CTP in China

Since Drupa 95, after CTP (Computer to Plate) became a star, many developed countries in the world have gradually changed from traditional plate making to direct plate making. By Drupa 2000, we pushed forward one step further. According to statistics, the global installed capacity of CTP reached 12,000 units by the end of 2000. Obviously, CTP has great advantages in improving printing output, quality, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. It is an inevitable trend of the prepress industry, and its emergence is yet another technological revolution in the printing industry.

From birth to maturity, high-tech is always going through difficult obstacles, especially in traditional industries. It now appears that CTP is technically no longer a problem. Fruit maturity is only waiting to be picked. In fact, CTP has been particularly impressive in recent years, especially in the last two years. However, the absence of technical problems does not mean that there are no problems. There has always been a contradiction between high-tech and cost and application. When CTP encountered China, the conflict became more intense.

CTP faces resistance in China

China's CTP market has become so popular with the efforts of many big-name manufacturers in the printing field and the cry of relevant media. From the perspective of the fierce competition of CTP equipment manufacturers in China, it seems that the curtain for the mass production of CTP in China has slowly been opened. There was a view that the CTP will actually start in China in 2001. In fact, some survey results show that the entire domestic CTP market did not have a big leap from 2000 to 2001.

Although the use of CTP technology means higher productivity, lower production costs, faster response capabilities and stronger technical support, at present, newspaper printing companies account for a large part of domestic CTP companies. What are the obstacles to the popularity of CTP in China?

The first resistance is the relatively high initial investment. When China was still discussing CTP in 1998, each offer was between $200,000 and $300,000. The machine was bought but it was far more than this price. It required some related equipment, such as crimping and punching equipment, RIP interfaces, plus tariffs and value added taxes. The entire 3 million yuan was not enough. The best traditional plate-making equipment was more than 100 yuan. That's enough. It can be seen that the CTP is twice as expensive.

The second is the issue of plate material. Plates are being consumed every day. For the popularization of CTP technology, plate prices have always been a big “bottleneck”. The plate is now about 11 to 12 US dollars per square meter, and the edition area for newspapers is 0.44 square meters. Such a plate needs 5 US dollars, plus a 19% tariff, 17% VAT, and a total of one edition. More than 60 yuan RMB, this price is still a batch price, in 1998, 1999 also more than 70 yuan. The imported PS version is generally 30 yuan, and the domestic PS version is only 20 yuan. Taking the Yangcheng Evening News as an example, it is necessary to consume 200,000 sheets of material each year. If a plate needs to cost 40 yuan more, it will spend more than RMB 8 million each year on this aspect. This has to be considered for many companies. Due to the increasingly fierce market competition, the plate making industry has become a meager industry. Increasing the plate-making cost by 50% is unacceptable for many companies. Even users who have already purchased direct plate-making machines are not all using direct plate-making machines. Output, also consider minimizing costs. At present, the newspapers that citing CTP, such as Beijing Daily, Xinmin Wenhui, Jiefang Daily, Hubei Daily News, and Zhejiang Daily News, are walking on two legs and use traditional plates. The new printing center of Yangcheng Evening News has no traditional plate making. , must use CTP plate making, now the light plate material must be two yuan multivariate one day. Under the present circumstances, there are very few manufacturers that can supply high-quality CTP plates, but they are not available at domestic levels. The CTP plate used in China is almost entirely dependent on imports. The supply channels are narrow, and the market cannot form bulk supply. In addition, import tariffs make it even worse for the non-expensive plates. What people are most worried about is the media. The problem of one-time machine input is not big, but the plates have to cost millions more every year.

The third resistance is the related supporting facilities, including the network, scanned copy system, as well as the imposition version, proofing system and so on. To cope with CTP, the general principle is that all require data.

In addition to the above three major issues, the other is the issue of talent. In the traditional workflow process, the exporter does not care about the output of the film, and all the subsequent work is done by another department. However, in the output stage, the CTP must carefully set the information on the machine to the layout, and require closer cooperation with the printing to obtain the correct information. This is related to who is in what position, what kind of instructions issued is correct, and this clear division of labor is difficult. After the introduction of cTP, the scope of knowledge must be extended to master the main aspects of printing. In fact, there are few talents who are proficient in the knowledge of the business from typesetting to printing. Because CTP uses a digital workflow, people's problems will become more and more prominent.


The Status of CTP Development in China

In foreign countries, the application of CTP in the commercial sector accounts for a large part, exceeding 60%, while in China it is the application of the newspaper industry. Although CTP has been struggling in China's push factory, it is generally moving forward. Everyone has seen the benefits of CTP:
[1] The direct platemaking technology eliminates the process of laser photocopying film imaging, manual imposition, printing plate and PS plate development and fixing process, and replaces the traditional simulation technology with digital technology. In this process, direct filming is not used. The layout information is imaged on the printing plate, which reduces the number of images transferred and the influence of the human on the layout. The dots on the printing plate are a direct imaging spot, the image is accurate and clear, and the information is not lost in the high-profile spot, and is dark. There will be no stencil in some outlets. The quality of the printing plate has been greatly improved, and the printing effect has also become much better.

(2) The more direct effect of the process reduction is to save a lot of time and reduce the need for staffing.

(3) There are few domestic suppliers of CTP plates and computer-to-plate equipment. For a relatively long period of time, the domestic use of direct plate-making technology requires not only the import of technology and equipment, but also the import of the version of the village, making the initial investment and the daily plate-making expenses relatively large. The introduction of the CTP system is not a small investment, but in terms of the time taken by the CTP to win, to obtain the same effect, the investment in printing equipment will far exceed the input of the CTP. For newspapers, the proportion of plate-making expenses in the overall cost is relatively small. Compared with the time gained and the benefits generated, the use of the CTP system is worthwhile.

