Newspaper Printing: The times, they are changing - Faktum

Digital printing is also a key development in newspaper production. Currently, it is mainly
being used to enable people who are away from home to read their favourite newspaper
on Day A rather than B or C. This is achieved by web-fed digital presses printing a few
hundred copies in main cities around the world, as is possible with Oce’s Digital
Newspaper Network, or sheet-fed printing one-off copies on-demand such as the
services offered by NewspaperDirect and Satellite Newspapers. Digital presses that
can print in full colour on newsprint and at acceptable speeds are now becoming
available. For example, Kodak Versamark is now offering an inkjet system that can print
over 1,000 40-page colour newspapers an hour and other companies are expected to
launch machines with similar or higher capabilities at Ipex 2006, if not before.
With so many new technologies being developed for the newspaper industry it will be
interesting to see what innovations will be highlighted at Ipex 2006. The philosophy of
newspaper publishers may not have changed that much since Johann Carolus, but the
technology they have access to, definitely has and will continue to do so over the next
few years.
- ends -