One of the questions that I'm often asked is "why choose litho over digital" and vice versa. In order to answer that, it is important to understand a few differences between the two similar, yet very different, processes.
In the red corner we have Litho, short for Lithography, is the more traditional process, and involves ink being applied to paper as it makes a journey through a system of rollers. Ink can either be applied as individual spot colours (more on that later) or CMYK colours (more commonly known as full colour). It takes a little while to make ready the press, which involves mixing and testing ink, making and setting plates and then running test sheets. All of this takes place before the job has even started on the press. As a result of the time involved in making ready, it really only works out economical to run larger quantities, as the same set up time and cost is involved no matter what the final quantity that is run. So smaller quantities can sometimes seem artificially expensive.
In the blue corner Digital, is perfect for short run work and in particular variable data. Variable data is the process involved in making each sheet different, for example different contact names, which means it's ideal for short run, targeted marketing pieces. Unlike litho, you can run 500 sheets and each one can be different from the last one. It's also generally much quicker as there are no make readies in between each order, which means customer orders can be completed in order to meet that "needs to be ready yesterday" deadline!
So really, there's a case for both processes, depending on your final application. We've got extensive litho and digital facilities in house at Hillview Road so have the best of both worlds.
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