The Drupe 2000 exhibition is undoubtedly the arena of CTP technology. Many CTP equipments compete to meet everybody, but there is no definite answer for who will be the future development direction of CTP technology. The Print 01 exhibition after 16 months will be Everyone looking for an answer provides an opportunity for us to review the problems of CTP technology and find out the answers.
Different from Drupa 2000, CTP technology has been very mature on Print 01, mainly reflected in the following aspects:
· Purple laser technology is maturing. With CTP devices using visible light technology, violet laser technology has increasingly been selected. The rapid promotion of this technology will also promote the rapid development of violet laser printing plates.
Thermal technology is mature. Thermal technology is consolidating its position in large and medium-sized printing plants. Most of the thermal devices sold are open-frame or even larger format devices.
The medium format market is growing. In particular, the four-web format equipment is aimed at small and medium-sized printers. In this market, thermal equipment is difficult to compete with visible light equipment due to cost.
· The polyester version market is increasingly important. Polyester plates and related plate-making equipment are becoming alternatives to metal plates, especially for small-scale printers, which can obtain the advantages of CTP technology without having to invest as much money as buying metal plate equipment.
Overall, the entire CTP market continues to grow in an all-round way. According to relevant statistics, an estimated 2,100 CTP systems were sold worldwide in 2000 and the total installed capacity reached 6,000. Despite the sluggish world economy, the CTP market still has 15% growth. Of total sales in 2000, Europe accounted for 47%, North America accounted for 28%, and the remaining 25% sold to other parts of the world.
New products continue to emerge
1.PlateDriver plate making machine
The most eye-catching new product at the show was the new PlateDrriver, a new plate-making machine from Broadway. It is not only the company's new CTP series, but also the company's first CTPF special equipment. The company's previous ImageMaker series was designed as a dual-purpose device for film and plate, while PlateDriver was designed specifically for printing plates. It has two formats, folio and quadruple, and is a fully automated system.
Like other products from the Backdrop, the PlateDriver can also replace laser light sources. One of the most important features of using violet laser technology is speed. PlateDriver is one of the fastest four- and split-format CTP systems on the commercial printing market, and its competitive goal is the Agile's Galileo direct plate-making machine series.
2. Prosetter direct platemaking machine
Although PlateDriver is regarded as the most attractive new product on Print 01, at the same time, Prosetter, Heidelberg's direct plate-making machine, is also one of the products most likely to succeed in the market. It is the first device using violet laser technology from Heidelberg. , There are eight open, four open and off the other format of different formats, using Heidelberg's Primeraetter in the Drupa 2000 introduced image imaging method. As a CTP system, its technical specifications may be lower than those of Galileo and PlateDriver, but its price of 132,000 US dollars (on open format) is more attractive to printers than the previous deadly equipment. The only fly in the ointment is that it currently only has shipping equipment. It provides automated operations that can only automatically load the plate from the platen to the platen. After imaging, the plate is removed from the platen and the plate is loaded into the platen. The machine needs to be completed by the operator. The highly automated product will be launched after 1 year.
3. Palladio direct platemaking machine
Among other new products, perhaps the most famous is the new direct plate-making machine Palladio of Agfa. Palladio is not a brand new product. It was developed by Agfa and Screen. The technology of Flat Screen's CTP device, FlatRite 1050, was adopted, and its electrical parts were updated, using violet laser technology. Palladio is a four-web format device that implements fully automatic and flat bench exposures and is 50% faster than FlatRite.
4.Phoenix direct platemaking machine
The Phoenix mentioned here is Advanced Plate's direct platemaking machine, not the Phoenix phototype machine Phoenix. For printers with older continuous exposure equipment such as Opticopy, Misomex, Rachwal, and Cortron, the most interesting CTP device is Phoenix from Advanced Prepress. It is a tool kit that can install the laser imaging system on the printing table of the continuous drying equipment and convert the existing old analog drying equipment into CTP equipment. The exposure device consists of one or two ECRM holographic imaging devices, similar in structure to Mitsubishi Chemical's DiamondSette device. Its maximum size is 114.3cm x 137.16cm, and the highest resolution is 2540dpi. It is very fast, with 24 plates per hour at 2400 dpi.
