Like a Fine Wine

Printing has been around for centuries, but digital printing is still a baby, having only hit the mainstream less than 20 years ago.

Since then, it has evolved into one of the latest and fastest modes of printing due to its quality, rates and the ability to give people a view of what their books, brochures and other products will look like once they are in readers’ hands. And industry professionals said they are always working to make it better.

Kevin Joyce, worldwide vice president, sales and marketing, Digital Printing Solutions, of the Rochester, New York-headquartered Kodak, explained its products offer some very valuable features. For instance, Joyce said KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions enable high-margin color applications and unique capabilities such as the new dimensional printing capability, which is available only on NEXPRESS solutions.

“Dimensional printing gives specified text and images a raised or three-dimensional effect that can help communications stand out in a crowded marketplace, and help print service providers stand out from their competition,” he mentioned.

Joyce added the Stream Printhead, the first product to implement Kodak’s groundbreaking Stream Inkjet Technology, offers both the advantages of continuous inkjet technology and traditional offset class reliability. He continued, saying, “It serves as a low-cost variable data printing entry for commercial printers enabling personalization and job versioning while extending their web offset investment functionality.”

Edison, New Jersey-based Prodigital Printing has made similar moves.

Prodigital’s executive vice president Bill Doehler noted, “On the new features front, our newly installed NexPress has Advanced Clear installed. This technology enables us to print textures (like the scales of a fish) in one pass through the press. The output is a real eye-catcher.”

And recently, the company bought a second NexPress. Another new equipment purchase is a near line coating unit that will flood coat sheets with either aqueous, varnish or UV; it is expected to be delivered soon, Doehler anticipated.

Joyce explained Kodak provides a continuum of digital printing solutions offering offset class performance in terms of reliability, productivity, total cost of ownership and image quality. For example, Kodak’s inkjet portfolio includes high volume KODAK VERSAMARK Inkjet Printing Systems for transactional printing and KODAK VERSAMARK VL Printing Systems for mid-volume color printing.