In Europe, the United States, Japan, or print, newspapers use CTP first. Li Tian has no other way, that is, the integrity of prepress data is easy to control. Because the newspaper office had to complete many layout edits in a relatively concentrated period of time, until the platemaking was completed, all the flexibility was limited to the time between the receipt of the press and the upper press. The newspaper industry is developing more and more rapidly. The obvious feature is that a large number of newspapers continue to expand their editions, changing the black day to a color version, and changing the single-sided color to double-sided color, which is a great pressure for many newspaper companies that still use traditional prepress technology. increased.

The earliest domestic was the introduction of a drum-type CTP with 8 lasers by the Standard Press in 1996, but it was not actually used for various reasons. The real application started in 1998, when the Yangcheng Evening News bought one each of American Optronics and Agfa Polaris. In 1999, the Liaoning Fine Arts Printing Factory purchased Heidelberg’s lifetime, and the Beijing Daily Printing Factory purchased a Danish Boluo Defu one. In 2000, Hubei Daily, Zhejiang Daily, and Xinmin Wenhuishe each bought an Agfa. In addition, Beijing Daily bought another Baoluodefu. At the same time, non-press printing companies in the southern Guangdong Province also started buying CTPs, with about seven to eight units. By the end of 2001, there were about 60 CTPs owned by the printing industry in China. I believe there will be more printing companies buying CTP this year.

The most typical application of CTP in the domestic newspaper industry is the Yangcheng Evening News. The volume of the Yangcheng Evening News was more than 600 copies each day, and the workload of the artificial edition was large. The newly established printing center of Yangcheng Evening News installed eight double-height tower-type printing presses. One-hour printing of 1.2 million copies of off-topic newspapers, and eight machines in turn required 512 four-up editions, and the time was very tight. At present, there are 6 Agfa CTPs in the Yangcheng Evening News, two old factories, four new factories, and a 10 km cable between the old factory and the new factory. The transmission speed is very fast, and the software design is also very good. According to the need to control the CTP equipment. In addition, the new plant adopts a four-page CTP, which can be flexible when printing, and the head is two scan heads. Each machine can produce 200 four-up versions with a very small speed, except for the first one. The version is a bit slower, and there can be three four-up versions in the next minute. In the past, the Evening News was written at eleven o'clock. After the CTPZ, it was not until 11.30, or even 11.45. It was impossible for manpower to have such high efficiency.

There are more and more colorful newspapers at the moment and higher overlay accuracy is required. The overprint accuracy of CTP is artificially incomparable, and the quality may not be uniformly and steadily controlled due to factors such as personal experience, lighting, and the position of the line of sight. In accordance with the traditional process of artificial make-up, a color display system requires 40 minutes, using CTP, and the first version only needs four minutes. In terms of manpower, the difference is also very obvious. In the Yangcheng Evening News, at least 30 people are required to use the traditional plate making process. After the CTP, only 5 people are required. It seems that the input cost of the plate is large, and the price of the machine is also high. However, considering the time, the benefits brought by the quality, the saving of labor costs, and the comprehensive consideration of environmental protection, it is certainly a good deal.

Changes in CTP

1. Equipment investment: CTP is a new technology. On the one hand, it brings new business opportunities, and the other side also brings the problem of expensive equipment. This is directly proportional to the research and development costs of new products. Therefore, in recent years, the plate-making machine has become a symbol of high technology and company strength, and has become a propaganda tool. With the advancement of technology and the expansion of the currency market, the cost and price will gradually decrease. The CTP is no longer a high-profile, white-looking sun. A few years ago, only a few companies, such as Agfa and Creo Sai Angel, produced direct plate-making machines. Buying a CTP device required several million. Such a high price made many companies prohibitive. Today, the number of manufacturers has increased a lot, and products have formed high, medium, and low-grade levels, and there is much room for users to choose. According to the view, in addition to well-known brands that are familiar to users, there are also some new brands, and prices have also been significantly reduced. For example, the silver salt plate making machine produced by Peking University Huatong Company, the ATIZEN plate making machine made in South Korea, and the vinegar leopard brand plate making machine made in Canada have attracted many users with its low price and high practicality. . The price of the direct branding system of the recent brands ranges from 600,000 to 1,200,000 RMB, which is close to the psychological endurance of the domestic users. Now, not only large enterprises, but also small and medium-sized enterprises have the ability to experience the new technology of CTP. With the advancement of technology and the development of the market, there is a tendency for foreign products to shift to the domestic market. The competition in the domestic market will further intensify. At that time, the price of the direct plate-making machine may reach the level of the phototypesetting machine.

2. Cost and media: Currently, the photocopying film used by the phototypesetter costs about 45 yuan per square meter, and the PS version costs 30 yuan per sheet. For four-color printing, the cost per set is about 6O yuan. The PS plate used by the direct platemaking machine is specially made. The imported plate is about 90 to 120 yuan per square meter, which is equivalent to about 90 yuan per plate. Although the cost of filming is eliminated, the overall cost is still higher than that of filmmaking. In addition, in terms of plate material supply, since there are only a few manufacturers in the past, the price of the plate material remains high. Once the market fluctuates, or if there are problems with the supply channels, companies are in danger of stopping work. The current situation has changed a lot. The second film factory of Henan China Lucky Group has been able to successfully produce our own thermal CTP plate, the quality can be comparable with the imported plate, and the price is much lower than the imported product, about 80 yuan per square meter, Equivalent to 60% each of the open edition. Considering that there is no need for film, the cost of film is roughly equal to that of film-making, which paves the way for the popularization of CTP technology in China.