Orange County Printing

High quality off-set printing covers the entire gamut of printing from simple short run one and two-color jobs to complex multicolor, multi-page long run catalogs, annual reports and other large-scale documents. There is no printing work that has hitherto defied the sphere of off-set printing.The high quality of work produced on full-webs and 40" sheet-fed presses reflects the extraordinary skills of the off-set press crews. The experienced pressmen are known to overstretch and satisfactorily respond to all kinds of printing work. They are fully competent to adjust, correct and compensate to deliver the client a fast, satisfactory print output. Today off-set presses have reached a stage when they can print a whole variety of materials including Catalogs, Directories, Direct Mail, UPC Bar Coding Inserts, Books, Magazines, Posters, Brochures, Pocket Folders, Case Bound Books, Stationery, Newsletters etc.

Offset printing is the most widely used method of printing today. Paper is streamed through rollers and against a printing plate, normally four times - once for each of four color inks used to obtain glossy results. The plate attracts oil-based ink to form the design. The plate is now created directly from a computer image, although some old presses use the traditional photographic film to create the printing plate. All types of businesses including book publishers and printers of newspapers depend on the consistent reliability of offset printing. This method is proving to be extremely versatile when combined with new advances in lithographic techniques.

The process employed in offset printing is quite simple. When water and ink are added to a cylinder, it transfers the image to a second cylinder, popularly called the offset cylinder. The offset cylinder is made of rubber, which allows for a smooth transfer of the ink onto whatever medium is being used. This universally practiced method of printing provides the crisp and sharp copies. One of the key features of offset printing is you can transfer images onto a variety of mediums apart from paper. The other materials that are often used in offset printing include rubber, fabric, wood and at times even leather and metal.

In printing industry specifically, we all know that offset printing is still extensively used when it comes to large quantities of printing. There is no denying the fact that today offset printing faces the biggest challenge from new digital processes. Digital printing is luring print work from away from offset presses. Digital technology eliminates the traditional plates used in offset, offers a highly customizable product in smaller quantities ideally suited for many of today's advertisers and publishers. Offset printing has made today's printing easy and impressive, with only the advent of digital technology as the only threat to its long reign.

Despite of the facts that digital printing is faster than offset printing because it can print directly from computer and it is possible to print documents, like catalogs and brochures, with variable data. Offset printing is not indicated to print low runs because of the higher costs. Many of us will concede that digital printing has certain distinct advantages over offset printing. Nonetheless, offset printing is still the most common kind of commercial printing that can perhaps meets the requirements of consistent high quality print outs, especially for books with photographs or fine art. In addition, offset printing also offers the lowest cost per copy. Except for the fact the press setup is a time-consuming and expensive process, offset is still economical for both large and small quantities of printing projects.