Direct-to-press platemaking: 'Jury is still out'

-- Converting Magazine, 3/1/2001

In the offset area, what will it take for direct-to-press platemaking to become the standard for the folding-carton industry?

"It will happen when the technology is ready," responds Ian Hole, North American business development manager for Barco Graphics, Vandalia, Ohio. "The jury is still out on the productivity of imaging directly on the press. With present technology, I don't know whether you gain by making the image on the press, rather than making the image on a plate and putting it on the press. Some of the technology needs cleaning up."

According to Dave Brown, corporate vice president of business strategies, CreoScitex, Vancouver, BC, on-press imaging is most appealing for short production runs in folding carton and commercial offset. "If you're typically doing jobs with run times of an hour, then digital imaging has a strong advantage. If your run-times are several hours or beyond, off-press imaging will be the choice, even in the future."