Although there are many different styles and types of digital printers, wide printers (also known as wide format printers) have several huge advantages over traditional litho printing presses and printing systems.
Cost Advantage Digital wide printers are often used for short run printing because there is no costly press time associated to traditional litho printing. There is no plate registry setup that can often take upwards to 30 minutes on top of applying inks and chemicals to a press setup PLUS press cleanups at the end of a print job.
No Printing Plates Required Plates often cost $100 each or more on top of the other costs.
Various Types Of Paper Another advantage of printing on wide printers is that you can use various types of paper that would not be used on a printing press. Canvas comes to mind along with other types of roll paper that have been designed specifically for digital printers of all makes and models.
Time Advantage Time is another big advantage. When a customer walks into a print shop, they can often wait while their poster or other type of large print gets completed. Depending on how busy the print shop is or just what the application involves in a print job done on a wide printer, it can often be done on the spot.
With less time there is less setup cost and prepress to worry about. As long as there are no problems associated to a preflight check has been applied to a file to check for things like missing or conflicting fonts and images, you are good to go for a print run. And print runs are usually very short when using digital wide printers for your print job.
Because the customer is right there to inspect the proof, there is no down time waiting for a customer to respond to a request for proofing. If the print shop saves time and money, those savings are carried over to the customer.
Ask Partners Graphic About These And Other Advantages
There are other advantages like reduced errors in prepress setup, less harm to the environment through the use of a minimal amount of chemicals, minimal wastage of paper along with safety issues that are traditionally part of the print litho process that are non-existent in digital printing.
For more information about digital printing and wide printing, contact support at Partners Graphic.