Think Ink

Waddington—Digital still has a long way to go but it can’t be ignored. Finishing systems for the press were a big setback as hot stamping, diecutting, and so forth could not be done on the older equipment. New digital presses are available that can do all the finishing work of the larger ‘conventional’ narrow-web printing presses. The continual prohibitive factor for digital printing is that it does not make sense on long runs (speed and cost of consumables = quickly diminishing returns on longer runs). The digital press cannot lay down a thick ink film, which creates opacity issues for clear stocks and it is a big issue where a coating is being applied for slip and/or product resistance factors. I think that until these issue can be met, digital’s impact on narrow-web printing will be static for the foreseeable future.