Purple Laser: Future Trends
Drupa 2000's indication of the long-term development prospects of violet lasers has been validated on Print 01. On the one hand, major suppliers have introduced specialized violet laser devices. On the other hand, new purple laser plate suppliers have emerged. Users have more choice when purchasing violet laser plates.
In addition to the three violet laser CTP products described above, another violet laser CTP product is from Strobbe. It uses the same technology as the Agfa’s newspaper CTP device Polaris.
In the violet laser plate market, most violet laser devices now use Agfa's silver halide Lithostar Ultra-V. This plate requires a 5mW laser tube. Other violet laser plates include SDP-Alpha V from Mitsubishi Paper.
30mW laser tube can image on the photopolymer plate, Mitsubishi Chemical has announced that it will produce this plate; Fujifilm will also launch its own photopolymer plate produced for the violet laser CTP; and Agfa also has Photopolymerized plate N91 produced for violet laser CTP.
We can predict that at the end of 2002, the plates for visible CTP will be violet laser plates.
1. The advantages of violet laser technology in four open formats
The four-faceted CTP market is becoming more and more attractive. According to the latest analysis of relevant experts, this market will rapidly expand. Because small printers are sensitive to price, those manufacturers of heat-sensitive devices that have succeeded in open-frame and super-large format markets will find it difficult for them to produce four-format format. Price competition. The price of the newly launched four-way visible light CTP device on Print 01 is mostly below $100,000. For example, the price of Prosetter 74 in Heidelberg is 81,000 US dollars.
2. Smaller and Cheaper Pisces
For small printing companies, spending $100,000 to buy CTP equipment is too expensive. Pisces inkjet CTP system only 14,000 US dollars. It uses Epson's Stylus Pro 3000 inkjet system and refits inkjet heads for inkjet imaging on traditional media. The imaging size is 45.72 cm x 63.3 cm. The effect is just like exposure with a UV light source. After processing with a heating device, the machine can be printed on the machine. The print quality is not bad. It can emulate AM dots with an accuracy of 133 lines per inch.
The target market of this system is a small printing plant, an internal printer and a quick printer, and a user who requires the use of low-cost plate-making equipment for color printing. This technology has great potential for market development because the technological improvement of inkjet equipment is very fast. And the format is also relatively large. In addition, companies like Hewlett-Packard can also provide such inkjet equipment.
3. Thermal Technology: Ke Chen Olympiad Angels Integrated Product Line
In the mainstream commercial CTP market, Cronos Angels is a pioneer in the market. The formation of its position has two main factors. The first is to integrate the product lines of Creo and Sai Angel and the second is to handle the market impact brought by low-cost equipment.
The integration of the company's products continues, and some old products have been discontinued, such as the entry-level Trendsetter and the large-format Lotem XL, and some new products have been added.
Prior to Print 01, the company’s entry-level four open-width devices were Lotem 400 and Trendsetter 3230. On Print 01, the company introduced two new four-format products, such as the Lotem 400 Quantum, which is a combination of the automatic Lotem 400 and the Squarespot imaging head of the Trendsetter series.
At the same time, in order to make the Trendsetter 3230 competitive, the Trendsetter 800 was introduced, replacing the SquareSpot imaging head with the laser head of the 16 laser tubes of the Lotem 400. This will provide low-cost products for printers who are using CTP for the first time, and can easily upgrade the equipment, such as adding SquareSpot imaging heads, to increase productivity and product quality when needed.
Creo-SeSky is the main competitor in the thermal market. On Print 01, Heidelberg, Fujifilm, and Screen Technology all introduced their own high-performance thermal CTP devices. Heidelberg's Topsetter PF102, Fujifilm's Javelin Luxel T-9000 CTP HS, and screen company's PlateRite 8600 are very similar. They all use the screen company's technology. The main difference lies in the number of laser beams and their imaging speed. At 20 sheets/hour (2400 dpi), although not as fast as the Lotem 800 Quantum and PlateDriver, it can be considered a very fast device.
