56 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk Issue 342 - May / June 2023 which litho wins across the board in terms of speed, quality, and cost,” he says. “While that’s the case, printers producing at those volumes will tend to favour litho.” And with Solopress having recently invested almost £5m in a new site, a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 and plant machinery, it is fair to say the company’s investment in litho can’t be questioned. For Route 1 Print, Tasker mirrors the stance of Clifford and says the company has “the best of both worlds” with its line-up including four Heidelberg litho presses and its digital technologies including the Landa S10P. “Our industry knowledge and experience has allowed us to effectively make use of our factory and equipment by coming up with systems and routing practices to make sure our customer’s work makes it down the most suitable stream. “For us, litho isn’t less relevant than digital printing, it still serves a purpose. It’s more about finding the right machine for the customer’s job requirements. Although digital can support us in ways that litho can’t, the quality, reliability, and flexibility that litho offers remains unmatched.” of printing processes due to the nature of applying the ink to the paper and drying time but we’ve never let factors like this hold us back,” Tasker says. “We always make sure that we invest in the latest equipment like our Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75. Since getting this machine we’ve been able to upgrade it to make it even more efficient. “Our B2 press now uses LE UV inks like the B1 presses. These inks are cured after printing, making them touch dry in just seconds and saving us and our customers a significant amount of time.” For Solopress, the time it takes to change over between jobs is also a limitation as with digital you can transition between jobs seamlessly with no stoppage time at all. However, Clifford says that once the press is running, the marginal costs for that extra work diminish. “That’s why it’s fast and lower in cost for medium and long runs but impractical for short runs. The way you get around this of course is to have both methods available!” And this takes us onto the debate of litho vs digital, although the argument seems to be in favour of using both technologies in harmony together with both offering their own benefits. “Admittedly litho is becoming less relevant with advances in digital technology,” argues Clifford. “Over the last three years, we’ve seen run lengths double on digital presses at a comparable quality, for a lower price. That means jobs with run lengths that would previously have been handled by our litho presses are now going through our digital machines. “With regards to colour and quality, digital is catching up fast there too. We run a suite of HP Indigos which includes two 7.8Ks, two 10Ls and a 100K machine. The print image quality we achieve with these presses genuinely rivals what we see from our Heidelbergs.” Clifford continues: “Ink costs do come into the equation, though. If inkjets were to drop significantly in price, then the odds might shift further in favour of digital. At current prices, though, ink costs are still a barrier for digital.” With that said, Clifford says that as things currently stand, litho still has its place for medium to long run production and he says he sees this being the case for some years to come. “There’s a threshold above ▲ Route 1 Print says it has the best of both worlds with its litho and digital technologies NEED TO KNOW / LITHO TECHNOLOGY
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