CtP – Reviewing the trends

Introduction

In Europe and North America CtP has become big business for the suppliers. For many printers, CtP is now definitely a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. In some areas of the print market the majority of the printers have already gone CtP and some of the first generation CtP devices are already coming up for renewal.

Automation and quality

The major saving reported by users of CtP is the savings on press, specifically the make-ready (or 'start-up') time. For colour printers, CtP gives almost instant colour register on the press and there is no need to worry about stopping the press to delete dust marks and scratches that sometimes came from the film. In a world where reducing run lengths mean that many press runs are getting shorter and shorter, the benefits of CtP are getting increasingly important - specifically the improved make ready times allows printers to get the jobs on and off the press faster. CtP allows printers to increase the yield and quality of their main asset - the printing press. CtP allows these improvements to be done without a need to increase labour costs, if anything the automation often frees up labour for other tasks...