The price of ink and the cost of ink are different. For some applications, paying for a high-end inkjet ink can reduce drying costs, allow production on lower cost papers and streamline workflows by allowing more work to be produced on the same device. Price per liter and true cost are not the same.
Heavy Ink Coverage and Twice the Drying Power
Printing from the first tower allows ink twice as long to dry helping reduce roller build up and print defects in finishing.
Two Sides of Coated Paper
If you are using inkjet coated or primed offset coated paper, different papers will have different porosity levels on each side of the sheet.
Get the Specs and Read Them
Before signing your inkjet deal, get the specs for power, ceiling height, load-bearing, square footage, humidity and more. You may find that changes need to be made to your environment that add cost and delay installation. Measure (at least) twice before you buy.
Total Cost of Paper – TCP
Inkjet Tip of the Week: Understand Total Cost of Paper to compare TCO
TCP=Cost per carton weight (delivered) + cost of priming or spot treatment + excess ink usage+ excess drying energy. Papers not formulated for inkjet often use more ink and require additional drying energy. Measure TCP to fully understand TCO – every machine/ink/paper combination is different.
Stop the (Ink) Bleeding
Stop the (Ink) Bleeding. Check primed or inkjet coated print for color-to-color bleed/coalescence. Run test images w/ varying solid, single process & combined colors which touch or overlap. Create color areas > 4”x4” to see how ink volume of one image will spread or react to the primed/coated stock when touching another. If only printing pretty bitmap images, bleed effects can be hidden leaving print clarity surprises with solids and touching colors with hard edges.
Monitor Cross-Process Variance
Monitor Cross-Process Variance. Run a weekly test print showing solid color bars across the web. Include 100, 75 and 30% individual process color bars of at least 3” depth across the entire web width. Testing will show how well your paper path is controlled and identify any jet or head variation causing solid area defects.
Finish Inkjet Better
Many finishing lines are “old fashioned” relative to inkjet devices. Get creative and optimize your physical workflow for speed, flexibility and dependability.
Manage Profiles to Manage Ink
Create multiple profiles for the same paper to manage ink use for your client’s range of acceptable color levels. Make the profile name part of your job definition.
What Designer’s Don’t Know Can Hurt You
Don’t make designers guess about color matching or papers that work well with your press. Create tools to give designers and print buyers an objective understanding of your press quality on different media.