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Direct to Plate Printing
Direct to plate printing is a form of printing which has become extremely popular
due to its cost-effectiveness. This innovating technology is also environmentally
friendly and has a higher productivity rate. Because this process eliminates film in the printing process, the technology has
had to completely expand in order to provide the print quality that consumers demand.
To ensure that there was no loss of print quality, several manufacturers have development
their own techniques. One such company was Kodak, who developed Direct Thermal
Printing Plate. This process uses thermal imaging techniques instead of silver
halide or photopolymer technologies. This technology uses focused heat from a laser
diode to the surface coating onto a plate until the required temperature has been
reached. Once the correct temperature has been achieved, an image is formed. The
addition of more heat will not have an effect on the image. The image will exactly
match the platesetter image. Traditional film and plate printing processing require the use of harmful chemical
substances, though direct to plate printing will not completely eliminate all harmful
chemicals, it is more environmentally friendly. Other benefits include less expensive
operating cost as the majority of the process is produced through a computer and
the print media is also less expensive. However, noticeable disadvantage of direct to plate printing is that there isn?t
an opportunity for proofing of prints, which is a vital step at every stage of the
printing process. By proofing film, the developer has an opportunity to notice
any errors and correct them if possible. However, with direct to plate printing,
there isn?t any way to accurately proof an image before printing and this drawback
has been noted as a flaw in the technology.
Small business guides: , Thermal Transfer Labels Guide.com |
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