Defining the Buzz

Mark Strobel, VP of sales and marketing, Primera Technology offers a technical definition of digital printing. He states that digital printing is a method of putting ink onto a substrate without the use of an analog intermediate such as a printing plate. “It allows variable data to be directly imprinted for lot coding, serial numbers, private labeling, and more,” he says. According to Mac Rosenbaum, VP, Aquaflex/F.L. Smithe, digital printing is a common name for a multitude of printing processes including toner-based, inkjet, thermal transfer, and sublimation. Each of these processes, according to Rosenbaum, has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. “For some,” he says, “digital printing suggests the entire printing process is digital. For others, it suggests variable data printing such as bar codes and text combined with traditional print processes.”