process structure, and the reliability of popularization and application is low.

(4) How to choose CTP and plate according to product demand

In the current production, the products are divided into quality-priority commercial plate-making and speed-priority newspaper plate-making. In the quality-priority commercial plate-making, the main products are high-quality pictures, exquisite samples, fashion magazines and other high-quality printed materials. Its requirements for product color, gradation, sharpness, consistency, and number of screens are extremely high, especially highlights and shadows. Therefore, a variety of screening technologies are required, such as FM screening and AM screening. , Square point chain mixing. It is also necessary to use CTPs and plates with large gamma coefficients and good dot uniformity. For newspapers with speed priority, the main products are newspapers with emphasis on timeliness and color books with low quality requirements. The requirements for time are higher than the quality requirements, and most of them use commercial, semi-commercial or newspaper machines. The order of printing images is short, and the color reproduction requirements are relatively low. Mainly, low-add screens are used for amplitude modulation screening. Therefore, Choose a fast CTP and its media.

3. Misunderstandings of Process Adaptation in CTP Process

At present, printing companies are using CTP processes to replace traditional generalized CTP processes. The CTP process that integrates prepress, printing, and postpress processing not only realizes the direct printing of PS and PDF files into plates, but also generates PDF/JDF that realizes process management, online proofing, automatic internal data transmission, and printing job instructions. (CIP3/CIP4) file. It can even allow customers to specify paper and ink via the Internet and track the production status of the prints. Thus, the visual analog media transfer in the traditional process is converted into digital transfer of the invisible CTP process, which reduces the reliability of the adaptive state between visual decision processes.

Regardless of the traditional process or the CTP process, the adaptation of each process directly affects or determines the printing results. The CTP process must not only establish the operational baseline of the CTP process to unify the data format, color management, tone transfer characteristics, and optimal printing conditions of the production system, but also standardize the relational processing of page and text in the page layout and different foldings. With the binding of the layout of the principle, but also consider digital proofing, CTP plate and single leaflet and rotation and other printing methods, especially in the faster than the single, difficult to control the rotary printing. It is also necessary to solve the problem of different quality standard products, the most reasonable flow control and fitting parameters under different paper, ink, printing conditions, and conditions of different operators. Therefore, the difficulty and integrity requirements of the adaptation between processes in the CTP process are improved, making it difficult to theoretically and grasp the seemingly simple data filling.

Therefore, in the face of the CTP process, an effective way to realize the adaptation of each process is to analyze whether the conditions for equipment, personnel, and materials for constructing the CTP process are mature. 2 Based on the CTF simulation CTP production process, identify all possible problems and form a solution. 3 establish production standards and quality specifications, do a variety of data testing and changes in high-speed contingency plans. 4 Carry out the process and application test of the CTP process.

Only in this way can the true operation of all production processes of the CTP process be truly realized. Facts have proved that the successful strategy is based on the characteristics of the printing press, establishes the ICC profile of different paper ink combinations, adopts scientific and reasonable quality control methods and testing methods to ensure the stability of printing colors, and allows employees to work according to standards. The change in the CTP process is only a matter of adding one more option to the actual production output.

4. CTP and the misunderstanding of its application selection

Printing companies introduce CTP workflows, usually with improved technology, expansion, and materials. There are a variety of direct platemaking machines to choose from, as well as a variety of printing plates to choose from, such as silver salt, photopolymerization, Infrared thermal and inkjet materials.

In the selection and application of CTP equipment and media, many companies do not start from their own product characteristics and market development goals. Instead of using CTP technology to solve the deficiencies and defects in the traditional plate making process, they break through the technical bottlenecks of traditional processes and identify The weakest link lies in itself, but it is based on the manufacturer's publicity that the CTP printing company has installed positive beers in terms of quality, cost, and profitability, or that CTP direct platemaking has direct exposure to printing plates, with clear outlets, stable output quality, and consistent production quality. Accuracy of registration is higher, print preparation time is reduced, and work efficiency is improved. Without carefully analyzing the product types of the sample companies of these vendors, the composition of technicians, the level of production quality management, and the time and material consumption from installation to formal production with the full support of the manufacturers, it is only an ideal imitation, often leading to the introduction of high-grade products. The equipment and high-priced materials, due to insufficient digestion and control, did not obtain the required quality improvement, production efficiency, operating costs, or even the quality of the traditional plate-making process.

5. Local Quality Expectation Misplacing Misunderstandings of Overall Quality Expectations

The quality of printed products is in fact a comprehensive result of a fusion of technical and aesthetic evaluation systems. From a technical point of view, the quality of the final printed product is a comprehensive reflection of the equipment, materials, processes, control methods and personnel quality in a printing production system or printing production process. The introduction of CTP and its processes is actually an improvement and optimization of local processes or production processes in a printing production system and a printing production process, rather than an overall reconstruction of the entire printing production system or printing production process. In technical promotion and product promotion, the helper will carefully select the sample image best suited to the device under the specific production conditions driven by the market goal, and deliberately highlight the equipment and materials in some aspects.