Polyester version has infinite potential
For small printers, there is more good news on Print 01: The use of polyester version of CTP equipment continues to maintain the momentum of development. Compared with the polyester version, which can only be used for low-quality printing, today's polyester version has dedicated plate-making equipment and new materials, and the quality has reached a very high level. Currently, it can be used for more than 175 lines of cable. / inch high quality commercial printing. Polyester CTPs, such as the Baldwin Corporation, are able to provide 3600dpi resolution and very high repeatability. At present, a 0.2mm-thick polyester plate can print high-quality prints with a resistance force of up to 20,000 impressions.
The market for polyester version technology is a multi-color printing machine with eight open formats, such as small offset presses from companies such as Hamada, Yoshiaki, and Sakura.
The one that left a deep impression on printing is Mitsubishi Paper’s DigiPlate Silver Salt Polyester Edition, which featured the demonstration of DPX 5080 from Baolu Defu Company at the exhibition site, and a four-color printing press from Tiantian. In the demonstration, 100 color posters with a size of 27.94cm×43.18cm were printed, which took less than 6.5 minutes, including procedures such as printing, registering, color correction and printing, which not only rivaled the speed of the DI printing presses. The quality is also among Zhongzhong.
The old film survives
On Print 01, the development of the internal drum type imagesetter by Creo-Santa Angels was unexpected. Its important symbol is the launch of the Doley 800V4, which uses multiple laser technologies similar to those used by Fujifilm's Samo Imageetter. The Dolev 800V4 can produce 39 sheets of offset film per hour (2540 dpi). Although it uses two lasers, it is equivalent to Fujifilm's three lasers.
Purple laser plate more rich
A year ago, only Agfa provided a violet laser plate, and now there are more suppliers of plates on the violet CTP market. There are already 5 manufacturers participating in this kind of market competition. And Agfa did not stop at its advantage. By the end of 2001, the company introduced an improved violet laser Ultra-V, which was faster than the current Lithostar Lap-v plate. %.
Mitsubishi Paper Launches Aplha
At Drupa 2000, Mitsubishi Papers announced that it is developing a violet laser plate, the Silver DigiPlate Alpha, which is currently being commercialized and is just like Agfa's Ultra-V media. Also uses a silver halide coating, 3 μJ/cm
Different from Drupa 2000, CTP technology has been very mature on Print 01, mainly reflected in the following aspects:
· Purple laser technology is maturing. With CTP devices using visible light technology, violet laser technology has increasingly been selected. The rapid promotion of this technology will also promote the rapid development of violet laser printing plates.
Thermal technology is mature. Thermal technology is consolidating its position in large and medium-sized printing plants. Most of the thermal devices sold are open-frame or even larger format devices.
The medium format market is growing. In particular, the four-web format equipment is aimed at small and medium-sized printers. In this market, thermal equipment is difficult to compete with visible light equipment due to cost.
· The polyester version market is increasingly important. Polyester plates and related plate-making equipment are becoming alternatives to metal plates, especially for small-scale printers, which can obtain the advantages of CTP technology without having to invest as much money as buying metal plate equipment.
Overall, the entire CTP market continues to grow in an all-round way. According to relevant statistics, an estimated 2,100 CTP systems were sold worldwide in 2000 and the total installed capacity reached 6,000. Despite the sluggish world economy, the CTP market still has 15% growth. Of total sales in 2000, Europe accounted for 47%, North America accounted for 28%, and the remaining 25% sold to other parts of the world.
New products continue to emerge
1.PlateDriver plate making machine
The most eye-catching new product at the show was the new PlateDrriver, a new plate-making machine from Broadway. It is not only the company's new CTP series, but also the company's first CTPF special equipment. The company's previous ImageMaker series was designed as a dual-purpose device for film and plate, while PlateDriver was designed specifically for printing plates. It has two formats, folio and quadruple, and is a fully automated system.
Like other products from the Backdrop, the PlateDriver can also replace laser light sources. One of the most important features of using violet laser technology is speed. PlateDriver is one of the fastest four- and split-format CTP systems on the commercial printing market, and its competitive goal is the Agile's Galileo direct plate-making machine series.
