What equipment is needed for a mini-printing house

Currently, the development of technology for printing houses has moved to a new qualitative level. A modern multifunctional printing house can be located in a small office and solve the whole range of tasks set by customers. The speed of order fulfillment, its quality, the speed of restructuring and adjustment of equipment with small order volumes - all this is the hallmark of a modern small printing business.

As you know, "advertising is the engine of trade", the intensive development of small business in Russia forms a team of customers for small printing houses. In this article, the authors tried to describe the necessary units for creating a mini-printing house, as well as specialized complexes needed for the further development of the enterprise.

Printing complexes and related units for small printing houses.

At the first stage, it is necessary to determine the production premises and begin to equip it with equipment.

The mini-printing house format involves the use of the following technical devices:

1. To reduce the printing time for A4 sheets, you must have an A3 risograph. Two sheets of A4 are placed on the area of ​​sheet A3. The optimal printing speed of the risograph is in the range from 60 to 130 pages per minute.
2. To obtain high-quality copies of A3 and A4 format, you need a copier with a print speed of about 15 sheets of A3 format in 1 minute. Replaceable equipment for it: toner for printing 3,000 A3 pages and a photo drum with a resource of 100,000 copies.
3. To print digital text or an image, you need a color laser printer with a print speed of about 8 sheets per minute and a photo drum capacity of 7,500 sheets.
4. To transfer images to digital format, you will need a scanner with a scanning window size of 216x279 mm, and capable of transmitting an image for printing to a printer without additional devices.

With a limited budget, all this equipment can be bought on the secondary market in good condition.

Equipment manufacturers recommend original consumables for their devices. For a risograph, you need a master film, for a printer and a copier - a replaceable photo-drum each.To fulfill orders, stock up on A4 and A3 paper.

Settings for printing in a printing house

Promotion of goods and services of commercial companies requires a large variety of printed materials. Full-fledged printing plants provide a full range of commercial printed products.

List of required printing machines

• The most optimal ratio of price to quality of goods is provided by a printing plant that uses the technology of applying an image using offset printing. This technology allows you to print small and not very large runs, providing good quality. The principle of operation of the equipment is based on transferring the image from the offset roller to the printing roller. The cost of the equipment is affordable for small businesses.
• The hydraulic paper cutting unit provides high-quality cutting of paper of various formats at minimal cost. This cutter will allow you to cut a 30,000th print run with high quality.
• In the printing industry, there is a special fold machine for breaking down and forming a multi-page brochure. There are a large number of equipment for performing the folding operation, each with its own unique specifics. At the stage of formation of the printing house, there will be enough machine to create multi-page brochures.

The printing units provided in this list cost around 2 million rubles. The operation of this equipment can provide a district of the city or a large regional center with printed products.

Print types

Promotional printed matter, made in the style of the company, embodies the reliability and presentability of the organization. The quality of printing, paper, professional design is the key to the success of the ongoing advertising campaign.There are several types of printing, each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the right type of print will determine the cost of circulation and its quality.

Screen printing

In this way, you can apply an image not only on paper, but also on the surface of metal, fabric, glass or ceramics. The second name for this printing method is silk screen printing. By means of silk-screen printing it is possible to obtain three-dimensional, embossed images. Offset printing is inferior to screen printing in saturation of color shades. Silkscreen printing technology makes it possible to use more coloring materials. When creating relief images, a special powder is used, which, when melted, will delight colorful reliefs on the surface.

Embossing

This printing method is advantageous for the production of very large print runs. It allows you to print a large circulation with good speed and maintaining high quality. A cliche is created for printing from metal or plastic, a beautiful relief image is formed during printing, and the surface of paper or leather can also be metallized with foil. The image acquires a unique design and a rich, solid look.

Digital printing

The advantages of such printing are the speed of equipment restructuring, prompt changes to the layout of the printed image, the speed and simplicity of the process. This method is indispensable for the production of small and small circulations.

Disadvantages of this method: the inability to obtain unique colors and shades, it is difficult to apply the image on textured paper, gaps are formed, the average quality of image printing.

Gravure

This is one of the varieties of embossed printing. Screen gravure printing is created by rolling or imprinting a matrix on a work surface.Engraving of the printing cylinder can be carried out in various ways: mechanical, chemical etching or laser. From the place on the cylinder where the image should not be present, the material is selected. Excess paint that enters the groove is removed with a squeegee. One type of this seal is used to make money. The most expensive part of this type of printing is the matrix on which the image is engraved. It is made of durable material and is enough for a very large number of images.

