Is Analog’s Time Running Out?

“Trade shops want the advantages of digital technology because their customers, the converters, do,” explains Paul Merkel, director, global product management for MacDermid. “The benefits of using a digital workflow, as well as the enhanced print quality of the digital plates, carry through from the trade shop to the converter and ultimately its customer, the package buyer. That said, although today’s carbon-masked digital plates offer higher quality and greater tonal range than analog plates, the entire printing process—from fingerprinting and prepress to press, anilox, ink, and substrates—must be properly aligned to take maximum advantage of the digital plates’ capabilities.”