During the 1400’s Gutenberg developed a printing press that lead the way for future innovation. At the time his printing press was the benchmark for speed and quality in printing. Today, if you were to print on one of Gutenberg’s printing presses, it would take 5,833 hours just to print the Sunday Edition of The New York Times. Luckily for everyone, printing technology has drastically improved. Now, there are different types of printing presses which are capable of printing thousands of impressions per hour, running black ink or full-color.

When customers approach us, they rarely know the difference between the types of printing presses. And that’s ok- it’s our job to learn their project and produce the job with the printer that is most appropriate for the project. To do this, we consider the project’s volume, quality, paper, color, turn around time, and need for variation in the design.

An offset press is the most commonly used. Offset presses work by moving ink from a metal plate to a rubber cylinder and then to the paper. That sounds simple… because it is! Offset presses produce high quality printed pieces in large volumes. Offset presses are also capable of printing on a broad range of sizes of substraits, but without any variation in the design. Typically, a larger run will make the most cost effective use of an offset printer.

Digital presses use digital computer techniques and do not employ the use of a conventional printing plate. Digital printers have shorter set up times and can produce the same image constantly or can employ variable data to customize each printed piece in the run. Digital presses are also helpful for printing small print runs cost effectively, but paper options may be limited.

At Kopytek we can help you make the best decision possible based on your project’s needs. Making simple decisions on the front end, like choosing which type of press to use, can help avoid later challenges as you work through the print process. Because we have invested in the latest print technology we have both offset and digital presses available to you, all under one roof, and all with great delivery at budget friendly prices.