Typically, this type of printing is used for printing on packaging and is cost-effective for very large runs.

Flexography

To apply an image on flexible media or a corrugated surface: plastic bags, cardboard with a corrugated structure, a subspecies of rotational printing was developed - flexography. The impression matrix is ​​made of elastic materials and allows you to apply high-quality images on various materials and complex surfaces. Basically, quick-drying paints are used for drawing the image. The production of a printing plate is cheaper than with gravure printing, and accordingly, this method pays off with much smaller print runs.

Offset printing

Modern printing equipment operating on offset printing technology is the most popular and widespread.

The technology of applying the image is divided into several technological operations. Through a set stencil, the image is projected onto the offset roller, the coating of the roller selectively attracts ink, depending on whether the area of ​​the cylinder is illuminated or darkened. The illuminated areas of the shaft repel the paint, while the dark ones, on the contrary, attract.Then the image applied from the stencil is transferred from the offset roller to the printing one, and the print is made on the prepared paper.

To print multi-colored images, sequential application of ink of different colors according to the CMYK system is used. After applying the image to the paper, printing ink is washed off the rollers with water.

Due to the fact that the adjustment of the printing unit before each print takes a lot of time, it is not cost-effective to print small batches of products on it.

In order to speed up the printing of color images, it is better to use inks that dry quickly under the influence of ultraviolet rays.

Tools and equipment for creating books and brochures

The cost of printed products and its competitive advantages strongly depend on the time spent on auxiliary processes: setting up and setting up equipment, making matrices, but manufacturers also bear no less costs for creating the final product. After applying the image to the sheet, it is necessary to create a product demanded by the consumer. Several types of machines have been developed for the creation of printed products.

Types of equipment required to create the final product

Paper cutter, cuts exactly to size advertising materials, posters, calendars.

Installation of binding by a metal staple of sheets for formation of brochures. The unit, according to a given program, produces metal staples of the required size. Without this equipment, it is impossible to produce some samples of printed products. This setting is used in most medium-sized printing houses.

In large printing houses, folding machines and embossing machines are used to produce books and magazines.The book consists of a series-connected set of notebooks; a folding installation forms notebooks from printed sheets. Machines come in various types: knife, cassette or combined.

Large printing plants have unique installations in their arsenal: thermal binding, stitching, cutting and collating. They use automated quality control systems to compare received products with a reference sample and reject substandard goods.

The development and improvement of printing units makes manufacturers strive to improve installations for the production of full-fledged books and illustrated magazines.

World leaders in the production of printing equipment

Below are popular models from world manufacturers.

Installations providing preparatory processes

Esko-Graphics has introduced the latest third generation of its CtP generation PlateDriver 8 system with FlowDrive process control to customers. This equipment is necessary for full-cycle printing plants and is aimed at the production of high-quality, commercial printed products.

For the production of metal molds with a layer of photosensitive material, FUJIFILM has developed a set of equipment Luxel V8 in the format of the CtP system. Achievable machine resolution is 3670 dpi. This setting is in demand in printing houses that use sheet-fed units to create advertising.

Printing equipment

The printing system of the new generation KOMORI LITHRONE S40 is characterized by full automation of all processes, very high quality printing and high speed of process changeover.Designed for commercial printing applications, this system offers improved reliability, performance and durability.

KBA has developed a modern offset press with five colors PERFORMA 74-5. The design of the machine guarantees high print quality, has its own quality control system KBA Control, and is provided with an instant ink drying system.

Equipment for creating books and brochures

The modern, fully automated folding machine GUK 54/6 KL-R6 is built on the principle of "open architecture" and has a modular structure. The consumer independently chooses a set of modules necessary for him to work. The design of the machine consists of a powerful frame and a modern, highly efficient drive that ensures high reliability of the unit. A distinctive feature of this installation is ease of operation and high productivity.

No matter how the world and options for providing data change, the main source of information has always been and will be printed materials. Books will make leisure more useful and enjoyable, they have become a source of discussion, thanks to them a worldview is formed, an idea of ​​good and bad. The right of printing to exist today has been proven, and it occupies a leading position among sources of information.