2. Prosetter direct platemaking machine
Although PlateDriver is regarded as the most attractive new product on Print 01, at the same time, Prosetter, Heidelberg's direct plate-making machine, is also one of the products most likely to succeed in the market. It is the first device using violet laser technology from Heidelberg. , There are eight open, four open and off the other format of different formats, using Heidelberg's Primeraetter in the Drupa 2000 introduced image imaging method. As a CTP system, its technical specifications may be lower than those of Galileo and PlateDriver, but its price of 132,000 US dollars (on open format) is more attractive to printers than the previous deadly equipment. The only fly in the ointment is that it currently only has shipping equipment. It provides automated operations that can only automatically load the plate from the platen to the platen. After imaging, the plate is removed from the platen and the plate is loaded into the platen. The machine needs to be completed by the operator. The highly automated product will be launched after 1 year.
3. Palladio direct platemaking machine
Among other new products, perhaps the most famous is the new direct plate-making machine Palladio of Agfa. Palladio is not a brand new product. It was developed by Agfa and Screen. The technology of Flat Screen's CTP device, FlatRite 1050, was adopted, and its electrical parts were updated, using violet laser technology. Palladio is a four-web format device that implements fully automatic and flat bench exposures and is 50% faster than FlatRite.
4.Phoenix direct platemaking machine
The Phoenix mentioned here is Advanced Plate's direct platemaking machine, not the Phoenix phototype machine Phoenix. For printers with older continuous exposure equipment such as Opticopy, Misomex, Rachwal, and Cortron, the most interesting CTP device is Phoenix from Advanced Prepress. It is a tool kit that can install the laser imaging system on the printing table of the continuous drying equipment and convert the existing old analog drying equipment into CTP equipment. The exposure device consists of one or two ECRM holographic imaging devices, similar in structure to Mitsubishi Chemical's DiamondSette device. Its maximum size is 114.3cm x 137.16cm, and the highest resolution is 2540dpi. It is very fast, with 24 plates per hour at 2400 dpi.
Purple Laser: Future Trends
Drupa 2000's indication of the long-term development prospects of violet lasers has been validated on Print 01. On the one hand, major suppliers have introduced specialized violet laser devices. On the other hand, new purple laser plate suppliers have emerged. Users have more choice when purchasing violet laser plates.
In addition to the three violet laser CTP products described above, another violet laser CTP product is from Strobbe. It uses the same technology as the Agfa’s newspaper CTP device Polaris.
In the violet laser plate market, most violet laser devices now use Agfa's silver halide Lithostar Ultra-V. This plate requires a 5mW laser tube. Other violet laser plates include SDP-Alpha V from Mitsubishi Paper.
30mW laser tube can image on the photopolymer plate, Mitsubishi Chemical has announced that it will produce this plate; Fujifilm will also launch its own photopolymer plate produced for the violet laser CTP; and Agfa also has Photopolymerized plate N91 produced for violet laser CTP.
We can predict that at the end of 2002, the plates for visible CTP will be violet laser plates.
1. The advantages of violet laser technology in four open formats
The four-faceted CTP market is becoming more and more attractive. According to the latest analysis of relevant experts, this market will rapidly expand. Because small printers are sensitive to price, those manufacturers of heat-sensitive devices that have succeeded in open-frame and super-large format markets will find it difficult for them to produce four-format format. Price competition. The price of the newly launched four-way visible light CTP device on Print 01 is mostly below $100,000. For example, the price of Prosetter 74 in Heidelberg is 81,000 US dollars.
2. Smaller and Cheaper Pisces
For small printing companies, spending $100,000 to buy CTP equipment is too expensive. Pisces inkjet CTP system only 14,000 US dollars. It uses Epson's Stylus Pro 3000 inkjet system and refits inkjet heads for inkjet imaging on traditional media. The imaging size is 45.72 cm x 63.3 cm. The effect is just like exposure with a UV light source. After processing with a heating device, the machine can be printed on the machine. The print quality is not bad. It can emulate AM dots with an accuracy of 133 lines per inch.
