What is Offset Printing?

Over 40% of all print jobs involve offset printing, causing it to be one of the most commonly used printing styles today. But just what is offset printing? Here is some more information to help you understand the printing process.

How Offset Printing Works

Offset printing is a simple, yet effective process. Three cylinders are used to transmit the image onto the paper or other material of choice. The first cylinder has the printing plate, which presents the image in the way it would appear normally for reading. The second cylinder is covered with a rubber blanket. The third cylinder, also known as the impression cylinder, has the paper or other material on which the image will be printed.

To start the printing process, the first cylinder is then given the proper covering of ink. This cylinder then transfers the image onto the rubber blanket of the second cylinder. This causes the image to become reversed or backwards. The second cylinder then transfers the image onto the third cylinder and the final product. This process ensures that the image will appear correctly, and that the final printed product can be read normally.

In some cases, offset printing is known as litho offset printing. This is because offset printing was created from the same technique as lithography. During offset printing, the image and the non-image areas are on the same level. Because water and oil do not mix, printing can be performed from a single surface level and still create the proper image.

Offset Printing Presses

There are two primary types of offset printing presses. The first is a sheet-fed offset printing press. With the press, the printing is completed on individual sheets of paper. The sheets are fed into the press one by one, and then the image is printed on to them.

The second type of offset printing press is a web-fed offset printing press. With this press, the printing is completed on one continuous roll of paper. Once the image has been printed, this paper can then be cut into separate sheets of the sizes desired.

Cost to Set Up and Maintain the Equipment

There is a fairly large investment required to set up offset printing process equipment, as the equipment itself can be quiet expensive. However, once the initial set up has been achieved, the management of offset printing is actually fairly inexpensive, allowing business to sell their products at affordable prices.

How Offset Printing Can Be Used

Offset printing has numerous applications. Since it is used in much of the printing world today, there is a good chance that you have something in your home or office that was printed using offset printing. Books, magazines, brochures, and other reading material are often done through offset printing. Even the daily newspaper that you read was probably printed using offset printing. And if you are considering having any type of major printing completed for your business, there is a good chance that it will be completed using offset printing techniques. Because the printing itself is very affordable, it allows business owners to create materials cost effectively.