Litho Quality vs. Digital Quality

Posted by advantage on Feb 2, 2012 in Digital Printing Solutions | 0 comments

The new age question of the print business…can the relative newcomer on the print stage outshine, or even equal the veteran graphic arts product…?

With the technical advances in today’s modern digital presses, the answer is a resounding…Yes!  Xerox Igen, HP Indigo and even Xeikon color digital print systems offer quality images that can meet…and often beat the best that traditional litho offset can produce.  And with the ability to integrate variable data and images into the static print process, digital print solutions become powerful marketing tools.  In addition, digital is FAST… because there are less mechanical steps in preparation of digital printing, we can take a high resolution PDF into four color (or more) process production in a matter of minutes.

For longer color runs, litho is still the most cost effective print option.  But for short to medium size runs (and that number is getting larger every day), high resolution digital print offers just as many, if not more substrate options than litho and almost eliminates set up costs, providing a cost model that’s hard to beat.

It is important to work with a print production resource that can provide both litho and digital print technology so that quality and color match integrity can be managed throughout the print process.  In the last 15 years, I’ve seen amazing advances in all areas of print.  It will be exciting to see how the next round of technology improvement will change our industry, both litho and digital.

Stacie Yamasaki
Data Processing and Letter Art Manager