The target market of this system is a small printing plant, an internal printer and a quick printer, and a user who requires the use of low-cost plate-making equipment for color printing. This technology has great potential for market development because the technological improvement of inkjet equipment is very fast. And the format is also relatively large. In addition, companies like Hewlett-Packard can also provide such inkjet equipment.
3. Thermal Technology: Ke Chen Olympiad Angels Integrated Product Line
In the mainstream commercial CTP market, Cronos Angels is a pioneer in the market. The formation of its position has two main factors. The first is to integrate the product lines of Creo and Sai Angel and the second is to handle the market impact brought by low-cost equipment.
The integration of the company's products continues, and some old products have been discontinued, such as the entry-level Trendsetter and the large-format Lotem XL, and some new products have been added.
Prior to Print 01, the company’s entry-level four open-width devices were Lotem 400 and Trendsetter 3230. On Print 01, the company introduced two new four-format products, such as the Lotem 400 Quantum, which is a combination of the automatic Lotem 400 and the Squarespot imaging head of the Trendsetter series.
At the same time, in order to make the Trendsetter 3230 competitive, the Trendsetter 800 was introduced, replacing the SquareSpot imaging head with the laser head of the 16 laser tubes of the Lotem 400. This will provide low-cost products for printers who are using CTP for the first time, and can easily upgrade the equipment, such as adding SquareSpot imaging heads, to increase productivity and product quality when needed.
Creo-SeSky is the main competitor in the thermal market. On Print 01, Heidelberg, Fujifilm, and Screen Technology all introduced their own high-performance thermal CTP devices. Heidelberg's Topsetter PF102, Fujifilm's Javelin Luxel T-9000 CTP HS, and screen company's PlateRite 8600 are very similar. They all use the screen company's technology. The main difference lies in the number of laser beams and their imaging speed. At 20 sheets/hour (2400 dpi), although not as fast as the Lotem 800 Quantum and PlateDriver, it can be considered a very fast device.
Polyester version has infinite potential
For small printers, there is more good news on Print 01: The use of polyester version of CTP equipment continues to maintain the momentum of development. Compared with the polyester version, which can only be used for low-quality printing, today's polyester version has dedicated plate-making equipment and new materials, and the quality has reached a very high level. Currently, it can be used for more than 175 lines of cable. / inch high quality commercial printing. Polyester CTPs, such as the Baldwin Corporation, are able to provide 3600dpi resolution and very high repeatability. At present, a 0.2mm-thick polyester plate can print high-quality prints with a resistance force of up to 20,000 impressions.
The market for polyester version technology is a multi-color printing machine with eight open formats, such as small offset presses from companies such as Hamada, Yoshiaki, and Sakura.
The one that left a deep impression on printing is Mitsubishi Paper’s DigiPlate Silver Salt Polyester Edition, which featured the demonstration of DPX 5080 from Baolu Defu Company at the exhibition site, and a four-color printing press from Tiantian. In the demonstration, 100 color posters with a size of 27.94cm×43.18cm were printed, which took less than 6.5 minutes, including procedures such as printing, registering, color correction and printing, which not only rivaled the speed of the DI printing presses. The quality is also among Zhongzhong.
The old film survives
On Print 01, the development of the internal drum type imagesetter by Creo-Santa Angels was unexpected. Its important symbol is the launch of the Doley 800V4, which uses multiple laser technologies similar to those used by Fujifilm's Samo Imageetter. The Dolev 800V4 can produce 39 sheets of offset film per hour (2540 dpi). Although it uses two lasers, it is equivalent to Fujifilm's three lasers.
Purple laser plate more rich
A year ago, only Agfa provided a violet laser plate, and now there are more suppliers of plates on the violet CTP market. There are already 5 manufacturers participating in this kind of market competition. And Agfa did not stop at its advantage. By the end of 2001, the company introduced an improved violet laser Ultra-V, which was faster than the current Lithostar Lap-v plate. %.
Mitsubishi Paper Launches Aplha
At Drupa 2000, Mitsubishi Papers announced that it is developing a violet laser plate, the Silver DigiPlate Alpha, which is currently being commercialized and is just like Agfa's Ultra-V media. Also uses a silver halide coating, 3 μJ/cm
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