Book Printing in Competition with Offset and Gravure Printing
The competition among the three main printing processes, as some experts agree, is fought less in the printing press sector than in the areas of reproduction/printing plates, paper, and ink and drying issues. The latter are far more crucial in many applications than is commonly assumed. For example, the author is aware that a new magazine with a large print run was switched from gravure to offset printing solely to save on ink costs. The company in question, which has access to all three processes, also commissioned external reviews. Both parties reached the same conclusions.
More often than not, the quality of the reproduction results determines which type of press is used. This leads to the conclusion that book printing has—or should have—a very strong interest in the rapid and successful development of photolithography and electroplating.
But what is the situation here? In Switzerland, for example, printing and photolithography are affiliated with two different associations.
