The print room prices
Digital print room prices
Digital Printing vs. Offset Printing
- A digital printing workflow has several advantages over offset printing in terms of cost.
- Digital prepress costs are usually lower than conventional prepress because the digital workflow eliminates many of the manual operations of conventional prepress.
- With digital printing, there is no need for steps such as process photography, manual stripping, and platemaking, although preparing print applications on the computer and processing them through the RIP may still be time consuming.
- In terms of print output for the shortest runs, digital printing has a definite advantage over offset printing because there is no extensive setup required in preparing the press for the print run.
- Conventional offset presses require a lengthy makeready time, which adds a considerable cost to the total price of a short run application, therefore the cost per piece is much higher for the smallest print runs.
- When using offset printing, as the quantity increases, the price per piece decreases. When the quantity is large enough, the price per piece is lower than a digitally printed job of the same quantity.
- The point at which it becomes more cost effective to use the traditional offset printing process may vary substantially, depending upon the application.
- When determining a cutoff level in which digital printing is a better choice than offset, you must consider the type of application that is being printed.
- Except for the smallest press runs, it is difficult to compete with offset printing costs when, for example, the job is a static, single sided document, in a quantity of 1,000 or more.
- If the application is a multiple page, full-colour report or brochure, in a quantity of 500 or less, then digital printing is often the best choice
- A premium is usually charged for digitally printed variable data applications. The simplest applications are often priced 25% higher than conventionally printed jobs. Complex digitally printed variable data jobs are often 50% more expensive than conventionally printed jobs.
- If a finishing mistake occurs on a small quantity of pieces contained in a static application, there is usually enough of an overrun so that a reprint is not necessary.
- With a digital workflow, document files can be sent anywhere in the world to be printed near the location where the application is needed. Transferring files saves time and reduces the cost of shipping because the application is printed near the point of distribution.
http://digitalprintingtips.com/printing-tips/t--543/digital-printing-vs.-offset-printing-costs.asp
With digital printing, there is usually a one-off set up fee and then the cost of printing each copy depends on the length of the book. So if a book is 150 pages long, it might cost £3.50 a copy to print.That’s excellent! So you can sell your book at £6.99 and make a profit? Well, yes and no... you can sell the book direct to people through a your web site, by hand or perhaps through a local shop, but try
and sell it through a bookshop and you’ll get a shock. Bookshops make their money by taking a percentage of your cover price, often as much as 60%. So suddenly your £3.50 per copy print price doesn’t look so healthy. Sell at a 50% discount to a shop and you’ll only just break even.
Litho is far better if you want to get more books at a smaller unit cost. The downside is that you have to make a larger investment to do so.
Lithographic press (litho)
Printing hasn’t really changed a great deal since Gutenburg gave us the printing press in 1468. Technology has allowed modern printing presses to produce millions of copies of a page in a single day, but the principle of applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon paper, thereby transferring an offset of an image, remains the same.
These days a printer creates a set of ‘plates’ which are used to press the image onto paper. There are initial costs involved in creating the plates and setting up the press. This means a litho job can be expensive and take time, but for large print runs it remains the most efficient process and also boasts superior quality and finish.
Pros
- Most cost effective for large print runs (500+)
- Unrivalled print quality
- Most flexible in terms of printing stock, inks and finishes
- Can print up to A1 size
- Long turn around time
- Expensive for short print runs
Digital print press
Digital print presses are essentially very big and very fast colour laser printers. They can handle some heavier papers and cards but offer nowhere near as much flexibility as litho print. Digital is good because it is instant. Jobs can be turned around in a day if need be and there are no setup costs which means you pay for what you print.
These days the top of the range digital print presses offer very high quality - almost comparable to a litho print job. However, not all printers have the latest top of the range digital presses. In fact unless you are very lucky, digital will give you a noticeable drop in print quality and colour will almost certainly not match.
Pros
Digital print presses are essentially very big and very fast colour laser printers. They can handle some heavier papers and cards but offer nowhere near as much flexibility as litho print. Digital is good because it is instant. Jobs can be turned around in a day if need be and there are no setup costs which means you pay for what you print.
These days the top of the range digital print presses offer very high quality - almost comparable to a litho print job. However, not all printers have the latest top of the range digital presses. In fact unless you are very lucky, digital will give you a noticeable drop in print quality and colour will almost certainly not match.
Pros
- Most cost effective for small print runs
- Print on demand
- Very fast turnaround times
- Noticeable drop in print quality
- Less flexibility than litho print
- Can only print up to A3 size
- Other print processes
Large format inkjet
This is an excellent solution for printing things like one-off exhibition banners and translucent window graphics. However, large format printing can be expensive.
This is an excellent solution for printing things like one-off exhibition banners and translucent window graphics. However, large format printing can be expensive.
Screen printing
Screen printing is a highly versatile printing technique. It can be used to print on all sorts of materials from plastic to metals to cotton t-shirts, and many methods can be used to print special colours such as metallic colours or suedes or glosses.
Screen printing is a highly versatile printing technique. It can be used to print on all sorts of materials from plastic to metals to cotton t-shirts, and many methods can be used to print special colours such as metallic colours or suedes or glosses.
Links to offers for printing
Screen printing: http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/content/print-studios
£14 per printing session
Screen printing: http://www.londonprintstudio.org.uk/print-studio/open-access/
£25.50 per printing session
Options:
Examples of quotes
Hardcover book quote - expensive
Hardcover book quote - cheap
Softcover book quote - expensive
Softcover book quote - cheap
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